The Barrymore family remains one of the greatest acting dynasties of Hollywood, from the Golden Era to present day. The current branch of the Barrymore family tree includes actress Drew Barrymore, star of E.T., 50 First Dates, Charlie’s Angels, Ever After, and Irreconcilable Differences. But before the lovely Drew Barrymore graced the big screen, there was Ethel Barrymore, an actress of the stage, screen, and radio who enjoyed a Hollywood career that spanned six decades.
Ethel Barrymore was born in 1879 to actors Maurice Barrymore and Georgina Drew. Maurice Barrymore named her after his favorite literary character, Ethel, from The Newcomers, by William Makepeace Thackeray. Ethel, along with her two brothers, John and Lionel, took up acting just like their parents before them. While Ethel, John, and Lionel Barrymore established the second generations of the Barrymore dynasty, there were more to come. Ethel Barrymore was the aunt of actor John Drew Barrymore and the great-aunt of Drew Barrymore. Several other family members also have worked or currently work in the entertainment industry.
Ethel Barrymore cut her teeth on the stage and continued to take stage roles in New York and London through the 1920s. She was regarded as ‘The First Lady of the American Theatre’. In 1914, however, she made her first film appearance in a silent film called The Nightingale. She was the latecomer to film. Both her brothers had already made their movie debuts.
Between 1914 and 1919, Ethel Barrymore appeared in a total of 15 silent films. Sadly, only a few of these films still survive. The Library of Congress has the only remaining copy of her 1916 movie, The Awakening of Helena Richie and the George Eastman House has the only copy of her 1917 The Call of Her.
Ethel appeared on film with her two brothers, John and Lionel, for two movies. One of them was the 1917 National Red Cross Pageant, a film that has been lost. The second film featuring the three Barrymore siblings was Rasputin and the Empress, filmed in 1932.
She was a well-established movie actress of the 1930s and 1940s. In 1944, she appeared opposite Cary Grant in None but the Lonely Heart and earned an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role. Although she was nominated for Academy Awards four times, this was her only Oscar win. Her other movie roles include The Spiral Staircase in 1946, The Paradine Case in 1947, Portrait of Jennie in 1948, The Red Danube in 1949, and Johnny Trouble in 1975.
As a young woman, Ethel Barrymore’s love life was the subject of rumors and speculations. She was good friends with England’s Winston Churchill, and he reportedly proposed to her in 1900. She was also alleged to have been engaged to the Duke of Manchester. Actor Gerald de Maurier proposed to her, as did writer Richard Harding Davis and Laurence Irving, the son of Sir John Irving.
In 1909, Ethel Barrymore did finally get married. Her husband, Russell Griswold Colt, was a friend of Ethel’s brother, John. Ethel and Russell had three children who all entered show business. Sammy Colt was a Hollywood agent, Ethel Barrymore-Colt was a Broadway singer and actress, and John Drew Colt was an actor. Ethel and Russell divorced in 1923. As a devout Catholic, Ethel Barrymore refused to remarry. She focused on raising her children and furthering her acting career. She died in 1959, shortly before her 80th birthday.