Lionel Herbert Blythe
10 min read
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Film credits
2
Awards
Lionel Barrymore won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1931 for A Free Soul, and later played the wheelchair-bound Mr. Potter in It’s a Wonderful Life. He was the first actor to receive Oscar nominations for both acting and directing. Barrymore also invented the boom microphone and acted from a wheelchair from 1938.
Names, aliases, and relatives of Lionel Barrymore — birth name, kin, and personal ties.
Lionel Barrymore by the numbers — life, work, and family.
Lionel Barrymore — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.
Born Lionel Herbert Blythe in Philadelphia on April 28, 1878, Barrymore was the eldest child of stage actors Georgiana Drew and Maurice Barrymore. His mother raised the siblings as Roman Catholics. He attended Episcopal Academy and began his acting career as a stock player at the Biograph Company.
Barrymore’s breakthrough came with his Oscar-winning performance in A Free Soul 1931. He appeared in multiple Best Picture winners, including Grand Hotel 1932 and You Can’t Take It with You 1938. From 1938, due to arthritis and a hip injury, he used a wheelchair in all his roles, playing Mr. Potter in It’s a Wonderful Life 1946. He also directed films such as Madame X 1929 and composed musical works.
Barrymore married actress Doris Rankin in 1904; they had two daughters who died in infancy. He left Rankin for Irene Fenwick, who had previously dated his brother John, and married her in 1923. Fenwick died on Christmas Eve 1936. His siblings were John Barrymore and Ethel Barrymore. He was the great uncle of Drew Barrymore.
Barrymore’s invention of the boom microphone revolutionized film sound. He and his sister Ethel remain the only brother-sister Oscar winners. His annual radio portrayal of Scrooge in A Christmas Carol from 1934 to 1953 became an annual tradition. Four of his films are in the National Film Registry, including It’s a Wonderful Life. He sustained a prolific career while using a wheelchair from 1938.
The complete filmography of Lionel Barrymore — every film, TV show, and documentary credit, ranked by popularity.
Every award, honor, and recognition received by Lionel Barrymore — Grammys, hall-of-fame inductions, civic honors, lifetime achievements.
A wall of memorable lines from Lionel Barrymore — lyrics, interviews, and off-the-cuff remarks captured over a lifetime.
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.
I’ve Got a Lot of Ham in Me.
I Can Remember When Nobody Believed an Actor and Didn’t Care What He Believed. Why, the Fact That He Was an Actor Made Everything He Said Open to Question, Because Acting Was Thought to Be a Vocation Embraced Exclusively by Scatter Brains, Wastrels and Scamps. I Don’t Believed That’s True Today and I Don’t Think That It Ever Was.
You Can’t Retire in Hollywood. Nobody Gives up a Job, Even If He’s Ninety, or Sick, or Has Money Like Midas. Everybody Works Until His Last Breath, and When One Day They Die, They Die Like Napoleon/s Grenadiers, Who Died with the Words Vive L’Empereur! Just So, the Last Words of a Director or Producer Are Make Another Take!
Don’t Ever Forget That Acting Is the Greatest Profession Ever Invented. When You Act, You Move Millions of People, Shape Their Lives, Give Them a Sense of Exaltation. No Other Profession Has That Power.
I Didn’t Want to Act. I Wanted to Paint or Draw. the Theater Was Not in My Blood, I Was Related to the Theater by Marriage Only; It Was Merely a Kind of in Law of Mine I Had to Live With.
Little-known facts about Lionel Barrymore — origins, oddities, and behind-the-scenes details from a public life.
The boom microphone was an invention of Lionel Barrymore.
One of the rare screen actors to have a prolific career despite being in a wheelchair, his roles were written to accommodate his disability from 1938 onward.
Drew Barrymore’s great uncle was Lionel Barrymore.
The first brother and sister to win Oscars in acting categories were Lionel and Ethel Barrymore.
From 1938, he acted from a wheelchair because of arthritis and a hip injury.
Barrymore portrayed Scrooge in the annual radio broadcast of A Christmas Carol for 20 years from 1934 to 1953, missing only twice: in 1936 replaced by his brother John due to his wife’s death, and in 1938 by Reginald Owen.
He served as an honorary pallbearer at Lon Chaney’s funeral.
Raised Roman Catholic by their mother, all three Barrymore siblings experienced divorce; only Ethel remained a practicing Catholic as an adult.
Two Best Picture Oscar winners feature Lionel Barrymore: Grand Hotel 1932 and You Can’t Take It with You 1938.
In Rasputin and the Empress 1932, Barrymore played the title role opposite his sister Ethel as Alexandra; his brother John also appeared.
Extreme income tax problems led Barrymore to turn over his entire paycheck to the IRS for the last 15 years of his life, and even the proceeds from posthumous art sales were taken.
In the Looney Tunes cartoon One Froggy Evening 1955, his name appears in a newspaper prop.
Two daughters with first wife Doris Rankin died young; he later left her for Irene Fenwick, who had once dated his brother John.
Two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame honor Barrymore: for motion pictures at 1724 Vine Street and for radio at 1651 Vine Street.
He was buried at Calvary Cemetery in Los Angeles, in the Main Mausoleum, Block 352.
The three Barrymore siblings only co-starred in Rasputin and the Empress 1932. Lionel and John teamed in several films, while Lionel and Ethel reunited in 1953 for Main Street to Broadway.
Barrymore began his career as a stock player at the Biograph Company.
Buried a Roman Catholic, he rests next to his second wife and brother John at Calvary Cemetery.
Barrymore directed two actors to Oscar nominations: Ruth Chatterton for Madame X 1929 and Lawrence Tibbett for The Rogue Song 1930.
Spring Byington co-starred with Barrymore as his wife in Ah Wilderness! 1935 and as his daughter in You Can’t Take It with You 1938.
A member of The Lambs actor’s club in New York from 1900 until his death.
Under contract to MGM from 1926 to 1952.
He was a screen, stage, radio, and vaudeville actor, as well as a film producer and screenwriter.
Jean Arthur, who played his granddaughter in You Can’t Take It with You 1938, was 22 years younger than Barrymore.
Barrymore was the son of Maurice and Georgiana; his daughters Ethel and Mary died in infancy.
Four of Barrymore’s films are in the National Film Registry: Ben-Hur 1925, Grand Hotel 1932, Dinner at Eight 1933, and It’s a Wonderful Life 1946.
He portrayed Dr. Gillespie in the radio series The Story of Dr. Kildare 1950-1951 and the film series.
Barrymore appeared in seven Best Picture nominees, with Grand Hotel and You Can’t Take It with You winning.
Uncle to John Drew Barrymore, Diana Barrymore, and others.
He studied musical composition with Eugene Zador for a decade.
Lionel and Ethel Barrymore remain the only brother-sister duo to win Oscars.
He was the first person nominated for both Best Actor and Best Director at the Oscars, winning for A Free Soul.
Through marriage, he was related to Phyllis Rankin and Harry Davenport.
The character Simon Bar Sinister in Underdog was voiced to resemble Barrymore’s speech.
Barrymore’s 1930 residence was 802 N. Roxbury Drive in Beverly Hills.
The 1950 census lists Barrymore as a lodger with the Wheeler family.
Quick answers to the questions readers ask most about Lionel Barrymore.
Celebrities similar to Lionel Barrymore — same craft, ranked by reach.
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