John Barrymore Biography

John Barrymore	John Sidney Blyth Born: 1882-02-15 Birthplace: Philadelphia, PA Died: 1942-05-29 Location of Death: Los Angeles, CA Cause of Death: Cirrhosis of the Liver Race: White Religion: Roman Catholic Field: Actor Famous for: Romeo and Juliet
Field: Actor

John Blythe, better known as John Barrymore, became famous as a Shakespearean actor, lauded for his Hamlet. His classic nose and distinguished features won him the nickname "The Great Profile." Barrymore was a hard drinking man with a troubled personal life that cut his life short. He appeared in several films including many of "Bulldog Drummond" B-movies -- Bulldog was the James Bond of the 1930s -- but never reached the heights he achieved on stage. He was the younger brother of actors Lionel and Ethel Barrymore and the grandfather of Drew Barrymore.

Barrymore was born into an illustrious theatrical family. His parents were Maurice Barrymore and Georgiana Drew. His classic nose and distinguished features won him the nickname "The Great Profile." He was expelled from Georgetown Preparatory School in 1898 after being caught attending a bordello. He was a hard-drinking adventurer with a jaunty personality.

Barrymore delivered some of the most critically-acclaimed performances in theatre and cinema history. He was regarded by many as the screen's greatest performer during a movie career spanning 25 years as a leading man in more than 60 films. His movie roles included Sherlock Holmes (1922), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920), Captain Ahab in both The Sea Beast (1926) and Moby Dick (1930), Don Juan (1926), Svengali (1931), Raffles the Amateur Cracksman (1917), and the leading man in Grand Hotel (1932), Dinner at Eight (1933) and Twentieth Century (1934). He worked opposite many of the foremost leading ladies, including Greta Garbo, Katharine Hepburn, Joan Crawford, and Carole Lombard. In the late 1930s alcoholism and possibly Alzheimer's Disease encroached on his ability to remember his lines. His last movie characters were broad and distasteful caricatures of himself, in movies such as Playmates (1941).

A notorious ladies' man, he courted showgirl Evelyn Nesbit. When Nesbit became pregnant, Barrymore proposed marriage. But her "sponsor" Stanford White intervened, and arranged for the still-teenaged Evelyn to undergo an operation for "appendicitis." White was later murdered by Nesbit's vengeful husband, Pittsburgh millionaire Harry K. Thaw.