Ethel Barrymore (1879-1959), part of a uniquely illustrious theatrical family, was considered one of the greatest actresses of her generation. She was born Ethel Mae Blythe in Philadelphia, the second child of actors Maurice Barrymore and Georgiana Drew, and the niece of Broadway matinee idol John Drew Jr. She was the sister of actors John and Lionel Barrymore, the aunt of actor John Drew Barrymore and Diana Barrymore, and the great-aunt of actress Drew Barrymore.

In addition to her long and distinguished stage career, Ethel Barrymore made frequent appearances on film, acting in some 40 features and many television dramas. She was Oscar®-nominated four times as Best Supporting Actress, winning the award itself for None But the Lonely Heart (1944).

Barrymore made her film debut in The Nightingale [1914], which was written especially for her and was one of a dozen or so silents in which she would appear. Her sound debut came in the only film in which she appeared with both her celebrated brothers, Rasputin and the Empress (1932). Lionel is Rasputin, John plays Prince Paul (Rasputin's assassin in this account), and Ethel is the Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna.

Ethel Barrymore's movie career began in earnest when she moved to Hollywood in the mid-1940s and won the Oscar® for her magnetic performance in None But the Lonely Heart as the junk-dealing, terminally ill mother of Cary Grant. She made an indelible impression; Pauline Kael wrote in the 1970s that "There are viewers who still -- after three decades -- recall the timbre of Ethel Barrymore's voice in the prison hospital when she cries, 'Disgraced you, Son!'"

Barrymore's other nominations came for The Spiral Staircase (1945), as the demanding "Grande Dame" employer of terrorized caregiver Dorothy MacGuire; The Paradine Case (1947), in an uncharacteristic role as Charles Laughton's submissive wife; and Pinky (1949) as a Southern widow cared for by mulatto heroine Jeanne Crain.

Other notable Barrymore films included The Farmer's Daughter (1947), Portrait of Jennie (1948), The Red Danube (1949), Kind Lady (1951), Just for You (1952), Young at Heart (1954) and her final movie, Johnny Trouble (1957). Most often she was cast as a regal, somewhat brittle yet warm-hearted dowager.

Barrymore had made her Broadway debut at age 16. Her many stage triumphs included A Doll's House, Romeo and Juliet, The Constant Wife and The Corn Is Green. She married Russell Griswold Colt in 1909. The couple, who divorced in 1923, had three children: Ethel Barrymore Colt, Samuel Colt and John Drew Colt.

by Roger Fristoe