Nickname:	/ The Great Profile / Jack
Known for:	Grand Hotel, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Svengali
Birth name:	John Sidney Blyth
Birthday:	14 February 1882, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Height:	5' 9" (1.75 m)

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Free Image Hosting - Upload your favorite celebrity pictures. Father of John Drew Barrymore and actress Diana Barrymore. Son of Maurice Barrymore and Georgiana Barrymore; grandson of Louisa Drew and actor John Drew (1827-62); nephew of Sidney Drew; cousin of S. Rankin Drew; uncle of Samuel Colt, Ethel Colt, and John Drew Colt. His birth certificate lists 14 February as birth date, which conflicts with the family Bible which says 15 February. His World War I draft record and Social Security records state February 15. George Bernard Shaw considered his very highly regarded "Hamlet" one of the worst performances of the role he had ever seen, and in a blistering letter accused him of indulging his own ego at the expense of William Shakespeare. Was a good friend of Errol Flynn, who subsequently played Barrymore in Too Much, Too Soon (1958), a film about Barrymore's daughter Diana Barrymore. The only one of the three Barrymore siblings (John, Ethel Barrymore and Lionel Barrymore) to never win or even be nominated for an Academy Award; he is now considered the finest actor of the three. His 1922 "Hamlet" was the longest-running Broadway production of the play with 101 performances until John Gielgud played the part for 132 performances in 1936. He was the greatest Hamlet and Richard III of his time, and he is still considered the greatest American actor to play those roles. Barrymore left specific instructions that he be cremated and his ashes be buried next to his parents in the family cemetery in Philadelphia. However, as his brother Lionel Barrymore and sister Ethel Barrymore were Catholic and cremation had not was not sanctioned by the Church, the executors (Lionel and Mervyn LeRoy) had Barrymore's remains entombed at Calvary Cemetery in Los Angeles. In 1980, John Drew Barrymore decided to have his dad cremated, and recruited his son John Blyth Barrymore to help. They removed the casket from its crypt, drove it to the Odd Fellows Cemetery, and made the preparations. John Jr. insisted on having a look inside before they left. After viewing the body, he came out white as a sheet, got in the car and said to his son, "Thank God I'm drunk, I'll never remember it.". In 1920 lived at 134 W. 4th Street in Manhattan. Was originally supposed to play Sheridan Whiteside in The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942), but because of the effects of his alcoholism he couldn't remember his lines and was fired.