WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.839 Welcome back to The Deep Dive. Today, we're cutting 00:00:02.839 --> 00:00:06.139 into a life that was really defined by extremes. 00:00:06.500 --> 00:00:09.759 It really was. On one side, you have this colossal, 00:00:09.759 --> 00:00:13.320 just undeniable artistic genius. And on the other, 00:00:13.380 --> 00:00:16.600 you have this chaotic, public, self -inflicted 00:00:16.600 --> 00:00:20.219 ruin. A total collapse. We are diving deep into 00:00:20.219 --> 00:00:23.019 the dizzying, tragic, and I have to say, utterly 00:00:23.019 --> 00:00:27.420 captivating story of John Barrymore -born John 00:00:27.420 --> 00:00:30.660 Sidney Blythe. He was a man whose existence was, 00:00:30.800 --> 00:00:33.979 well, less a career and more a theatrical comet. 00:00:34.280 --> 00:00:36.219 That's a great way to put it. A comet that burned 00:00:36.219 --> 00:00:39.380 impossibly bright before just spectacularly collapsing. 00:00:39.560 --> 00:00:41.219 It's really the ultimate cautionary tale, but 00:00:41.219 --> 00:00:43.350 it's disguised as high art, isn't it? It is. 00:00:43.369 --> 00:00:45.649 When you talk about American theatrical royalty, 00:00:45.890 --> 00:00:47.429 Barrymore is right at the top. He's the most 00:00:47.429 --> 00:00:49.509 brilliant jewel in the whole Drew and Barrymore 00:00:49.509 --> 00:00:51.530 dynasty crown. Right. But like you said, his 00:00:51.530 --> 00:00:54.009 genius was just inextricably linked to his decline. 00:00:54.289 --> 00:00:56.689 The central conflict of his life, and this is 00:00:56.689 --> 00:00:59.369 what's so fascinating, is his ability to physically 00:00:59.369 --> 00:01:01.570 and psychologically master the most profound 00:01:01.570 --> 00:01:04.430 classical drama ever written, only to end up 00:01:04.430 --> 00:01:06.969 as a figure of ridicule in the tabloid press. 00:01:07.250 --> 00:01:10.129 That contradiction is what makes his story so 00:01:10.129 --> 00:01:12.780 essential. It is. It's essential to understanding 00:01:12.780 --> 00:01:15.659 20th century celebrity culture, really. Okay, 00:01:15.719 --> 00:01:18.500 so let's unpack this mission for today. We're 00:01:18.500 --> 00:01:21.400 going to trace John Barrymore's pretty improbable 00:01:21.400 --> 00:01:24.560 journey. He started as this reluctant artist, 00:01:24.799 --> 00:01:27.340 someone who actively tried to avoid the stage 00:01:27.340 --> 00:01:29.719 entirely. He really did not want to act. And 00:01:29.719 --> 00:01:33.019 he goes from that to becoming, by almost universal 00:01:33.019 --> 00:01:37.120 consensus, the greatest living American tragedian. 00:01:37.469 --> 00:01:40.069 We'll detail his triumphs across three different 00:01:40.069 --> 00:01:43.329 media, the stage, silent film, and then sound 00:01:43.329 --> 00:01:45.170 film. And then the fall. And then we'll track 00:01:45.170 --> 00:01:48.189 that dramatic decade -long slide into self -parody 00:01:48.189 --> 00:01:50.909 that really characterized his final heartbreaking 00:01:50.909 --> 00:01:52.870 years. And this really highlights the unique 00:01:52.870 --> 00:01:55.370 nature of his career trajectory because it wasn't 00:01:55.370 --> 00:01:57.689 a single path. His professional life was like... 00:01:57.980 --> 00:02:00.780 Four distinct acts of triumph before that fifth 00:02:00.780 --> 00:02:03.500 messy fall. Four acts. He starts in light comedy 00:02:03.500 --> 00:02:05.959 and farce, mastering timing and wit. Then he 00:02:05.959 --> 00:02:08.379 makes this massive, almost impossible pivot to 00:02:08.379 --> 00:02:10.639 classical tragedy, which culminates in Shakespeare. 00:02:10.919 --> 00:02:14.560 An incredible leap. A huge leap. Then he conquers 00:02:14.560 --> 00:02:17.199 silent film, earning that unforgettable nickname, 00:02:17.500 --> 00:02:21.259 The Great Profile. And finally, his stage -trained 00:02:21.259 --> 00:02:24.139 voice was such a powerful resonant asset that 00:02:24.139 --> 00:02:26.180 he becomes one of the few stars who genuinely 00:02:26.180 --> 00:02:29.419 thrived in early sound films when so many of 00:02:29.419 --> 00:02:31.759 his contemporaries just failed. So many fail 00:02:31.759 --> 00:02:33.960 by the wayside. Yeah. This makes him a truly 00:02:33.960 --> 00:02:37.159 singular figure in American acting history. A 00:02:37.159 --> 00:02:39.460 four -act professional miracle followed by a 00:02:39.460 --> 00:02:42.240 final public breakdown. Let's start where all 00:02:42.240 --> 00:02:45.479 good tragedies begin. With that theatrical royalty 00:02:45.479 --> 00:02:48.240 that was, well, more like a curse than a blessing. 00:02:48.439 --> 00:02:50.080 Absolutely. You have to understand the sheer 00:02:50.080 --> 00:02:52.439 weight of his family name. I mean, his ancestry 00:02:52.439 --> 00:02:55.280 was just stacked. Hard to even comprehend. His 00:02:55.280 --> 00:02:58.259 mother, Georgie Drew Barrymore, she hailed from 00:02:58.259 --> 00:03:00.860 the highly prominent Drew family. Her mother, 00:03:01.039 --> 00:03:03.500 Louise Elaine Drusso, John's maternal grandmother, 00:03:03.780 --> 00:03:06.240 was a legend in her own right. Right, the manager. 00:03:06.460 --> 00:03:08.780 An accomplished actress who managed the famous 00:03:08.780 --> 00:03:10.960 Arch Street Theater in Philadelphia for over 00:03:10.960 --> 00:03:13.319 three decades. So on his mother's side, you've 00:03:13.319 --> 00:03:16.120 got management, tradition, real theatrical power. 00:03:16.219 --> 00:03:18.780 And his father. Maurice Barrymore, born Herbert 00:03:18.780 --> 00:03:22.020 Blythe, a British actor of Indian descent, a 00:03:22.020 --> 00:03:25.280 genuine matinee idol of his time, famous for 00:03:25.280 --> 00:03:28.460 his wit, his charm, and his devastating good 00:03:28.460 --> 00:03:30.599 looks. So he had it from both sides, the looks 00:03:30.599 --> 00:03:32.800 and the talent. And he was the youngest of three 00:03:32.800 --> 00:03:36.479 iconic siblings, Lionel and Ethel. So this wasn't 00:03:36.479 --> 00:03:38.460 just a family of actors. They were culturally 00:03:38.460 --> 00:03:41.659 the rock stars of the American stage in the late 00:03:41.659 --> 00:03:44.539 19th and early 20th centuries. The expectation 00:03:44.539 --> 00:03:47.800 on John was just immense. But despite all that, 00:03:47.840 --> 00:03:51.300 that grand lineage and public glamour, his youth 00:03:51.300 --> 00:03:54.159 sounds anything but stable. It sounds like a 00:03:54.159 --> 00:03:56.340 deeply unsettled, grounded -less upbringing. 00:03:56.639 --> 00:03:59.020 Oh, far from it. His parents were constantly 00:03:59.020 --> 00:04:01.139 touring, which was common for actors then, but 00:04:01.139 --> 00:04:03.599 it meant John or Jack, as they called him, experienced 00:04:03.599 --> 00:04:05.500 a tremendous amount of instability. He was often 00:04:05.500 --> 00:04:07.620 just shuffled around. And that instability, it 00:04:07.620 --> 00:04:09.939 reaches a tragic head pretty early on, doesn't 00:04:09.939 --> 00:04:13.169 it? It does. By 1893, he was just 11 years old 00:04:13.169 --> 00:04:15.389 and his mother died from tuberculosis. And because 00:04:15.389 --> 00:04:17.269 of their careers, he wasn't even that close to 00:04:17.269 --> 00:04:20.269 her. No, not really. Because of the constant 00:04:20.269 --> 00:04:22.490 touring and all the time he spent away at boarding 00:04:22.490 --> 00:04:25.850 schools, he barely knew her. This void was partially 00:04:25.850 --> 00:04:28.410 filled by his maternal grandmother, Louisa Drew, 00:04:28.689 --> 00:04:31.790 who primarily raised him. And she was the disciplinarian. 00:04:32.029 --> 00:04:34.949 she was a stern highly disciplined woman completely 00:04:34.949 --> 00:04:38.170 devoted to the theater and she tried with very 00:04:38.170 --> 00:04:41.110 limited success to impose some kind of order 00:04:41.110 --> 00:04:43.589 on the naturally chaotic and undisciplined young 00:04:43.589 --> 00:04:46.329 john and the attempts to instill discipline they 00:04:46.329 --> 00:04:49.579 clearly failed The source material details him 00:04:49.579 --> 00:04:51.740 being sent away to elementary schools in four 00:04:51.740 --> 00:04:54.000 different states because of his troublesome behavior. 00:04:54.339 --> 00:04:56.519 They were desperately trying to contain him. 00:04:56.740 --> 00:04:59.399 It seems like it. They were. He was first sent 00:04:59.399 --> 00:05:01.879 to the boys' annex of the convent of Notre Dame 00:05:01.879 --> 00:05:04.420 in Philadelphia. And here's a beautiful irony. 