John Barrymore

Actor, Film actor

1882 – 1942

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Who was John Barrymore?

John Sidney Blyth, better known as John Barrymore, was an American actor of stage and screen. He first gained fame as a handsome stage actor in light comedy, then high drama and culminating in groundbreaking portrayals in Shakespearean plays Hamlet and Richard III. His success continued with motion pictures in various genres in both the silent and sound eras. Barrymore's personal life has been the subject of much writing before and since his death in 1942. Today John Barrymore is known mostly for his portrayal of Hamlet and for his roles in movies like Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde, Grand Hotel, Dinner at Eight, Twentieth Century, and Don Juan, the first feature length movie to use a Vitaphone soundtrack.

The most prominent member of a multi-generation theatrical dynasty, he was the brother of Lionel Barrymore and Ethel Barrymore, and was the paternal grandfather of Drew Barrymore.

Famous Quotes:

  • The trouble with life is that there are so many beautiful women and so little time.
  • America is the country where you can buy a lifetime supply of aspirin For one dollar and use it up in two weeks.
  • You never realize how short a month is until you have to pay alimony.
  • A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams.
  • I am thinking of taking a fifth wife. Why not? Solomon had a thousand wives and he is a synonym for wisdom.
  • I've read some of your modern free verse and wonder who set it free.
  • If it isn't the sheriff, it's the finance company; I've got more attachments on me than a vacuum cleaner.
  • I would like to find a stew that will give me heartburn immediately, instead of at three o clock in the morning.
  • My wife is the kind of girl who will not go anywhere without her mother, and her mother will go anywhere.
  • Die? I should say not, dear fellow. No Barrymore would allow such a conventional thing to happen to him.

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Born
Feb 15, 1882
Philadelphia
Also known as
  • John Sidney Blyth
  • Jack Barrymore
  • The Great Profile
  • Jack
Parents
Siblings
Spouses
Children
Religion
  • Catholicism
Nationality
  • United States of America
Profession
Education
  • Georgetown Preparatory School
Lived in
  • Philadelphia
Died
May 29, 1942
Los Angeles
Resting place
Calvary Cemetery, East Los Angeles

Submitted
on July 23, 2013

Citation

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"John Barrymore." Biographies.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.biographies.net/people/en/john_barrymore>.

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