Lionel Barrymore

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BIRTHDAY

April 28, 1878

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

DIED

November 15, 1954

RECENT CREDITS

Main Street to Broadway (FILM) Aug. 1, 1953

Right Cross (FILM) Oct. 6, 1950

Key Largo (FILM) Jan. 1, 1948

It's a Wonderful Life (FILM) Dec. 25, 1946

You Can't Take It With You (FILM) Aug. 23, 1938

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BIOGRAPHY

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Eldest of the famed Barrymore siblings. Unlike his brother John and sister Ethel, Lionel did very little acting for the theater. He made his stage debut as an infant as part of his parents' (Herbert Blythe/Maurice Barrymore and Georgia Drew) act and was a leading player by age 22. His first film roles were in D.W. Griffith shorts, beginning with "The Battle" (1911), and he worked primarily with MGM from 1926; he continued to act despite being confined to a wheelchair for the last 15 years of his life due to crippling arthritis and a serious leg injury. Barrymore gave one of his finest performances as a dying businessman in "Dinner at Eight" (1933) and is also fondly remembered for "Camille" (1933), "You Can't Take It With You" (1938) and "It's a Wonderful Life" (1946), among others.

Barrymore was a published author of both fiction and non-fiction, an accomplished painter and a capable film director, earning an Oscar nomination for the 1929 version of the oft-filmed weepie "Madame X".

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