The Barrymores : Hollywood's First Family

The Barrymores are a part of American culture: we have Drew Barrymore dolls and screensavers, and vintage John, Ethel and Lionel Barrymore film and stage memorabilia is prized throughout the world.

Their complex family tree contains branches of actors that stretch from Elizabethan England to the big-screen debut of "Charlie's Angels".

John Barrymore is recognized as one of the last matinee idols as well as "the Great Profile".

He had the most notoriety of the Barrymore dynasty, all of whom were recognized for their brilliance on stage and screen.

He was best known for his interpretations of Shakespeare's works on stage and the debonair characters he created on film, as well as for his grotesque, deformed characterizations of the hypnotist Svengali and Mr. Hyde. In 1928 John married actress Dolores Costello, the love of his life, a smoky-eyed beauty half his age whose father, Maurice Costello, was the first star of motion pictures with The Vitagraph Company.

The couple documented their honeymoon voyage with a unique album of photos and kept a personal journal about the Galapagos Islands and other exotic locations they visited. In "The Barrymores: Hollywood's First Family", these materials are reproduced for the first time, along with private correspondence, rare family photographs, materials collected by the family, and stills from well-known films that illuminate the family's triumphs and tragedies.

John and Dolores' son, John Drew Barrymore, inherited ability, looks and the family curse.

He married three actresses and has three children, among them Drew Barrymore, the child actress who has grown into a true Hollywood player.

Many believe that for talent and charm, the Barrymores have never been eclipsed - and never will be. "The Barrymores: Hollywood's First Family" tells their remarkable story.