00:05:04.740 --> 00:05:07.160 The school tried to punish him for his mischief 00:05:07.160 --> 00:05:10.180 by forcing him to read this dense, difficult 00:05:10.180 --> 00:05:13.639 book, Dante's Inferno. A pretty heavy punishment 00:05:13.639 --> 00:05:16.439 for a kid. Right. But when he looked at the illustrations 00:05:16.439 --> 00:05:19.339 by Gustave Doré, the darkness and the drama of 00:05:19.339 --> 00:05:22.100 the imagery just ignited something in him. He 00:05:22.100 --> 00:05:24.620 realized he wanted to be an artist, an illustrator. 00:05:24.819 --> 00:05:28.500 That initial artistic ambition, not acting, was 00:05:28.500 --> 00:05:31.019 what drove him first. But the bad behavior just 00:05:31.019 --> 00:05:33.639 kept escalating. He was expelled from Seton Hall 00:05:33.639 --> 00:05:36.600 and then Georgetown Preparatory School. And the 00:05:36.600 --> 00:05:38.439 circumstances around the Georgetown expulsion 00:05:38.439 --> 00:05:41.319 in 1897, they're pretty grim. They speak volumes 00:05:41.319 --> 00:05:43.879 about his self -destructive streak already forming. 00:05:44.100 --> 00:05:46.620 Yeah. Biographers are quite specific about that 00:05:46.620 --> 00:05:49.000 expulsion. It's often cited as a critical low 00:05:49.000 --> 00:05:51.680 point because his chronic problem with alcohol, 00:05:51.899 --> 00:05:53.920 which started around age 14, was already getting 00:05:53.920 --> 00:05:57.300 out of control. Wow. Yeah. One theory is simple 00:05:57.300 --> 00:05:59.720 inebriation. The other, which was offered by 00:05:59.720 --> 00:06:02.040 a close contemporary, is far more. sensational. 00:06:02.079 --> 00:06:04.160 That he was expelled after being caught waiting 00:06:04.160 --> 00:06:07.639 in a brothel. It illustrates an early appetite 00:06:07.639 --> 00:06:10.540 for just reckless behavior. So he's demonstrating 00:06:10.540 --> 00:06:13.439 this intense emotional chaos. And in that same 00:06:13.439 --> 00:06:17.720 year, 1897, he loses the last stable female figure 00:06:17.720 --> 00:06:20.660 in his life, his grandmother, Louisa Drew. It's 00:06:20.660 --> 00:06:23.959 a convergence of tragedies. He lost his disciplinarian 00:06:23.959 --> 00:06:26.740 and his only stable home, which left him essentially 00:06:26.740 --> 00:06:30.160 rudderless. But all this chaos, this came before 00:06:30.160 --> 00:06:32.779 the truly profound and terrifying trauma that 00:06:32.779 --> 00:06:35.220 would haunt him for the rest of his life. The 00:06:35.220 --> 00:06:37.220 decline of his father. The mental decline of 00:06:37.220 --> 00:06:39.379 his father. That's the impossible weight he carried. 00:06:39.560 --> 00:06:42.860 In March 1901, his father Maurice suffered a 00:06:42.860 --> 00:06:45.600 severe mental breakdown. It was due to tertiary 00:06:45.600 --> 00:06:49.149 syphilis. And John, at just 19... had to be the 00:06:49.149 --> 00:06:51.430 one to deal with it. He had the agonizing duty 00:06:51.430 --> 00:06:53.970 of petitioning the court and personally taking 00:06:53.970 --> 00:06:56.589 his father to Bellevue Hospital. Maurice was 00:06:56.589 --> 00:06:58.769 later transferred to a private institution in 00:06:58.769 --> 00:07:01.250 Amityville, where he suffered this rapid descent 00:07:01.250 --> 00:07:04.990 into madness until his death in 1905. That experience 00:07:04.990 --> 00:07:07.730 must have been just absolutely dramatic, witnessing 00:07:07.730 --> 00:07:10.110 the complete loss of identity and sanity in your 00:07:10.110 --> 00:07:12.589 own father. A close friend later reported that 00:07:12.589 --> 00:07:15.069 the bleak overtone of this event, this breaking 00:07:15.069 --> 00:07:17.589 of his parents' reason, it never quite died away 00:07:17.589 --> 00:07:19.949 in Barrymore's mind. He was perpetually haunted 00:07:19.949 --> 00:07:22.170 by fears he would suffer the same fate. That 00:07:22.170 --> 00:07:24.970 generational dread. It's the bedrock of the Barrymore 00:07:24.970 --> 00:07:27.870 tragedy. It provides the context for his later 00:07:27.870 --> 00:07:30.370 self -destruction, almost as if he was rushing 00:07:30.370 --> 00:07:32.509 toward the end he feared the most. And despite 00:07:32.509 --> 00:07:35.449 carrying that dread, he still actively tried 00:07:35.449 --> 00:07:37.930 to pursue art, still trying to avoid what he 00:07:37.930 --> 00:07:41.350 called the curse of the stage. He was fiercely 00:07:41.350 --> 00:07:43.629 set on being an artist. He studied literature 00:07:43.629 --> 00:07:45.889 and art in London at the Slade School of Fine 00:07:45.889 --> 00:07:48.629 Art, absorbing the culture he felt was higher 00:07:48.629 --> 00:07:51.810 than the theater. He came back to New York and 00:07:51.810 --> 00:07:53.970 found work as an illustrator for the New York 00:07:53.970 --> 00:07:57.000 Evening Journal. earning a respectable $50 a 00:07:57.000 --> 00:07:59.459 week. Which was a decent salary at the turn of 00:07:59.459 --> 00:08:02.120 the century? Very decent. But the self -destructive 00:08:02.120 --> 00:08:05.100 tendencies derailed even this steady gig. Ah, 00:08:05.100 --> 00:08:09.540 so? Swiftly. This attempt ended in May 1902 when 00:08:09.540 --> 00:08:11.639 he was fired for producing an illustration that 00:08:11.639 --> 00:08:13.980 was just so poor -smudged, lacking definition, 00:08:14.379 --> 00:08:17.319 it was immediately clear he was severely hungover. 00:08:17.540 --> 00:08:19.639 And that was it. That was it. It was after this 00:08:19.639 --> 00:08:21.980 humiliating failure that the reality set in. 00:08:22.060 --> 00:08:24.779 The art career was over. And that's the precise 00:08:24.779 --> 00:08:28.100 moment we get that brilliant, cynical quote summing 00:08:28.100 --> 00:08:30.060 up his reluctant entry into the family business. 00:08:30.480 --> 00:08:33.139 Exactly. He was discussing his non -existent 00:08:33.139 --> 00:08:35.299 future with his brother Lionel, and he famously 00:08:35.299 --> 00:08:37.840 said, and I'm quoting here, it looks as though 00:08:37.840 --> 00:08:40.679 I'll have to succumb to the family curse, acting. 00:08:40.960 --> 00:08:43.460 He later admitted the real reason, though. He 00:08:43.460 --> 00:08:45.919 did. He later admitted the lack of romance and 00:08:45.919 --> 00:08:48.370 high art in the decision. i needed the money 00:08:48.370 --> 00:08:52.490 so it was necessity not passion or artistic drive 00:08:52.490 --> 00:08:54.970 that pushed him onto the boards and necessity 00:08:54.970 --> 00:08:58.090 led to disaster his first professional stage 00:08:58.090 --> 00:09:01.629 appearances were predictably chaotic yeah tell 00:09:01.629 --> 00:09:04.230 us about that confirmed anecdote of his earliest 00:09:04.230 --> 00:09:07.549 appearance with ethel In 1901. Oh, it's classic. 00:09:07.870 --> 00:09:10.309 It was in his sister Ethel's big show, Captain 00:09:10.309 --> 00:09:13.330 Jinx of the Horse Marines. John had barely prepared. 00:09:13.610 --> 00:09:15.549 He was learning his lines frantically on the 00:09:15.549 --> 00:09:17.490 train ride to the performance city. Not a great 00:09:17.490 --> 00:09:19.710 start. Not at all. In the first act, he just 00:09:19.710 --> 00:09:22.509 completely stopped mid -dialogue. Couldn't recall 00:09:22.509 --> 00:09:25.149 a single word. He stood there, looking out at 00:09:25.149 --> 00:09:27.570 the confused audience and his horrified castmates, 00:09:27.730 --> 00:09:30.850 and managed to stammer out, I've blown up. Where 00:09:30.850 --> 00:09:32.750 do we go from here? He said that to the audience. 00:09:33.029 --> 00:09:35.559 To the audience. The cast had to improvise the 00:09:35.559 --> 00:09:37.940 rest of the scene. It's just an immediate signal 00:09:37.940 --> 00:09:40.559 of his complete lack of professionalism and discipline 00:09:40.559 --> 00:09:43.019 at the time. And before he even fully committed 00:09:43.019 --> 00:09:45.440 to this career he didn't want, he was already 00:09:45.440 --> 00:09:47.899 starring in a real -life melodrama that put him 00:09:47.899 --> 00:09:50.240 adjacent to one of the biggest scandals of the 00:09:50.240 --> 00:09:53.320 early century. The Evelyn Nesbitt affair. Tell 00:09:53.320 --> 00:09:56.299 us about that. This is fantastic early tabloid 00:09:56.299 --> 00:09:59.480 fodder. Evelyn Nesbitt was the beautiful artist's 00:09:59.480 --> 00:10:02.419 model, the original it girl, a Floridora girl. 00:10:02.559 --> 00:10:05.639 And Barrymore, with his own rakish charm, was 00:10:05.639 --> 00:10:08.639 captivated. They had a romantic affair in 1902, 00:10:08.860 --> 00:10:11.159 and Barrymore, you know, impulsively proposed 00:10:11.159 --> 00:10:13.600 marriage. And Nesbitt's mother vetoed it, right? 