Irene Fenwick
Irene Fenwick | |
|---|---|
 Husband Lionel Barrymore with Fenwick | |
| Born | Irene Frizell September 5, 1887 |
| Died | December 24, 1936 (aged 49) |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Spouses |
|
| Family | Barrymore |
Irene Fenwick (born Irene Frizell; September 5, 1887 – December 24, 1936) was an American stage and silent film actress.[1] She was married to Lionel Barrymore[2] from 1923 until her death in 1936. Fenwick has several surviving features, mainly because she worked for Edison-Kleine, an affiliate of the Edison Company, which has numerous surviving shorts, which is fortunate considering the vintage of these films.
Years before marrying Lionel, Irene had dated Lionel's brother, John.[3][4]
Life
Frizell was born in Chicago and began acting in local theatre. She had a few chorus roles in London,[5] including one in a musical comedy that won critics praise for her "nearly natural performance".[6] In New York she met Broadway producer Charles Frohman who gave her the stage name Fenwick and the ingénue role in The Brass Bottle (1910).[6] A vivacious redhead, adept at both drama and comedy, she had a forceful stage presence that belied her tiny stature of 4'11". She continued on stage opposite Douglas Fairbanks in Hawthorne of the U.S.A. and was touted as a young actress with "the tact and intelligence of a veteran player" in The Family Cupboard.[7] Fenwick often played wronged women and vamps in such silent films as The Sentimental Lady (1915), The Woman Next Door (1915),[8] A Coney Island Princess (1916), with her performance as Princess Zim-Zim highlighted as the films "chief force",[9][10] and The Sin Woman (1917), but she felt restricted by them and returned to the stage. In the hit plays The Claw (1921)[11] and Laugh, Clown, Laugh (1923) she co-starred with Lionel Barrymore, whom she married on June 14, 1923,[12]after a brief engagement.[13] It was his second marriage and her third.[14] She retired in 1926 after her husband chose a Hollywood career.[12]
Death
Fenwick died on Christmas Eve in 1936, at age 49[14] from complications of anorexia nervosa (called "overdieting" then). Barrymore was replaced by his brother John in his famous annual radio broadcast as Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol for that year.[15] He never remarried.
Filmography
The Commuters (1915)
The Spendthrift (1915)
The Woman Next Door (1915)
The Green Cloak (1915)
The Sentimental Lady (1915)
The Child of Destiny (1916)
A Coney Island Princess (1916) with Owen Moore
A Girl Like That (1917)
The Sin Woman (1917)
National Red Cross Pageant (1917)
References
- ^ Irene Fenwick;biography, Hans J. Wollstein
- ^ "Lionel Barrymore – Actor, Director, Writer, Composer". goldensilents.com. Retrieved July 26, 2019.
- ^ Alpert, Hollis (1964). The Barrymores. New York: The Dial Press. OCLC 194133.
- ^ Kobler, John (1977). Damned in Paradise: The Life of John Barrymore. New York: Atheneum. OCLC 3001896.
- ^ Theatre Magazine. Theatre Magazine Company. 1915.
- ^ a b The Theatre. Meyer Bros. & Company. 1910.
- ^ Thorold, W. J.; Hornblow (Jr.), Arthur; Maxwell, Perriton; Beach, Stewart (1913). Theatre Magazine. Theatre Magazine Company.
- ^ The Moving Picture World. World Photographic Publishing Company. 1915.
- ^ Motography. 1916.
- ^ Parascandola, Louis J.; Parascandola, John (December 9, 2014). A Coney Island Reader: Through Dizzy Gates of Illusion. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-53819-0.
- ^ American Magazine. Colver Publishing House. 1922.
- ^ a b Menefee, David W. (October 20, 2007). The First Male Stars: Men of the Silent Era. BearManor Media.
- ^ Time. Time Incorporated. 1923.
- ^ a b "Irene Fenwick (married to John Jay O'Brien) ?". Daily News. December 25, 1936. p. 69. Retrieved March 12, 2020.
- ^ Inc, Time (December 25, 1944). LIFE. Time Inc.
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External links
- Irene Fenwick at IMDb
- Irene Fenwick at the Internet Broadway Database
- Irene Fenwick at Find a Grave
- passport photo of Irene Fenwick
- Article about Fenwick and Barrymore (with Tallulah Bankhead) shortly before her death
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