We Barrymores

This page is dedicated to the legendary family of actors, The Barrymores-- with special regard to the talented trio of siblings: Lionel Barrymore (4/28/1878 – 11/15/1954) Ethel Barrymore (8/15/1879 – 6/18/1959) John Barrymore (2/15/1882 – 5/29/1942)

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Taken on September 23, 1922 Lionel went aboard the S.S. George Washington in New York City bound for Europe where he spent several weeks.

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John Barrymore for When a Man Loves, 1927

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John Barrymore and Karen Morley in Arsène Lupin, 1932

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John Barrymore and Dolores Costello in When a Man Loves, 1927

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The night that John Barrymore—who bore a lifelong resistance to the family trade—made his debut as a star in The Fortune Hunter in 1909, he spoke with his brother Lionel.

“Well, Jake,” Lionel said, “it looks like you are hooked for good.”

“What in the hell happened?” Jack asked. “Who am I?”

“It usually takes me two nights,” Lionel replied, “to find out what happened on the first. You’ll live.”

“But I’m scared stiff,” Jack said. “Why didn’t I give a stinking performance?”

“Because,” said Lionel, “you couldn’t.”

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John Barrymore, 1937

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Lionel Barrymore, ca. 1925

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This is the age of insincerity. The movies had the misfortune to come along in the twentieth century, and because they appeal to the masses there can be no sincerity in them. Hollywood is tied hand and foot to the demands for artificiality of the masses all over the world.

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Ethel Barrymore, 1890

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John Barrymore, 1926

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The arts are not just instantaneous pleasure - if you don't like it, the artist is wrong. I belong to the generation which says if you don't like it, you don't understand and you ought to find out.

Ethel Barrymore

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Lionel Barrymore admires Agnes Moorehead’s suit that she wears for a broadcast of The Mayor of the Town, 1940’s

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Douglas Fairbanks and John Barrymore

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