00:10:14.029 --> 00:10:16.149 seeing Barrymore as irresponsible and without 00:10:16.149 --> 00:10:18.629 means. Correct. Her mother deemed him a poor 00:10:18.629 --> 00:10:21.710 match, a struggling, irresponsible, drunken artist. 00:10:22.169 --> 00:10:24.629 Nesbitt was physically sent away to break off 00:10:24.629 --> 00:10:26.409 the relationship. And just a few years later, 00:10:26.509 --> 00:10:30.049 in 1906, Nesbitt becomes the central figure in 00:10:30.049 --> 00:10:32.649 the trial of the century. The very same. When 00:10:32.649 --> 00:10:35.289 her mentally unstable husband, Harry K. Thaw, 00:10:35.470 --> 00:10:38.190 shot and killed her former lover, the prominent 00:10:38.190 --> 00:10:40.889 architect Stanford White, on the rooftop of Madison 00:10:40.889 --> 00:10:43.350 Square Garden. So Barrymore was dating the woman. 00:10:43.899 --> 00:10:46.080 whose earlier affair was the direct cause of 00:10:46.080 --> 00:10:48.870 this sensational murder trial. And there was 00:10:48.870 --> 00:10:50.870 speculation he might be called to testify. He 00:10:50.870 --> 00:10:53.250 was just a magnet for drama, even when he was 00:10:53.250 --> 00:10:55.710 trying to avoid the stage. It highlights a crucial 00:10:55.710 --> 00:10:58.370 point. The tabloid character wasn't a mask he 00:10:58.370 --> 00:11:00.509 adopted later in life. He was always inclined 00:11:00.509 --> 00:11:03.710 towards scandal, chaos, and placing himself in 00:11:03.710 --> 00:11:06.789 the most theatrical positions possible. The public 00:11:06.789 --> 00:11:09.070 spectacle was always his natural environment. 00:11:09.470 --> 00:11:12.009 That inclination toward chaos eventually gave 00:11:12.009 --> 00:11:16.009 way to this remarkable, though temporary, period 00:11:16.009 --> 00:11:18.639 of discipline. It's almost as if the sheer weight 00:11:18.639 --> 00:11:20.740 of the family name and his own untapped talent 00:11:20.740 --> 00:11:22.679 just forced him into line. For a while, yeah. 00:11:22.879 --> 00:11:25.259 Let's trace his ascent. He started his professional 00:11:25.259 --> 00:11:28.399 stage career in 1903, but he was known initially 00:11:28.399 --> 00:11:30.840 as a comic, right? He started at the bottom, 00:11:30.899 --> 00:11:34.159 doing light comedy and farces. These roles required 00:11:34.159 --> 00:11:38.059 a very specific skill set. Deft movement, charm, 00:11:38.299 --> 00:11:41.820 impeccable comic timing. His mentor during the 00:11:41.820 --> 00:11:44.139 run of The Dictator was the actor William Collier, 00:11:44.259 --> 00:11:47.000 who is a master of comedy. And Collier coached 00:11:47.000 --> 00:11:49.419 him. He did. He worked hard to coach him. But 00:11:49.419 --> 00:11:52.200 Barrymore's increasing drinking and unreliability 00:11:52.200 --> 00:11:55.220 were a constant source of frustration. One biographer 00:11:55.220 --> 00:11:57.899 noted that Collier at times regretted his sponsorship 00:11:57.899 --> 00:12:00.639 because Barrymore was missing cues and sometimes 00:12:00.639 --> 00:12:03.559 entire performances. Grub. But he was moving 00:12:03.559 --> 00:12:06.419 up the financial ladder. He started at $50 a 00:12:06.419 --> 00:12:09.460 week, then $175 and eventually $600 a week for 00:12:09.460 --> 00:12:11.860 lead roles. But he still hadn't found his own 00:12:11.860 --> 00:12:14.080 voice. He was essentially a very charming imitation 00:12:14.080 --> 00:12:16.919 of his famous uncle. Exactly. A critic for the 00:12:16.919 --> 00:12:19.600 Washington Times observed in 1912 that Barrymore 00:12:19.600 --> 00:12:23.100 inimitably imitates his uncle John Drew. He was 00:12:23.100 --> 00:12:25.460 just relying on inherited mannerisms and looks. 00:12:25.700 --> 00:12:28.059 And that lasted for a while. This period of being 00:12:28.059 --> 00:12:30.980 a charming mimic lasted until the mid -1910s. 00:12:31.389 --> 00:12:33.769 and the shift was largely motivated by an outsider, 00:12:33.909 --> 00:12:36.690 the playwright Edward Sheldon. Sheldon saw a 00:12:36.690 --> 00:12:39.309 genuine depth in Barrymore and was instrumental 00:12:39.309 --> 00:12:41.330 in nudging him away from those lighthearted, 00:12:41.429 --> 00:12:44.490 self -mocking comedy roles toward roles of genuine 00:12:44.490 --> 00:12:47.549 dramatic substance. And the true artistic breakthrough 00:12:47.549 --> 00:12:51.370 came in 1916, when he took the lead in John Galsworthy's 00:12:51.370 --> 00:12:54.309 powerful prison drama, Justice. This was not 00:12:54.309 --> 00:12:57.490 a charming farce. This was grim, realistic theater. 00:12:57.669 --> 00:12:59.809 That role changed everything. It was the moment 00:12:59.809 --> 00:13:01.690 he proved he had the weight for serious drama. 00:13:02.289 --> 00:13:04.389 The New York Times review was transformative. 00:13:04.830 --> 00:13:07.289 It stated that Barrymore stepped forward into 00:13:07.289 --> 00:13:09.769 a new position on the American stage with an 00:13:09.769 --> 00:13:12.570 extraordinary performance in every detail. He 00:13:12.570 --> 00:13:14.649 was no longer just a handsome rake or an imitation. 00:13:14.990 --> 00:13:18.169 No, he was finally recognized as a serious, compelling, 00:13:18.269 --> 00:13:21.070 dramatic actor. This success paved the path to 00:13:21.070 --> 00:13:23.549 the greatest test in the English language, Shakespeare. 00:13:24.320 --> 00:13:26.879 We know he faced criticism about his vocal limitations 00:13:26.879 --> 00:13:29.620 and lack of stage presence earlier in his career. 00:13:29.779 --> 00:13:32.120 So how did he overcome that to tackle roles like 00:13:32.120 --> 00:13:34.519 Richard III and Hamlet? This is where we see 00:13:34.519 --> 00:13:36.840 that intense discipline that contrasts so sharply 00:13:36.840 --> 00:13:39.860 with his public chaos. To prepare for these serious 00:13:39.860 --> 00:13:42.519 roles, he undertook an astonishing level of professional 00:13:42.519 --> 00:13:45.340 rigor. He worked with Margaret Carrington, a 00:13:45.340 --> 00:13:47.710 renowned voice and diction trainer. So he was 00:13:47.710 --> 00:13:50.190 aware of the criticism. Very aware. Conscious 00:13:50.190 --> 00:13:52.250 of the criticism of his projection and vocal 00:13:52.250 --> 00:13:55.669 range, he worked with her daily, up to six hours 00:13:55.669 --> 00:13:58.029 a day for six weeks straight. Six hours a day. 00:13:58.110 --> 00:14:00.789 Six hours. This was not just practice. This was 00:14:00.789 --> 00:14:03.830 a complete vocal reconstruction aimed at projecting 00:14:03.830 --> 00:14:07.230 power and clarity. It was an effort utterly contrary 00:14:07.230 --> 00:14:10.629 to his persona as the lazy, drunken inheritor. 00:14:10.789 --> 00:14:12.730 That level of commitment really shows us that 00:14:12.730 --> 00:14:15.490 the genius was real and it was hard won. And 00:14:15.490 --> 00:14:17.730 the payoff was immediate. when he performed Richard 00:14:17.730 --> 00:14:20.509 III in 1920. The critics were just effusive, 00:14:20.570 --> 00:14:23.029 stunned by the transformation. The Washington 00:14:23.029 --> 00:14:25.250 Herald praised the audience being held by the 00:14:25.250 --> 00:14:27.610 sheer power of Barrymore's performance, and they 00:14:27.610 --> 00:14:30.309 noted the unexpected vocal richness he had developed. 00:14:30.450 --> 00:14:32.850 And the Times. Alexander Wolcott in the New York 00:14:32.850 --> 00:14:35.029 Times thought the performance marked a measurable 00:14:35.029 --> 00:14:38.149 advance in the gradual process of bringing Barrymore's 00:14:38.149 --> 00:14:41.070 technical fluency abreast with his winged imagination 00:14:41.070 --> 00:14:44.970 and his real genius for the theater. He was channeling 00:14:44.970 --> 00:14:47.409 his own darkness and energy into the role of 00:14:47.409 --> 00:14:49.990 this monstrous, compelling villain. But this 00:14:49.990 --> 00:14:52.830 incredible triumph, it came at a terrifying cost 00:14:52.830 --> 00:14:55.509 that foreshadowed his later breakdown. It absolutely 00:14:55.509 --> 00:14:57.830 did. The production was a huge critical success, 00:14:58.129 --> 00:15:01.509 yet it closed after only 31 performances. Why? 00:15:01.629 --> 00:15:04.549 Why so short a run? Because Barrymore had been 00:15:04.549 --> 00:15:07.129 working ceaselessly. While appearing on state 00:15:07.129 --> 00:15:10.190 as Richard III every single evening, he was simultaneously 00:15:10.190 --> 00:15:13.309 filming the definitive screen version of Dr. 00:15:13.509 --> 00:15:15.690 Jekyll and Mr. Hyde during the day. That's an 00:15:15.690 --> 00:15:18.129 insane schedule. The physical and emotional strain 00:15:18.129 --> 00:15:20.610 was just too much. He collapsed from a severe 00:15:20.610 --> 00:15:22.629 nervous breakdown and had to spend six weeks 00:15:22.629 --> 00:15:25.289 recuperating in a sanitarium. The price of that 00:15:25.289 --> 00:15:27.429 genius was nearly immediate self -destruction. 