Ethel Barrymore

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ethel Barrymore by Burr McIntosh , 1901
Ethel Barrymore, December 12, 1937
Photograph by Carl van Vechten , from the Van Vechten Collection of the Library of Congress

Ethel Barrymore , actually Ethel Blyth , (born August 15, 1879 in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , † June 18, 1959 in Beverly Hills , California ) was an American actress who was one of the great Broadway stars for decades . For her portrayal in None But the Lonely Heart she was awarded the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1945.

life and career

Ethel Barrymore was the only daughter of Maurice Barrymore and Georgiana Drew and the sister of Lionel Barrymore and John Barrymore , and the great-aunt of Drew Barrymore .

Barrymore made her acting debut at the age of 15 at the side of her uncle John Drew and made her first appearance on Broadway in 1900 in the play Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines . She was soon considered First Lady of the Stage , a title for which she competed with Laurette Taylor , Maude Adams , Katharine Cornell and later Helen Hayes . Ethel Barrymore played her first film role in 1914, but she was only active on the stage again after 1919, with the exception of Rasputin - The Demon of Russia , in which she played alongside her brothers in 1932. Dissatisfied with the scripts that were offered to her, Barrymore turned back to the theater and was able to celebrate one of her greatest successes on stage in 1940 in The Corn Is Green .

1944 returned Ethel Barrymore with Triumph on the canvas back and won for her portrayal of the dying mother of Cary Grant in None But the Lonely Heart on the Oscar ceremony in 1945 the Oscar for best supporting actress . The actress opted for a permanent career in film and moved to Hollywood. Under contract with David O. Selznick , Barrymore specialized in the portrayal of eccentric old women and malicious ladies of better society. In Die Wendeltreppe she acted as the dominant mother of the murderer, in Pinky she played a bigoted racist who only underwent a change of character through the acquaintance of the mixed-race girl Pinkie. In the comedy The Farmer's Daughter , for which Loretta Young won the Oscar for leading actress, Barrymore was the driving force behind the career of her film son Joseph Cotten . Her sympathetic appearances include her appearance in William Dieterle's fantasy film Jenny , in which she played the maternal friend of an artist, played by Joseph Cotten.

Ethel Barrymore was known for her black humor and one of the largest private book collections in the United States. During an engagement in London in the early 1900s, she is said to have turned down a marriage proposal from Winston Churchill . In 1909 she married Russell Griswold Colt, with whom she had three children - the marriage was unhappy, however, and the couple divorced in 1923. The devout Catholic never married again. Ethel Barrymore died of cardiovascular disease around two months before her 80th birthday. A Broadway theater was named in her honor, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7001 Hollywood Bouldevard commemorates the actress.

Filmography

Ethel Barrymore with Husband and Children (1914)
Family tree of the Barrymores
  • 1914: The Nightingale
  • 1915: The Final Judgment
  • 1916: The Kiss of Hate
  • 1916: The Awakening of Helena Richie
  • 1917: The White Raven
  • 1917: The Eternal Mother
  • 1917: To American Widow
  • 1918: Our Mrs. McChesney
  • 1919: The Divorcee
  • 1926: Camille
  • 1932: Rasputin: The Demon of Russia (Rasputin and the Empress )
  • 1944: None But the Lonely Heart
  • 1945: The spiral staircase (The Spiral Staircase )
  • 1947: The farmer's daughter (The Farmer's Daughter)
  • 1947: Moss Rose
  • 1947: The Paradine Case (The Paradine Case)
  • 1948: Night Song
  • 1948: Legacy of the Executioner (Moonrise)
  • 1948: Jenny (Portrait of Jennie)
  • 1949: The player (The Great Sinner)
  • 1949: That Midnight Kiss
  • 1949: Fate in Vienna (The Red Danube)
  • 1949: Pinky
  • 1951: Child Lady
  • 1951: Retaliation at Teufelssee (The Secret of the Convict Lake)
  • 1951: It's a Big Country
  • 1952: Take off the mask (Deadline - USA)
  • 1952: Just For You
  • 1953: Was it the great love (The Story of Three Loves)
  • 1954: One shouldn't play with love (Young at Heart)
  • 1957: Johnny Trouble

Broadway leading roles (selection)

Ethel Barrymore (around 1904)
  • 1895: The Imprudent Young Couple
  • 1902: A Country Mouse
  • 1905: Nora or a doll's house
  • 1907: The Silver Box
  • 1908: Lady Frederick
  • 1911: The Witness for the Defense
  • 1915: Our Mrs. McChesney
  • 1917: The Lady of the Camellias
  • 1921: Clair de Lune
  • 1922: Rose Bernd
  • 1922: Romeo and Juliet
  • 1925: Hamlet
  • 1925: The merchant of Venice
  • 1926: The Constant Wife
  • 1928: The Kingdom of God
  • 1934: L'Aiglon
  • 1937: The Ghost of Yankee Doodle
  • 1938: Whiteoaks
  • 1940: The Corn is Green
  • 1944: Embezzled Heaven

Awards and nominations

  • 1955: Emmy nomination for best actress in The Thirteenth Chair (episode from the series Climax! )
  • 1959: Star on the Walk of Fame

Web links

Commons : Ethel Barrymore  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files
personal data
SURNAME Barrymore, Ethel
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ethel Blyth (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-american actress
DATE OF BIRTH August 15, 1879
PLACE OF BIRTH Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , United States
DATE OF DEATH June 18, 1959
Place of death Beverly Hills , California , United States