US family of actors, the children of 
British-born Maurice Barrymore and Georgie
Drew, both stage personalities. Lionel
Barrymore (1878-1954) first appeared on the
stage with his grandmother, Mrs John Drew, in
1893. He played numerous film roles from
1909, including A Free Soul 1931 and Grand
Hotel 1932, but was perhaps best known for
his annual radio portrayal of Scrooge in
Dickens's A Christmas Carol. Ethel Barrymore
(1879-1959) played with the British actor
Henry Irving in London in 1898 and in 1928
opened the Ethel Barrymore Theatre in New
York; she also appeared in many films from
1914, including None but the Lonely Heart
1944. John Barrymore (1882-1942), a
flamboyant actor who often appeared on stage
and screen with his brother and sister. In
his early years he was a Shakespearean actor.
From 1923 he acted almost entirely in films,
including Dinner at Eight 1933, and became a
screen idol, nicknamed `the Profile'.