00:15:27.509 --> 00:15:30.240 Yet he recovered and pushed even further. That 00:15:30.240 --> 00:15:32.659 intense effort, that commitment to high art, 00:15:32.720 --> 00:15:35.080 reached its absolute pinnacle with Hamlet two 00:15:35.080 --> 00:15:38.460 years later. Hamlet in 1922 was the undisputed 00:15:38.460 --> 00:15:41.799 peak of his theatrical career. He and the director, 00:15:42.000 --> 00:15:44.500 Arthur Hopkins, spent six months preparing the 00:15:44.500 --> 00:15:47.440 text. And this wasn't a traditional reverent 00:15:47.440 --> 00:15:50.639 interpretation. No. They approached the text 00:15:50.639 --> 00:15:53.639 with a modern, psychological eye. They made the 00:15:53.639 --> 00:15:56.320 revolutionary decision to deliberately cut over 00:15:56.320 --> 00:15:59.549 1 ,250 lines from the text. That's a massive 00:15:59.549 --> 00:16:02.049 risk. Cutting that much Shakespeare is unheard 00:16:02.049 --> 00:16:04.769 of. Why was that so crucial to his interpretation? 00:16:05.269 --> 00:16:07.690 It was crucial because Barrymore wanted to strick 00:16:07.690 --> 00:16:09.669 away the melancholy tradition that dominated 00:16:09.669 --> 00:16:13.389 the role. The idea of Hamlet as this weak, overly 00:16:13.389 --> 00:16:15.850 intellectual, depressed figure. So he saw him 00:16:15.850 --> 00:16:17.809 differently. Completely. Barrymore described 00:16:17.809 --> 00:16:20.570 his Hamlet as a normal, healthy, lusty young 00:16:20.570 --> 00:16:22.549 fellow who simply got into a mess that was too 00:16:22.549 --> 00:16:25.269 thick for him. He was a great fencer, an athlete, 00:16:25.470 --> 00:16:28.870 a man who led an active, healthy life. By cutting 00:16:28.870 --> 00:16:31.210 the text, he focused the play purely on the psychological 00:16:31.210 --> 00:16:33.789 descent of a dynamic, dangerous man confronting 00:16:33.789 --> 00:16:35.990 impossible circumstances. And he broke a record 00:16:35.990 --> 00:16:38.389 that had stood for decades, set by one of the 00:16:38.389 --> 00:16:40.850 greatest American actors in history. He broke 00:16:40.850 --> 00:16:42.889 the record sent by Edwin Booth for continuous 00:16:42.889 --> 00:16:46.009 performances of Hamlet, closing after 101 shows. 00:16:46.330 --> 00:16:49.269 The accolades were monumental. The critics had 00:16:49.269 --> 00:16:52.190 run out of superlatives. Broken Life flatly stated 00:16:52.190 --> 00:16:55.029 that Barrymore had doubtless won the right to 00:16:55.029 --> 00:16:57.250 be called the greatest living American tragedian. 00:16:57.659 --> 00:17:00.340 And that designation wasn't just hyperbolic praise 00:17:00.340 --> 00:17:03.100 at the time. His specific interpretation had 00:17:03.100 --> 00:17:05.680 a profound and enduring impact on how the role 00:17:05.680 --> 00:17:07.880 was viewed by subsequent generations of actors. 00:17:08.059 --> 00:17:11.319 His legacy is defined by this moment. His psychological 00:17:11.319 --> 00:17:13.599 interpretation and the way he delivered the text, 00:17:13.740 --> 00:17:16.940 that shift to colloquial verse speaking, it fundamentally 00:17:16.940 --> 00:17:19.039 changed the direction of subsequent revivals. 00:17:19.829 --> 00:17:22.309 Orson Welles, who later became a great director 00:17:22.309 --> 00:17:24.589 and actor himself, affirmed that Barrymore was 00:17:24.589 --> 00:17:27.130 the best Hamlet he had ever seen. What did Welles 00:17:27.130 --> 00:17:29.569 say about it? He described the character as a 00:17:29.569 --> 00:17:31.450 man of genius who happened to be a prince and 00:17:31.450 --> 00:17:34.309 he was tender and virile and witty and dangerous. 00:17:34.910 --> 00:17:37.789 Barrymore just injected a raw, modern vitality 00:17:37.789 --> 00:17:39.789 into the role. And while he was achieving this 00:17:39.789 --> 00:17:42.650 artistic summit, his personal life remained turbulent. 00:17:43.150 --> 00:17:45.529 We should briefly note his complicated romantic 00:17:45.529 --> 00:17:48.509 life, which included a divorce and a second marriage 00:17:48.509 --> 00:17:50.769 to a prominent literary figure. That's right. 00:17:51.069 --> 00:17:54.049 He divorced his first wife, Katherine Corey Harris, 00:17:54.250 --> 00:17:58.730 in late 1917. Then, in 1920, he married Blanche 00:17:58.730 --> 00:18:01.990 Ulrichs. She was a suffragist, a socialite, and 00:18:01.990 --> 00:18:03.710 a well -respected poet who published under the 00:18:03.710 --> 00:18:06.509 pseudonym Michael Strange. And their relationship 00:18:06.509 --> 00:18:09.069 was highly publicized. Very. It began while she 00:18:09.069 --> 00:18:11.299 was still married. They had a daughter, Diana 00:18:11.299 --> 00:18:15.140 Barrymore, in 1921. But even in this period of 00:18:15.140 --> 00:18:17.680 peak professional success, the marriage was strained 00:18:17.680 --> 00:18:20.099 by his continued drinking and Ulrich's own affairs 00:18:20.099 --> 00:18:22.960 during their travels abroad. The instability, 00:18:23.140 --> 00:18:26.500 it never truly vanished. So by the mid -1920s, 00:18:26.500 --> 00:18:28.619 John Barrymore had achieved the absolute summit 00:18:28.619 --> 00:18:31.380 of American theater. He was performing Hamlet 00:18:31.380 --> 00:18:34.180 in London to effusive praise, setting a new standard 00:18:34.180 --> 00:18:36.119 for classical acting. He was at the top of the 00:18:36.119 --> 00:18:38.900 world. Yet, having literally broken the record 00:18:38.900 --> 00:18:41.259 for Hamlet, he chose to walk away from the stage 00:18:41.259 --> 00:18:44.420 almost entirely for 14 years. That seems like 00:18:44.420 --> 00:18:46.579 an unbelievable professional pivot. It was a 00:18:46.579 --> 00:18:49.759 very deliberate and fascinating choice. He left 00:18:49.759 --> 00:18:53.160 the stage after that 1925 London Hamlet run. 00:18:53.420 --> 00:18:56.480 He claimed his motivation was the lack of repetition 00:18:56.480 --> 00:18:59.660 in film. He said that the continual playing of 00:18:59.660 --> 00:19:02.519 a part, which is so ruinous to an actor, is entirely 00:19:02.519 --> 00:19:05.339 eliminated in cinema. So he just hated the repetition. 00:19:05.579 --> 00:19:08.059 He hated it. And of course, the immense burgeoning 00:19:08.059 --> 00:19:10.720 salaries in Hollywood also provided a pretty 00:19:10.720 --> 00:19:12.759 powerful motivation. Let's track his transition 00:19:12.759 --> 00:19:15.380 to film. His earliest confirmed feature debut 00:19:15.380 --> 00:19:18.640 was the romantic comedy An American Citizen in 00:19:18.640 --> 00:19:22.390 1914. He was prolific. but not immediately successful 00:19:22.390 --> 00:19:24.670 in every venture. No, he was a working actor. 00:19:24.829 --> 00:19:26.950 He later dismissed The Red Widow as the worst 00:19:26.950 --> 00:19:29.450 film I ever made in his autobiography. But his 00:19:29.450 --> 00:19:32.390 silent film success rapidly accelerated, culminating, 00:19:32.390 --> 00:19:34.490 as we mentioned, in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in 00:19:34.490 --> 00:19:37.190 1920. That dual role was a sensation. It was. 00:19:37.349 --> 00:19:39.549 Critics deemed it a masterpiece of transformation 00:19:39.549 --> 00:19:41.609 and performance, and this film had a completely 00:19:41.609 --> 00:19:44.809 unexpected afterlife. It did. It showcased his 00:19:44.809 --> 00:19:47.529 ability to physically embody psychological terror 00:19:47.529 --> 00:19:50.269 and transformation. The film was so universally 00:19:50.269 --> 00:19:53.130 successful and his makeup so striking that the 00:19:53.130 --> 00:19:56.089 U .S. Navy actually used stills of him as the 00:19:56.089 --> 00:19:58.430 terrifying, monstrous hide in their recruiting 00:19:58.430 --> 00:20:01.029 posters. You're kidding. It's hard to imagine 00:20:01.029 --> 00:20:04.509 the U .S. Navy using stills of a drug addled 00:20:04.509 --> 00:20:08.589 doctor and his demonic alter ego to recruit sailors. 00:20:08.869 --> 00:20:10.789 What were they trying to communicate with those 00:20:10.789 --> 00:20:13.539 posters? It really just speaks to the ubiquity 00:20:13.539 --> 00:20:15.880 and power of his image. They were using him as 00:20:15.880 --> 00:20:18.279 a shorthand for intensity and physical drama. 