Child actress Drew Barrymore with her mother, Jaid Barrymore, and her half-brother, John Blyth Barrymore.Photo:Tom Gates/Archive Photos/Getty
Tom Gates/Archive Photos/Getty
Drew Barrymorehas been a staple in Hollywood since theage of 7, when she starred inE.T., but her family’s legacy goes back even further.
The Drew Barrymore Showhost was born in 1975 to two actor parents, John Drew Barrymore andJaid Barrymore. Her father hails from a long line of actors dating back to about 1872, when Drew’s great-grandfather, Herbert Blyth, first took the stage name Maurice Barrymore. The Drew family, from which Maurice’s wife hailed, began acting in the early 1800s.
Watching classic movies is “a portal," Drew told PEOPLE of her family dynasty in 2022. “I will be walking into the kitchen and there will be Lionel or John or Ethel or my dad, andI literally gasp,” she said of seeing her family on-screen.
According to Drew’s aunt, Diana Barrymore, the family’s expectations for success were set early on. “I was supercharged,” she wrote in her 1957 memoirToo Much, Too Soon, perVanity Fair. “Weren’t all the Barrymores? It was expected of me.”
As for Drew’s father, John Drew, he held his namesake in high regard. “When my dad would talk about his own father, I would listen as if I was being let into this fairy-tale world, where dangers lurk but fantastical magical things can occur,” Drew wrote in her 2015 memoirWildflower.
Drew also said she felt an “umbilical” pull to go into the family business — one that gave the Barrymores the nickname “The Royal Family of the American Stage.”
“Something in being a part of my dad’s family has been such a cosmic, spiritual, magnetic pull,” she told PEOPLE in 2022. “I feel so compelledto do what they do.”
Here is everything to know about the Barrymore family and all of Drew Barrymore’s acting ancestors.
Maurice Barrymore
Photograph of the famed actor Maurice Barrymore, leaning against a piano and holding a cup of tea. Photograph, ca. 1860s-1870s.Bettman
Bettman
Maurice Barrymore, the patriarch of the Barrymore acting clan, was born Herbert Blyth in Punjab, India in 1849. Though he studied law at the University of Oxford, he became passionate about the stage after becoming friends with a group of actors.
His father, William Blyth, didn’t approve of his newfound career choice, so Herbert performed under pseudonyms before taking Maurice Barrymore as his stage name.
According to theSt. Louis Post-Dispatch, Maurice made his American acting debut inUnder the Gaslighton Jan. 23, 1875, cementing his stage name. He then made his Broadway debut inPiquein December 1875.
One year later, on Dec. 31, 1876, Maurice married actress Georgiana Drew, with whom he had three children: Ethel, Lionel and John Barrymore. All three children pursued acting careers of their own.
Maurice continued acting, often with Georgiana, in theater, performing everywhere from New York to San Francisco. He had several public breakdowns toward the end of his life, likely a result of a then-incurable bout of syphilis, according toTheNew York Times.
Near the end of his life, Maurice was transferred to a hospital in Amityville, N.Y. He died in his sleep on March 25, 1905.
Georgiana “Georgie” Drew Barrymore
Georgie Drew Barrymore.The History Collection / Alamy
The History Collection / Alamy
Maurice’s wife, Georgiana Emma “Georgie” Drew Barrymore, was born in Philadelphia on July 11, 1856.
According toThe New York Times, Georgie became involved in the theater as a young child while studying at a convent. At the time, her mother, Louisa Lane Drew, was the manager of and an actor at the Arch Street Theatre in Philadelphia.
Georgiana remained a member of Arch Street for several years until she was offered a place in Augustin Daly’s theater company in New York. It was there that she would meet her husband Maurice, who also performed with the company.
Georgiana starred alongside Maurice in the 1875 Broadway showPique. She also had parts inAs You Like ItandMoney. Her greatest performance, according toThe New YorkTimes, was that of the widow in David Lloyd and Sydney Rosenfeld’s playThe Senator. In her later years, she performed in comedies with Charles Frohman’s company.
Georgiana’s doctors sent her to California after a long lung illness, believed to be tuberculosis, returned. On the way to San Francisco, she decided to remain in Santa Barbara, Calif., until she was cured. Georgiana died in Santa Barbara on July 2, 1893. She was 36.
Lionel Barrymore
Lionel Barrymore (1878-1954).Bettman
Maurice and Georgiana’s firstborn child, Lionel Herbert Blyth, arrived on April 28, 1878. Born in Philadelphia, Lionel got his first taste of the limelight at age 6 while on tour with his parents. According toThe New York Times, he filled in for a child actor who had become ill.
