This 1982 stamp of the Performing Arts Series features (front to back) Lionel, Ethel, and John Barrymore, three siblings that are considered among the greatest of American Actors. They were part of a large theatrical family that still continues. They were at least the third generation of stage performers, and the currently active actress Drew Barrymore is the granddaughter of John. Apparently none of the three siblings wanted to go on the stage, and their first roles appear to have been family favors more than anything else. All wanted to do something else in the arts.
Lionel Barrymore (1879 – 1954) was the oldest of the three siblings. Lionel’s first stage appearance was alongside his Grandmother in 1894. His film career began in 1909, and he was the leading actor two years later. His last roll was in 1952’s Lone Star, with his sister Ethel, and some guy named Clark Gable. He was closely associated with two Christmas rolls. He played Ebenezer Scrooge in radio versions of A Christmas Carol from 1934 through 1953, except for two years he was replaced by his brother John, and by Orson Welles. In 1938, MGM wanted him to play the role in their film version, but he had to pass because of a broken hip, and he recommended Reginald Owen, who took on the role. Lionel also played the villain Mr. Potter in It’s a Wonderful Life. Beginning by the late 1920’s Lionel began having mobility problems. It’s unsure why this occurred, but he had increasing arthritis and broke his hip in the mid 1930s, apparently twice, and the second time (1938) it healed incompletely. His acting ability, however, was strong enough to keep in him rolls that allowed him to act from wheelchairs and on crutches. My favorite roll of his is as the patriarch of a wacky and wonderful family in You Can’t Take It With You (1938), which was rewritten to accommodate Lionel’s need to use crutches and sit for most of the film.
Ethel Barrymore (1879-1959) was more fond of the stage than of film. She began her stage career in 1895, appearing with her uncle John Drew, Jr. When she became a stage star, she got tired of returning to the stage for curtain calls and apparently coined the phrase “That’s all there is – there isn’t any more!” which became a catchphrase. Ethel first appeared in film in 1914, and many of her films are lost. Only two films were made with the three siblings, one is lost, the other is Rasputin and the Empress (1932). Her last film roll was in 1957. My favorite of her rolls is as a political matron in The Farmers Daughter (1947).
John Barrymore (1882-1942) was known as “The Great Profile,” from his work in silent films. He started on the stage in 1900, though reluctantly. His voice, trained on the stage allowed him to do well in sound pictures and he had continued success. In 1922 he starred in a production in Hamlet, and though unrecorded, his performance is still considered by many to be the greatest of all time. Based on that performance, he was called “the greatest living American tragedian.” He had trouble with alcohol beginning in the early 1930s, and eventually had trouble being hired because he became disruptive and delinquent on set. In 1937 he began doing Shakespeare for radio, starting with Hamlet, and was again well received. He memory had started to fail, however, and he required cue cards for future film roles. His last film was released in 1941. My personal favorite of his roles is from Dinner at Eight (1938), also one of my favorite films, and starring Lionel Barrymore. He plays a parody of himself, an apparently washed up alcoholic actor. The brother’s had no scenes together in that film.
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