00:20:18.700 --> 00:20:21.039 But more importantly, this is the era where he 00:20:21.039 --> 00:20:23.380 develops one of the most famous monikers in Hollywood 00:20:23.380 --> 00:20:25.599 history. The great profile. The great profile. 00:20:26.000 --> 00:20:28.279 The name came about because he was always photographed 00:20:28.279 --> 00:20:30.859 and filmed favoring his left side, which was 00:20:30.859 --> 00:20:33.279 supposedly his more classically handsome angle. 00:20:33.400 --> 00:20:35.869 And he had a line about that, didn't he? He did. 00:20:36.029 --> 00:20:39.289 Ever the wit, he had this famous self -deprecating 00:20:39.289 --> 00:20:42.369 explanation for the nickname. He said, the right 00:20:42.369 --> 00:20:44.930 side of my face looks like a fried egg. The left 00:20:44.930 --> 00:20:46.650 side has features that are to be found in almost 00:20:46.650 --> 00:20:49.569 any normal anthropological specimen. And those 00:20:49.569 --> 00:20:51.569 are the apples I try to keep on top of the barrel. 00:20:51.789 --> 00:20:54.369 It's a great example of him simultaneously embracing 00:20:54.369 --> 00:20:57.349 and mocking his own celebrity. It is. And he 00:20:57.349 --> 00:21:00.130 was commanding massive salaries from the studios 00:21:00.130 --> 00:21:03.470 based on that silent film reputation. He was 00:21:03.470 --> 00:21:07.029 Hollywood royalty. How much are we talking? Warner 00:21:07.029 --> 00:21:09.950 Bros. signed him to a lucrative contract for 00:21:09.950 --> 00:21:13.769 three films at a phenomenal salary of $76 ,250 00:21:13.769 --> 00:21:17.390 per picture. Wow. In the 1920s. To put that in 00:21:17.390 --> 00:21:19.329 perspective, that was well over a million dollars 00:21:19.329 --> 00:21:21.829 per picture in today's value. He was living the 00:21:21.829 --> 00:21:24.549 high life, provided with a luxurious suite at 00:21:24.549 --> 00:21:27.250 the Ambassador Hotel and a personal chauffeur 00:21:27.250 --> 00:21:31.279 limousine. The works. His first film. Under that 00:21:31.279 --> 00:21:33.960 contract, the Seabees from 1926, a loose adaptation 00:21:33.960 --> 00:21:37.039 of Moby Dick, was a major moneymaker for Warner 00:21:37.039 --> 00:21:38.779 Bros., but it was also significant for his private 00:21:38.779 --> 00:21:41.380 life, leading to his third marriage. High drama 00:21:41.380 --> 00:21:44.720 on and off screen. He was set to play Captain 00:21:44.720 --> 00:21:48.420 Ahab Sealy. While he initially wanted Mary Astor 00:21:48.420 --> 00:21:50.859 for the female lead, the studio cast Dolores 00:21:50.859 --> 00:21:53.240 Costello, a young actress known for her incredible 00:21:53.240 --> 00:21:55.839 beauty. And he fell for her immediately. Instantly. 00:21:56.420 --> 00:21:58.460 Barrymore later admitted the intensity of his 00:21:58.460 --> 00:22:00.680 reaction. I fell in love with her instantly. 00:22:00.819 --> 00:22:03.779 This time I knew I was right. They began an affair 00:22:03.779 --> 00:22:06.000 on set, which led to a public separation between 00:22:06.000 --> 00:22:08.900 Costello's parents and eventually his marriage 00:22:08.900 --> 00:22:12.619 to her in 1928. They had two children, Dolores 00:22:12.619 --> 00:22:16.220 and John Drew Barrymore. So the late 1920s bring 00:22:16.220 --> 00:22:18.720 the sound revolution, which spelled doom for 00:22:18.720 --> 00:22:22.200 so many silent stars. They had great faces, but 00:22:22.200 --> 00:22:24.829 often unsuitable voices. But for a highly trained 00:22:24.829 --> 00:22:26.849 Shakespearean actor like Barrymore, this was 00:22:26.849 --> 00:22:29.589 a massive, unexpected advantage. This is a crucial 00:22:29.589 --> 00:22:31.910 technical point. Barrymore's stage training, 00:22:32.069 --> 00:22:34.410 particularly that intense vocal coaching he received 00:22:34.410 --> 00:22:35.710 from Margaret Carrington for his Shakespeare 00:22:35.710 --> 00:22:38.670 roles, it paid dividends in the talkie era. Explain 00:22:38.670 --> 00:22:41.710 why. Why was the stage trained voice such a game 00:22:41.710 --> 00:22:44.210 changer when sound first arrived? Well, many 00:22:44.210 --> 00:22:46.529 silent film actors struggled for a few reasons. 00:22:46.950 --> 00:22:50.349 First, their voices were often thin, nasal, or 00:22:50.349 --> 00:22:52.509 poorly projected because they were never trained 00:22:52.509 --> 00:22:55.109 to fill a large theater. They relied on expression. 00:22:55.710 --> 00:22:57.970 Second, they struggled with diction when you 00:22:57.970 --> 00:22:59.769 put a microphone right in front of them. But 00:22:59.769 --> 00:23:02.680 Barrymore was different. Completely. He had trained 00:23:02.680 --> 00:23:05.960 for Richard III and Hamlet. He had immense projection, 00:23:06.299 --> 00:23:09.859 clear, precise diction, and he understood pacing 00:23:09.859 --> 00:23:12.400 how to speak dramatic verse without rushing or 00:23:12.400 --> 00:23:15.240 mumbling. This meant his voice was not only audible, 00:23:15.380 --> 00:23:18.599 but commanding, resonant, and inherently dramatic. 00:23:19.000 --> 00:23:20.859 So it was an effortless transition for him. His 00:23:20.859 --> 00:23:23.160 first speaking role was in the segment of The 00:23:23.160 --> 00:23:27.089 Show of Shows in 1929. Then his critically acclaimed 00:23:27.089 --> 00:23:30.009 performance in Svengali in 31 solidified his 00:23:30.009 --> 00:23:32.430 place. That role playing the manipulative voice 00:23:32.430 --> 00:23:35.170 coach was just perfect for him. The critic for 00:23:35.170 --> 00:23:37.009 the Brooklyn Daily Eagle called his performance 00:23:37.009 --> 00:23:39.130 brilliant, one of the best of his movie career. 00:23:39.349 --> 00:23:41.789 He was soaring professionally again. But despite 00:23:41.789 --> 00:23:44.150 this critical success, the box office returns 00:23:44.150 --> 00:23:46.650 on his five film deal with Warner Bros., which 00:23:46.650 --> 00:23:48.349 is disappointing, which led him to transition 00:23:48.349 --> 00:23:51.690 to MGM, even taking a salary cut. It was a successful 00:23:51.690 --> 00:23:54.819 recalibration. At MGM, he co -starred with his 00:23:54.819 --> 00:23:57.680 brother Lionel in Arsene Lupin and then was cast 00:23:57.680 --> 00:24:00.259 in the lavish, star -studded Best Picture winner 00:24:00.259 --> 00:24:04.819 Grand Hotel in 1932. A huge film. Co -starring 00:24:04.819 --> 00:24:07.380 Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, and Lionel again, 00:24:07.579 --> 00:24:10.359 he delivered a highly regarded romantic performance. 00:24:10.980 --> 00:24:13.700 It's a film that remains a cornerstone of Hollywood 00:24:13.700 --> 00:24:16.319 history. It was later inducted into the National 00:24:16.319 --> 00:24:20.119 Film Registry. And that same year, 1932, saw 00:24:20.119 --> 00:24:23.059 a legendary, if critically - disastrous project 00:24:23.059 --> 00:24:26.119 that forced all three Barrymore siblings, John, 00:24:26.400 --> 00:24:29.539 Ethel, and Lionel, to share the screen for the 00:24:29.539 --> 00:24:32.140 first and only time. Rasputin and the Empress. 00:24:32.240 --> 00:24:34.119 It was one of the biggest casting events of the 00:24:34.119 --> 00:24:37.440 decade, but a fascinating artistic failure. The 00:24:37.440 --> 00:24:39.880 critical reception was poor and MGM lost significant 00:24:39.880 --> 00:24:42.000 money. But what's really poignant about this 00:24:42.000 --> 00:24:44.900 film for John Barrymore is that biographers note 00:24:44.900 --> 00:24:46.779 this is where the physical toll of his chronic 00:24:46.779 --> 00:24:48.579 drinking was starting to become impossible to 00:24:48.579 --> 00:24:51.299 hide. Yes. The famous great profile was beginning 00:24:51.299 --> 00:24:53.880 to crumble. He had gained weight. His face looked 00:24:53.880 --> 00:24:56.680 dissipated, showing the effects of years of intemperance. 00:24:56.819 --> 00:24:59.500 The studio had to pull out all the stops, relying 00:24:59.500 --> 00:25:02.299 heavily on lights, filters and makeup to try 00:25:02.299 --> 00:25:04.900 and reconstruct his famous spiritual beauty. 