Lionel returned to the stage at 15 with his grandmother, Louisa, who starred alongside him in a production ofThe Rivals. The two also starred together inThe Road to Ruin.
He took a hiatus to begin painting, even traveling abroad to study in Paris, but Lionel’s artistic ventures proved financially unsuccessful, and he returned to the stage. He also started his own family around this time, marrying his first wife, Doris Rankin, in 1904. The couple had two children, Ethel Barrymore II and Mary Barrymore, but both girls died in childhood, perThe Green Book Magazine. Lionel and Rankin divorced in 1922.
In 1931, Lionel became the first Barrymore to receive anOscarfor his work inA Free Soul. The next year, he appeared alongside his siblings John and Ethel inRasputin and the Empress.His biggest commercial success came as Mr. Potter in the 1946 Christmas classicIt’s a Wonderful Life.
In his later years, Lionel used a wheelchair after sustaining a hip injury, which never healed, and developing arthritis. Still, he continued to perform, playing the part of Ebenezer Scrooge in the annual radio broadcast of Charles Dickens’A Christmas Carol.
Lionel also authored several books, including the autobiographyWe Barrymores(1951) and the historical fictionMr. Cantonwine: A Moral Tale(1953).
He died of a heart attack at Valley Hospital in Van Nuys, Calif., on Nov. 15, 1954. He was 76.
Ethel Barrymore
Actress Ethel Barrymore performing in the play ‘The Corn Is Green’.George Karger/Getty
George Karger/Getty
Ethel Barrymore was born to Maurice and Georgiana on Aug. 15, 1879, in Philadelphia.
Like her elder brother, Ethel took to the stage early. She was 14 years old when she decided to pursue acting, making her Broadway debut as JuliainThe Rivals, according toThe New York Times.
Ethel initially hoped to deviate from her family’s career trajectory. “I always hoped to be a pianist,” she once said, according toTheNew York Times. “But I had to eat, and acting seemed like the natural thing to do, since the family was already in it." Ethel also noted that, even after years of working, she was shy and “always scared to death” onstage.
Ethel lamented her family name in her 1955 autobiography,Memories. “I think my brothers and I were born under a dark star,” she wrote. “There was no such thing for us as enduring happiness.”
Ethel also received plenty of professional accolades. She won anAcademy Awardin 1945 forNone but the Lonely Heart, in which she starred oppositeCary Grant. In 1947, she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her work inThe Spiral Staircase(1946). She received the same nomination twice more, for her roles inAlfred Hitchcock’sThe Paradine Case(1947) andPinky(1949).
TheNew York Timesreported that in 1936, Ethel took time off to focus on her family. She married Russell G. Colt in 1909 and the couple welcomed three children — Samuel Colt, Ethel Barrymore Colt and John Drew Colt — all of whom pursued acting careers. Ethel and Russell divorced in 1923.
The actress died of heart disease at the age of 79 on June 18, 1959.
John Barrymore
Actor John Barrymore wearing a tweed coat and a serious expression, in a promotional portrait for an unidentified film circa 1920.Warner Bros./Archive Photos/Getty
Warner Bros./Archive Photos/Getty
Both of Drew’s paternal grandparents were also famous actors. Her grandfather,John Barrymore, was born on Feb. 14, 1882, in Philadelphia.
Known as “The Great Profile” for his prominent facial features, John transitioned into film inAn American Citizen(1914).
His decades-long career followed, with credits in titles such asDr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde(1920),Sherlock Holmes(1922) andDon Juan(1926). His stage credits includedRichard III(1920) andHamlet(1922). John’s health began to deteriorate as a result of alcoholism, forcing him to use cue cards to read his lines in his last years of life.
His drinking also took a toll on his personal life. His third wife,Dolores Costello, who was known as the “Goddess of the Silver Screen,” divorced him in October 1935. (The actor was also married to Katherine Corri Harris, Blanche Oelrichs and, later, Elaine Barrie.)
John’s legacy was carried on through his three children: Diana Barrymore, whom he shared with Oelrichs, as well as Dolores Ethel Mae and John Drew Barrymore, whom he shared with Costello. Both Diana and John Drew followed in their father’s theatrical footsteps.
“I can’t know ever if that’s even true,” Drew said of the movie’s origins.
Diana Barrymore
Heritage Art/Heritage Images/Getty
John Barrymore and his second wife, Blanche Oelrichs, welcomed their daughter Diana on March 3, 1921.
After studying at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Diana made her Broadway debut inThe Romantic Mr. Dickens, according toTIME. She later made the transition into film, appearing in films likeNightmare(1942) andLadies Courageous(1944).
