Lionel Barrymore Biography

Fast Facts

• Married Irene Fenwick, who was a former girlfriend of his brother John Barrymore
• Born to a theatrical family, he started acting alongside his grandmother, Louisa Drew, as a teenager
• Quote: "Hollywood is tied hand and foot to the demands for artificiality of the masses all over the world․"
• Quote: "I can remember when nobody believed an actor and didn't care what he believed ․․․ acting was thought to be a vocation [meant for] scatterbrains, show-offs, wastrels and scamps․ I don't believe that's true today and I don't think that it ever was․"
• Despite his protests that he would rather be an artist and composer than an actor, he spent more than 60 years performing on stage, screen and radio
• Best known for playing Mr․ Potter in "It's a Wonderful Life" and Martin Vanderhof in "You Can't Take It with You․"
• Became a member of the historic actor's club The Lambs in 1900
• Due to the effects of arthritis, he was confined to a wheelchair starting in 1938, but he was so popular that parts were written around him
• Is considered to be the inventor of the boom microphone, which is held over actors' heads while they speak
• Was cast as Mr․ Potter in "It's A Wonderful Life" due to his annual work as Ebenezer Scrooge in radio broadcasts of "A Christmas Carol․"