00:25:05.440 --> 00:25:07.859 So it was a visible sign that the decline had 00:25:07.859 --> 00:25:10.619 begun. A clear visible sign. The New Yorker, 00:25:10.640 --> 00:25:13.099 which was never kind, thought all three Barrymores 00:25:13.099 --> 00:25:15.619 produced their worst work in that film, and it 00:25:15.619 --> 00:25:18.460 noted the obvious visual strain on John. Here's 00:25:18.460 --> 00:25:20.839 where it gets really interesting, and also profoundly 00:25:20.839 --> 00:25:25.390 sad. Around 1932, John Barrymore, still a major 00:25:25.390 --> 00:25:28.069 film star, enters this period of sharp physical 00:25:28.069 --> 00:25:31.690 and professional deterioration. The chaotic personal 00:25:31.690 --> 00:25:34.490 life that always simmered under the surface now 00:25:34.490 --> 00:25:36.950 began to actively corrode his career, starting 00:25:36.950 --> 00:25:39.089 with his core talent. And the primary professional 00:25:39.089 --> 00:25:41.630 symptom of this deterioration was memory loss. 00:25:41.910 --> 00:25:44.809 His chronic alcoholism was just destroying his 00:25:44.809 --> 00:25:47.509 ability to concentrate and retain lines. It became 00:25:47.509 --> 00:25:50.730 a serious regular issue. The RKO anecdote is 00:25:50.730 --> 00:25:53.069 maybe the most devastating early example of his 00:25:53.069 --> 00:25:56.430 reliability vanishing. It's awful. He was cast 00:25:56.430 --> 00:25:59.069 in the film Hat, Coat and Glove when over two 00:25:59.069 --> 00:26:01.789 consecutive days of filming, he failed repeatedly 00:26:01.789 --> 00:26:04.140 to remember the script. He just couldn't do it. 00:26:04.240 --> 00:26:07.039 And RKO had to replace him entirely with Ricardo 00:26:07.039 --> 00:26:09.539 Cortez. That's a studio replacement mid -production. 00:26:09.740 --> 00:26:11.240 I mean, that's a professional death knell that 00:26:11.240 --> 00:26:14.059 costs massive money and time. It's hard to imagine 00:26:14.059 --> 00:26:16.359 anyone recovering from that level of professional 00:26:16.359 --> 00:26:18.819 humiliation. And yet, even as he was falling 00:26:18.819 --> 00:26:21.279 apart, he delivered some of his most memorable 00:26:21.279 --> 00:26:24.220 and arguably most self -reflective work. The 00:26:24.220 --> 00:26:26.279 irony is rich, isn't it? The roles themselves 00:26:26.279 --> 00:26:28.819 started mirroring his decline, feeding the public 00:26:28.819 --> 00:26:32.140 perception. They really did. In 1933, he was 00:26:32.140 --> 00:26:34.650 in dinner at eight with lionel playing larry 00:26:34.650 --> 00:26:37.609 renault the character is a washed up alcoholic 00:26:37.609 --> 00:26:41.009 once great silent film actor this was not a heroic 00:26:41.009 --> 00:26:44.089 role he was playing his own ghost One biographer 00:26:44.089 --> 00:26:46.609 suggested that playing this character fixed in 00:26:46.609 --> 00:26:48.950 the public's and MGM's mind that John Barrymore 00:26:48.950 --> 00:26:51.710 was a drunken has -been. But his genius for high 00:26:51.710 --> 00:26:55.329 comedy hadn't abandoned him. His 1934 role in 00:26:55.329 --> 00:26:57.789 20th Century is lauded as one of the greatest 00:26:57.789 --> 00:27:01.269 screwball comedies ever made, directly contradicting 00:27:01.269 --> 00:27:04.069 the persona of the fading tragedian. It's a remarkable 00:27:04.069 --> 00:27:06.640 contradiction. In Howard Hawk's 20th century, 00:27:06.759 --> 00:27:09.480 he played the madcap Broadway impresario Oscar 00:27:09.480 --> 00:27:13.160 Jaffet. The role demanded over -the -top melodrama, 00:27:13.259 --> 00:27:16.299 theatrical flamboyance, and this manic energy 00:27:16.299 --> 00:27:19.460 qualities his failing personal life now fed directly 00:27:19.460 --> 00:27:21.700 into his performance. So he could still turn 00:27:21.700 --> 00:27:24.559 it on. He demonstrated a rare genius as a comedian. 00:27:25.339 --> 00:27:27.180 This performance is considered by many to be 00:27:27.180 --> 00:27:29.440 his finest contribution to film, and the film 00:27:29.440 --> 00:27:31.960 itself was later added to the National Film Registry. 00:27:32.359 --> 00:27:35.200 It proved that the talent, though unreliable 00:27:35.200 --> 00:27:37.960 and buried under the chaos, was still explosively 00:27:37.960 --> 00:27:40.099 present when the character allowed for maximum 00:27:40.099 --> 00:27:42.579 theatricality. And he also starred in Katharine 00:27:42.579 --> 00:27:44.759 Hepburn's screen debut, A Bill of Divorcement 00:27:44.759 --> 00:27:47.579 in 1932, where he played an escaped lunatic who 00:27:47.579 --> 00:27:50.079 had lost his sanity during the war. So the roles 00:27:50.079 --> 00:27:52.359 were either high comedy or characters teetering 00:27:52.359 --> 00:27:54.759 on the edge of sanity. The line between the character 00:27:54.759 --> 00:27:57.740 and the reality was getting razor thin. Meanwhile, 00:27:58.019 --> 00:28:00.180 his private life was collapsing under the intense 00:28:00.180 --> 00:28:02.680 scrutiny of the press, fulfilling the promise 00:28:02.680 --> 00:28:05.279 of the tabloid character. His marriage to Dolores 00:28:05.279 --> 00:28:08.160 Costello ended. He divorced Dolores Costello 00:28:08.160 --> 00:28:11.299 in 1935 and the court proceedings were brutal. 00:28:11.559 --> 00:28:14.579 She cited mental cruelty and habitual intemperance. 00:28:14.720 --> 00:28:17.140 He was hospitalized shortly thereafter for a 00:28:17.140 --> 00:28:20.200 severe mental and physical breakdown, which essentially 00:28:20.200 --> 00:28:22.799 confirmed Costello's claim that he was a hopeless 00:28:22.799 --> 00:28:25.400 alcoholic. And then came the scandal that truly 00:28:25.400 --> 00:28:27.779 solidified his status as a tabloid character. 00:28:28.019 --> 00:28:30.099 Yeah. His marriage to a fan young enough to be 00:28:30.099 --> 00:28:31.990 his daughter. His relationship and subsequent 00:28:31.990 --> 00:28:34.930 marriage in 1936 to Elaine Barry, a 19 -year 00:28:34.930 --> 00:28:37.369 -old fan, was just sensationalized by the press. 00:28:37.549 --> 00:28:40.750 The tabloids gleefully labeled the couple Caliban 00:28:40.750 --> 00:28:43.470 and Ariel. A pretty cruel nickname. A stark, 00:28:43.569 --> 00:28:45.789 cruel contrast between the aging, physically 00:28:45.789 --> 00:28:49.190 deteriorated star, Caliban, and the young, beautiful 00:28:49.190 --> 00:28:51.730 fan, Ariel. Their relationship was volatile, 00:28:51.910 --> 00:28:54.869 public, and constant front -page news. And the 00:28:54.869 --> 00:28:57.190 public chaos reached its peak with that famous 00:28:57.190 --> 00:28:59.869 plea for his return. It's the kind of stunt a 00:28:59.869 --> 00:29:02.109 screenwriter would dismiss as too outlandish. 00:29:02.390 --> 00:29:05.250 After a massive argument, Barrymore left for 00:29:05.250 --> 00:29:08.430 Los Angeles. Elaine Barry, desperate to get him 00:29:08.430 --> 00:29:10.730 back, actually chartered a plane and, using the 00:29:10.730 --> 00:29:13.009 plane's radio, broadcast a sobbing, dramatic 00:29:13.009 --> 00:29:15.789 plea for him to return. So their argument became 00:29:15.789 --> 00:29:18.609 national news. Their pursuit and argument became 00:29:18.609 --> 00:29:20.970 national news headlines. This wasn't just a marriage, 00:29:21.130 --> 00:29:23.680 it was a traveling circus. And while he was achieving 00:29:23.680 --> 00:29:26.240 that level of public spectacle, the financial 00:29:26.240 --> 00:29:29.500 ruin compounded his humiliation. He was burning 00:29:29.500 --> 00:29:32.299 through money faster than he could earn it. Despite 00:29:32.299 --> 00:29:35.660 his high salaries, his lifestyle was catastrophically 00:29:35.660 --> 00:29:38.220 unsustainable. He maintained mansions, expensive 00:29:38.220 --> 00:29:41.940 homes, and most notably his beloved 120 -foot 00:29:41.940 --> 00:29:44.740 yacht, the Infanta. And that cost a fortune to 00:29:44.740 --> 00:29:47.900 run. Over $35 ,000 a year just on maintenance 00:29:47.900 --> 00:29:50.319 and crew. This recklessness meant the money was 00:29:50.319 --> 00:29:52.950 gone almost as soon as he earned it. He filed 00:29:52.950 --> 00:29:56.049 for bankruptcy protection in 1937, facing staggering 00:29:56.049 --> 00:30:00.210 debts of $160 ,000, a figure equivalent to millions 00:30:00.210 --> 00:30:02.690 today. Which forced him to sell the yacht. He 00:30:02.690 --> 00:30:05.509 had to sell the Infanta. He was working purely 00:30:05.509 --> 00:30:08.920 to honor his debts. often against his will. This 00:30:08.920 --> 00:30:11.339 financial humiliation just amplified the public 00:30:11.339 --> 00:30:14.039 spectacle of his decline. So when he was occasionally 00:30:14.039 --> 00:30:16.400 hired for serious roles during this period, the 00:30:16.400 --> 00:30:19.059 studios had to take what amounted to extraordinary 00:30:19.059 --> 00:30:22.619 humiliating precautions just to ensure he showed 00:30:22.619 --> 00:30:40.839 up and stayed sober long enough to perform. Did 00:30:40.839 --> 00:30:45.089 it work? Not really. He continued to drink covertly 00:30:45.089 --> 00:30:47.809 and was reportedly disruptive on set. His co 00:30:47.809 --> 00:30:50.329 -star, Basil