Her performances gained the attention of her famous father, who is said to have told reporters: “Isn’t she lovely! I worked like hell onHamletandRichard IIIbut she was the best thing I ever produced!”
Diana was married three times throughout her life: to Bramwell Fletcher, tennis player John Howard and Robert Wilcox.
Diana was found dead in her Manhattan apartment on Jan. 25, 1960. She was 38. Her cause of death was presumed to be an overdose, as she was found with empty liquor bottles and various drugs in her apartment, though officially it was listed as “unknown.” According to theLodi News-Sentinel, Diana’s autopsy failed to provide a cause of death.
John Drew Barrymore
Portrait of actor John Barrymore, Jr. A publicity handout for the movie “The Sundowners”.Bettman
John Barrymore and Dolores Costello welcomed Drew’s father,John Drew Barrymore, on June 4, 1932.
He followed in his parents' footsteps early on, making his debut on the silver screen at age 18 withThe SundownersandHigh Lonesome.
John Drew died on Nov. 29, 2004, at the age of 72. “He was a cool cat. Please smile when you think of him,” Drew said in a statement at the time, according toTheWashington Post.
Jaid Barrymore, 78
Jaid Barrymore during “Pieces (of Ass)” Opening Night Celebration at Dodger Stages - Theater II in New York City.Jamie McCarthy/WireImage
Jamie McCarthy/WireImage
Drew’s mother,Ildikó Jaid Barrymore, is also an actress. Born in Germany to Hungarian refugees on May 8, 1946, she immigrated to the U.S. with her parents in the 1950s, according toEl País.
In 1971, she married John Drew and entered into the Barrymore dynasty. The couple separated when Drew was young and finalized their divorce in 1984, after which Jaidbecame Drew’s manager. The mother-daughter duo went their separate ways when Drew was emancipated at the age of 14.
Jaid continued to act throughout the 1990s and 2000s with small parts in films and shorts.
InWildflower, Drew wrote that she was financially supporting her mother. “I willalways support her. I can’t turn my back on the person who gave me my life,” she told PEOPLE in 2022. “I can’t do it. It would hurt me so much.”
John Blyth Barrymore III, 70
John Barrymore attends Daniel DiCriscio’s birthday party in 2012.Amy Graves/WireImage
Amy Graves/WireImage
John Drew and his first wife, actress Cara Williams, welcomed John Blyth Barrymore III on May 15, 1954.
He has one son, John Blyth Barrymore Jr., with his first wife, Jacqueline, and two daughters, Blyth Lane and Sabrina Brooke, with his second wife, Rebecca Pogrow.
Drew Barrymore, 50
Drew Barrymore arrives for the Time 100 Gala in 2023.ANGELA WEISS/AFP/Getty
ANGELA WEISS/AFP/Getty
John Drew and Jaid welcomed Drew on Feb. 22, 1975, and she got her first starring role at the age of 7 inE.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
In 1983, Drewattended her first Oscarsceremony, whereE.T.won four awards. The actress struggled with addiction issues and in April 1990, she toldtheL.A. Timesthat after going to rehabilitation programs, she had slowed her lifestyle down significantly.
“I don’t do that stuff anymore … I don’t go around it,” Drew said. “Through sobriety I’ve found another life, a better life. But it hasn’t been easy.”
In February 1991, the child star emancipated herself at the age of 14 and moved into an apartment of her own.
Drew flourished professionally, regularly working on hit films such asPoison Ivy(1992),Wayne’s World 2(1993) andBoys on the Side(1995).At 20, she started her own production company, Flower Films, withNancy Juvonen. With Flower Films, she starred in some of her biggest hits, includingNever Been Kissed(1999),Charlie’s Angels(2000),50 First Dates(2004) andFever Pitch(2005).Whip It(2009) marked Drew’s directorial debut.
Drew married longtime friendWill Kopelmanin 2012. The couple welcomed daughters Olive and Frankie during their relationship, leading Drew to pull away from acting. “It was like, there is one role of your entire life that’s going to matter the most, and it’s being a real-life mother,” she toldVulture.Drew and Kopelman divorcedin 2016.
TheWildflowerauthor gave further insight into her career path in an interview withThe Guardianin 2015. “I don’t want my girls to grow up saying, ‘Oh wow, yeah, she really worked hard, but I didn’t see her,’ ” she said. “I want them to be like, ‘I don’t know how the hell she was there for all those things, and she still worked!’ ”
In June 2023, Drew toldVulturethat she was working on her complex relationship with her mother and with herself. “I forgive my mom. I forgive my dad,” she said. “I’ve never forgiven myself, but I’d like to and I’m ready to.”
source: people.com