Rathbone, sadly recounted that it 00:30:50.329 --> 00:30:52.890 was sad to see him in such a state, seeing the 00:30:52.890 --> 00:30:55.069 ghost of the great tragedian. And even his one 00:30:55.069 --> 00:30:57.589 -time admirer, John Gilgud, who had praised his 00:30:57.589 --> 00:31:00.289 Hamlet, was brutal about his performance in that 00:31:00.289 --> 00:31:03.650 film. Gilgud, who was a theatrical purist, saw 00:31:03.650 --> 00:31:06.589 the film and was horrified. He wrote to a colleague 00:31:06.589 --> 00:31:09.509 that Barrymore looked like A monstrous old male 00:31:09.509 --> 00:31:11.869 impersonator jumping through a hoop. Who should 00:31:11.869 --> 00:31:14.650 really have been shot? That's harsh. It shows 00:31:14.650 --> 00:31:17.069 the genius was clearly fading under the weight 00:31:17.069 --> 00:31:19.650 of the personal deterioration, even if the showmanship 00:31:19.650 --> 00:31:22.230 remained. And to compensate for his severe memory 00:31:22.230 --> 00:31:24.990 problems, which were becoming chronic, he had 00:31:24.990 --> 00:31:27.769 to rely on a tool rarely used by serious actors 00:31:27.769 --> 00:31:30.890 on screen. Cue cards. It was a necessity by this 00:31:30.890 --> 00:31:33.000 point. By the time he filmed his last serious 00:31:33.000 --> 00:31:35.920 role, The Great Man Votes, in 1939, he relied 00:31:35.920 --> 00:31:39.180 heavily on massive, omnipresent cue cards. Yet 00:31:39.180 --> 00:31:41.359 even in this diminished state, there was still 00:31:41.359 --> 00:31:43.200 some professional respect. Enormous professional 00:31:43.200 --> 00:31:46.660 respect. The director, Garson Kanan, made sure 00:31:46.660 --> 00:31:48.539 the cast and crew addressed him consistently 00:31:48.539 --> 00:31:51.619 as Mr. Barrymore, acknowledging the residual 00:31:51.619 --> 00:31:54.579 power and genius he commanded, even if his memory 00:31:54.579 --> 00:31:57.619 was shot. But the true final act was this stage 00:31:57.619 --> 00:32:01.180 farce. My Dear Children in 1939. This wasn't 00:32:01.180 --> 00:32:03.480 a serious play. This was an authorized professional 00:32:03.480 --> 00:32:06.099 public breakdown designed for profit. It was 00:32:06.099 --> 00:32:09.900 pure, unadulterated, and wildly successful self 00:32:09.900 --> 00:32:13.259 -parody. The play was a weak stage farce where 00:32:13.259 --> 00:32:16.480 he played Alan Manville, an aging hammy Shakespearean 00:32:16.480 --> 00:32:19.180 has been. And he just went off script. Completely. 00:32:20.009 --> 00:32:22.930 Because his memory was shot anyway, he gave up 00:32:22.930 --> 00:32:25.849 even trying to stick to the script. He ad -libbed 00:32:25.849 --> 00:32:28.450 constantly, sometimes greeting friends he spotted 00:32:28.450 --> 00:32:31.230 in the audience, using profanities that shocked 00:32:31.230 --> 00:32:33.750 and delighted patrons, or simply making jokes 00:32:33.750 --> 00:32:35.990 about his own life and drinking. He had turned 00:32:35.990 --> 00:32:38.289 the theater into a personalized circus. Absolutely. 00:32:38.490 --> 00:32:40.509 Life magazine observed the phenomenon perfectly. 00:32:40.869 --> 00:32:43.150 They noted that people flocked to see him not 00:32:43.150 --> 00:32:45.190 for polished performance, but because he converts 00:32:45.190 --> 00:32:47.970 the theater into a rowdy, histrionic madhouse. 00:32:48.170 --> 00:32:50.799 Sometimes he arrives late. Sometimes he is tight. 00:32:50.960 --> 00:32:53.279 Usually he forgets his lines. But he always puts 00:32:53.279 --> 00:32:55.480 on a great show. He realized his most profitable 00:32:55.480 --> 00:32:58.339 performance was John Barrymore, the drunk theatrical 00:32:58.339 --> 00:33:01.339 relic. Exactly. And this led directly to his 00:33:01.339 --> 00:33:03.339 final film roles, where the studios deliberately 00:33:03.339 --> 00:33:05.359 capitalized on the spectacle of his decline. 00:33:06.000 --> 00:33:09.119 The great profile in 1940 had him playing Evans 00:33:09.119 --> 00:33:12.019 Garrick, a famous aging actor closely modeled 00:33:12.019 --> 00:33:14.759 on himself. And his final film. His final film, 00:33:14.859 --> 00:33:18.809 Playmates in 1941, went the whole distance. He 00:33:18.809 --> 00:33:21.369 literally played an alcoholic Shakespearean ham 00:33:21.369 --> 00:33:25.630 named, quite simply, John Barrymore. It amply 00:33:25.630 --> 00:33:27.490 illustrated the depths to which he had fallen 00:33:27.490 --> 00:33:29.609 professionally, turning his personal tragedy 00:33:29.609 --> 00:33:33.069 into an extended, profitable joke. So how did 00:33:33.069 --> 00:33:35.269 the curtain finally fall on this incredible, 00:33:35.509 --> 00:33:37.910 self -destructive career? In a way that was, 00:33:38.109 --> 00:33:40.950 again, pure theater. In his final working years, 00:33:41.049 --> 00:33:43.630 he was appearing regularly on radio on Rudy Vallee's 00:33:43.630 --> 00:33:46.750 Siltus show, continuing this vein of self -parody, 00:33:46.809 --> 00:33:49.089 joking about his drinking, his finances, his 00:33:49.089 --> 00:33:52.890 marital issues. On May 19, 1942, while recording 00:33:52.890 --> 00:33:54.930 a line from Romeo and Juliet for the show, a 00:33:54.930 --> 00:33:57.910 final nod to the tragedy he had abandoned, John 00:33:57.910 --> 00:34:00.430 Barrymore collapsed. He collapsed on air. During 00:34:00.430 --> 00:34:03.170 the recording, he died 10 days later on May 29 00:34:03.170 --> 00:34:05.390 at the age of 60 from cirrhosis of the liver 00:34:05.390 --> 00:34:07.250 and kidney failure, complicated by pneumonia. 00:34:07.589 --> 00:34:09.489 He had briefly returned to his childhood Catholic 00:34:09.489 --> 00:34:12.250 faith shortly before his death. So, as we look 00:34:12.250 --> 00:34:14.610 at the whole arc of his life, from the haunted 00:34:14.610 --> 00:34:16.889 child to the greatest tragedian to the tabloid 00:34:16.889 --> 00:34:20.150 clown, the critical assessment is startlingly 00:34:20.150 --> 00:34:23.380 unanimous. The obituaries universally confirm 00:34:23.380 --> 00:34:26.320 his genius, but lament his dissipation and the 00:34:26.320 --> 00:34:28.840 monumental waste of talent. They absolutely do. 00:34:28.940 --> 00:34:31.300 The New York Times obituary stated that during 00:34:31.300 --> 00:34:34.219 his period of triumphs, Justice, Richard III 00:34:34.219 --> 00:34:37.880 Hamlet, he was accepted by most critics as the 00:34:37.880 --> 00:34:40.079 foremost English -speaking actor of his time, 00:34:40.219 --> 00:34:43.380 equipped both by nature and by art. But almost 00:34:43.380 --> 00:34:45.619 immediately, they pivoted to the tragedy of his 00:34:45.619 --> 00:34:47.500 waste. What did the others say? The Manchester 00:34:47.500 --> 00:34:50.719 Guardian believed he might, with some self -discipline, 00:34:50.719 --> 00:34:52.900 have added his name to the list of truly great 00:34:52.900 --> 00:34:55.960 actors. Yet he dissipated his energies. That 00:34:55.960 --> 00:34:58.739 concept of dissipated energy is key. What about 00:34:58.739 --> 00:35:00.820 the assessment that crystallized his ultimate 00:35:00.820 --> 00:35:03.260 fate in the eyes of the public? That's the famous 00:35:03.260 --> 00:35:05.219 line from The Washington Post, which noted that 00:35:05.219 --> 00:35:07.280 with the passing of the years and as his private 00:35:07.280 --> 00:35:10.119 life became more public, he became, despite his 00:35:10.119 --> 00:35:12.900 genius in the theater, a tabloid character. He 00:35:12.900 --> 00:35:15.159 intentionally played the clown and burlesqued 00:35:15.159 --> 00:35:17.480 himself, what The New York Times called a mood 00:35:17.480 --> 00:35:20.440 of careless abdication. So the public fascination 00:35:20.440 --> 00:35:22.650 with his personal life. his four marriages, his 00:35:22.650 --> 00:35:25.550 drinking, his finances, ultimately eclipsed his 00:35:25.550 --> 00:35:28.409 artistic achievements. It did. But it's important, 00:35:28.530 --> 00:35:31.449 however, not to let that tabloid decline overshadow 00:35:31.449 --> 00:35:34.349 the artistic heights. His influence on classical 00:35:34.349 --> 00:35:36.710 acting remains profoundly important. How so? 00:35:36.909 --> 00:35:39.849 His stage portrayals of Richard III and Hamlet 00:35:39.849 --> 00:35:43.190 were radical and modernizing forces. His unique 00:35:43.190 --> 00:35:45.730 psychological interpretation of characters and 00:35:45.730 --> 00:35:48.610 his revolutionary colloquial verse speaking making 00:35:48.610 --> 00:35:51.719 Shakespeare sound like natural contemporary speech 00:35:51.719 --> 00:35:54.780 rather than formal recitation completely reversed 00:35:54.780 --> 00:35:57.199 the stiff, older stage conventions of the time. 00:35:57.340 --> 00:35:59.880 So he redefined how those classical roles were 00:35:59.880 --> 00:36:02.239 approached. He literally redefined them for the 00:36:02.239 --> 00:36:04.840 entire 20th century, setting the model for actors 00:36:04.840 --> 00:36:07.159 like Laurence Olivier and Orson Welles. Beyond 00:36:07.159 --> 00:36:09.440 his artistic influence, he did receive recognition, 00:36:09.760 --> 00:36:11.880 though not necessarily through the traditional 00:36:11.880 --> 00:36:15.059 serious awards channels. No, he was honored on 00:36:15.059 --> 00:36:17.300 relatively few occasions by the formal industry. 00:36:17.739 --> 00:36:20.519 His one and only screen award came not from a 00:36:20.519 --> 00:36:24.179 major body, but from Rudolph Valentino in 1925 00:36:24.179 --> 00:36:27.800 for Bo Brummel. Valentino created an award in 00:36:27.800 --> 00:36:30.159 his own name to recognize his fellow actor's 00:36:30.159 --> 00:36:32.829 screen work. But his enduring fame led to a very 00:36:32.829 --> 00:36:35.170 unique fitting honor at Grauman's Chinese Theater 00:36:35.170 --> 00:36:38.369 in 1940. Right. Alongside the standard hand and 00:36:38.369 --> 00:36:40.750 footprints, John Barrymore left something unique 00:36:40.750 --> 00:36:43.110 in the cement. What was it? He left an imprint 00:36:43.110 --> 00:36:45.849 of his famous facial profile in the cement. It 00:36:45.849 --> 00:36:48.050 was a perfect, self -aware commemoration for 00:36:48.050 --> 00:36:50.550 the great profile, forever cementing his physical 00:36:50.550 --> 00:36:53.289 legacy in Hollywood history. He and his famous 00:36:53.289 --> 00:36:55.530 siblings were also later inducted into the American 00:36:55.530 --> 00:36:58.329 Theater Hall of Fame. And the dynasty, that family 00:36:58.329 --> 00:37:00.829 curse he initially tried to avoid? continued 00:37:00.829 --> 00:37:03.090 through the generations, ensuring the Barrymore 00:37:03.090 --> 00:37:06.550 name endures. It did. The acting continued through 00:37:06.550 --> 00:37:09.070 his children, Diana and John Drew Barrymore, 00:37:09.269 --> 00:37:12.329 both of whom had complex, often troubled lives, 00:37:12.530 --> 00:37:15.329 echoing their father's patterns. And famously, 00:37:15.510 --> 00:37:17.690 the dynasty continues today through his granddaughter, 00:37:17.969 --> 00:37:20.909 Drew Barrymore, ensuring the theatrical bloodline 00:37:20.909 --> 00:37:23.849 remains active and highly visible. His life also 00:37:23.849 --> 00:37:26.510 inspired dramatic portrayals, the family dynamic 00:37:26.510 --> 00:37:30.170 and theatrical chaos. Just right for fictionalization. 00:37:30.510 --> 00:37:33.010 Oh, absolutely. The famous play The Royal Family, 00:37:33.110 --> 00:37:35.070 later adapted for film, features a character 00:37:35.070 --> 00:37:37.429 based directly on John Barrymore, the charismatic, 00:37:37.650 --> 00:37:39.769 chaotic, and handsome actor who returns home 00:37:39.769 --> 00:37:42.469 only to cause trouble. That character was later 00:37:42.469 --> 00:37:44.329 played by Frederick March and Laurence Olivier. 00:37:44.670 --> 00:37:46.889 This shows how immediately his life transcended 00:37:46.889 --> 00:37:49.889 biography and became pure mythology. Finally, 00:37:49.889 --> 00:37:52.130 we have to address the most bizarre, enduring, 00:37:52.289 --> 00:37:54.750 and somewhat macabre story attached to his death. 00:37:54.889 --> 00:37:57.030 The corpse story. The tale of his corpse being 00:37:57.030 --> 00:38:01.750 borrowed for a... The famous anecdote involving 00:38:01.750 --> 00:38:04.750 his friend, the swashbuckling actor Errol Flynn, 00:38:04.989 --> 00:38:08.210 and film director Raoul Walsh. Flynn claimed 00:38:08.210 --> 00:38:10.650 in his memoirs that Walsh borrowed Barrymore's 00:38:10.650 --> 00:38:13.409 body before the burial, leaving his corpse propped 00:38:13.409 --> 00:38:15.550 in a chair in Flynn's living room for a drunken 00:38:15.550 --> 00:38:18.409 Flynn to discover when he returned home. It's 00:38:18.409 --> 00:38:20.469 the kind of dark legend that perfectly caps off 00:38:20.469 --> 00:38:23.409 a life of chaos and self -parody. It is, but 00:38:23.409 --> 00:38:26.789 it was disputed for decades. Gene Fowler, a close 00:38:26.789 --> 00:38:28.909 friend of Barrymore, claimed he stayed with the 00:38:28.909 --> 00:38:31.510 body all night and denied the story vehemently. 00:38:31.550 --> 00:38:33.630 But there's a recent update to that story, isn't 00:38:33.630 --> 00:38:36.349 there? There is. In a 2020 interview, his granddaughter, 00:38:36.670 --> 00:38:38.829 Drew Barrymore, claimed that the Flynn account 00:38:38.829 --> 00:38:41.710 of the body being borrowed was accurate. Whether 00:38:41.710 --> 00:38:44.590 it's true or simply the ultimate piece of apocryphal 00:38:44.590 --> 00:38:47.750 Barrymore mythology, it remains the final theatrical 00:38:47.750 --> 00:38:50.750 prank played upon the world, a posthumous moment 00:38:50.750 --> 00:38:53.510 of farce that cemented his legend. So what does 00:38:53.510 --> 00:38:55.530 this all mean? We've traced John Barrymore's 00:38:55.530 --> 00:38:57.730 path from this reluctant child of theatrical 00:38:57.730 --> 00:39:00.389 royalty, haunted by the terrifying possibility 00:39:00.389 --> 00:39:03.170 of his father's tragic illness, to the absolute 00:39:03.170 --> 00:39:05.909 master of Shakespearean performance, the greatest 00:39:05.909 --> 00:39:09.380 American tragedian. We saw him conquer silent 00:39:09.380 --> 00:39:12.480 and sound film, commanding massive fame and massive 00:39:12.480 --> 00:39:15.420 salaries. But we also saw the profound and, well, 00:39:15.539 --> 00:39:17.739 inevitable cost of the chaos that was always 00:39:17.739 --> 00:39:21.340 present. His life is a stark public example of 00:39:21.340 --> 00:39:24.119 personal demons, especially that chronic alcoholism 00:39:24.119 --> 00:39:27.079 that started in his teens, colliding disastrously 00:39:27.079 --> 00:39:29.880 with extreme public scrutiny. He burned his ships, 00:39:29.980 --> 00:39:32.599 his fortune, and his health. He did. He ultimately 00:39:32.599 --> 00:39:34.679 turned himself into the tabloid character who 00:39:34.679 --> 00:39:37.239 filed for bankruptcy and had to rely on cue cards 00:39:37.239 --> 00:39:39.780 just to finish his scenes. Yet, even in his ruin, 00:39:39.940 --> 00:39:42.539 he maintained an artistic edge by leaning into 00:39:42.539 --> 00:39:45.099 the performance of his own failure. He took his 00:39:45.099 --> 00:39:47.969 tragedy, the memory loss, the alcoholism, the 00:39:47.969 --> 00:39:50.469 marital failures, and deliberately engineered 00:39:50.469 --> 00:39:53.730 it into profitable public farce with shows like 00:39:53.730 --> 00:39:56.409 My Dear Children. He was essentially satirizing 00:39:56.409 --> 00:39:58.889 his entire life story for his final curtain call. 00:39:59.030 --> 00:40:01.590 It's a remarkable cultural insight into self 00:40:01.590 --> 00:40:04.460 -destruction and public spectacle. You, the listener, 00:40:04.619 --> 00:40:06.820 are left to consider the complexity of a man 00:40:06.820 --> 00:40:09.440 whose artistic discipline could produce genuine, 00:40:09.639 --> 00:40:13.340 canonical genius, that intense six -week training 00:40:13.340 --> 00:40:15.739 for Richard III, but whose personal life was 00:40:15.739 --> 00:40:19.019 defined by the complete opposite, reckless intemperance 00:40:19.019 --> 00:40:21.519 and eventual memory loss. So here's where it 00:40:21.519 --> 00:40:24.539 leaves you. Barrymore's greatest stage triumph, 00:40:24.699 --> 00:40:27.260 Hamlet, broke a performance record, but it closed 00:40:27.260 --> 00:40:29.659 early because he collapsed from exhaustion. Right. 00:40:30.139 --> 00:40:33.000 Conversely, his final successful roles involved 00:40:33.000 --> 00:40:35.380 him deliberately mocking his own struggles as 00:40:35.380 --> 00:40:39.170 a drunken has been. Given this duality, the high 00:40:39.170 --> 00:40:41.289 cost of his brilliance versus the low profitable 00:40:41.289 --> 00:40:43.590 cost of his decline, does his legacy ultimately 00:40:43.590 --> 00:40:45.849 show that genius requires self -preservation 00:40:45.849 --> 00:40:48.949 or that true, relentless, artistic honesty sometimes 00:40:48.949 --> 00:40:51.110 requires the reckless destruction of the self? 00:40:51.309 --> 00:40:53.110 A difficult question for a complex life. We'll 00:40:53.110 --> 00:40:54.969 leave that with you. Until the next deep dive.