Dolores Costello

Biography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Dolores Costello (September 17, 1903 – March 1, 1979) was an American film actress who achieved her greatest success during the era of silent movies. She was nicknamed "The Goddess of the Silent Screen". She was stepmother of John Barrymore's daughter Diana by his second wife Blanche Oelrichs, the mother of John Drew Barrymore and Dolores (Dee Dee) Barrymore, and the grandmother of John Barrymore III, Blyth Dolores Barrymore, Brahma Blyth (Jessica) Barrymore, and Drew Barrymore. Dolores Costello was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the daughter of actors Maurice Costello and Mae Costello (née Altschuk). She was of Irish and German descent. She had a younger sister, Helene, and the two made their first film appearances in the years 1909–1915 as child actresses for the Vitagraph Film Company. They played supporting roles in several films starring their father, who was a popular matinee idol at the time. The two sisters appeared on Broadway together as chlorines and their success resulted in contracts with Warner Brothers Studios. In 1926, following small parts in feature films, she was selected by John Barrymore to star opposite him in The Sea Beast, a loose adaptation of Herman Melville's Moby-Dick. Warner Bros. soon began starring her in her own vehicles. Meanwhile, she and Barrymore became romantically involved and married in 1928. Within a few years of achieving stardom, the delicately beautiful blonde-haired actress had become a successful and highly regarded film personality in her own right. As a young adult her career developed to the degree that in 1926 she was named a WAMPAS Baby Star, and had acquired the nickname "The Goddess of the Silver Screen". Warners alternated Costello between films with contemporary settings and elaborate costume dramas. In 1927 she was re-teamed with John Barrymore in When a Man Loves, an adaptation of Manon Lescaut. In 1928 she co-starred with George O'Brien in Noah's Ark, a part-talkie epic directed by Michael Curtiz. Costello spoke with a lisp and found it difficult to make the transition to talking pictures, but after two years of voice coaching she was comfortable speaking before a microphone. One of her early sound film appearances was with her sister Helene in Warner Bros.'s all-star extravaganza The Show of Shows (1929). Her acting career became less a priority for her following the birth of her first child, Dolores Ethel Mae "DeeDee" Barrymore, on April 8, 1930, and she retired from the screen in 1931 to devote time to her family. Her second child, John Drew Barrymore, was born on June 4, 1932, but the marriage proved difficult due to her husband's increasing alcoholism, and they divorced in 1935. She resumed her career a year later and achieved some successes, most notably in Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936) and The Magnificent Ambersons (1942). She retired permanently from acting following her appearance in This is the Army (1943), again under the direction of Michael Curtiz. In 1950 Costello divorced Dr. John Vruwink, whom she had married in 1939. She spent the remaining years of her life in semi-seclusion, managing an avocado farm. She died from emphysema in Fallbrook, California in 1979.

Known For

Isabel Amberson Minafer

The Magnificent Ambersons

'Dearest' Erroll

Little Lord Fauntleroy

Laura Crandall

Whispering Enemies

Mrs. Davidson

This Is the Army

Magic Movie Moments

Daughter

The Telephone

Martha Martin

Breaking the Ice

Constance 'Connie' Newton

Expensive Women

Secondary Role

The Glimpses of the Moon

The Widow's 1st Child

A Reformed Santa Claus

Marie / Miriam

Noah's Ark

Manon Lescaut

When a Man Loves

Fairy

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Betsy Patterson

Glorious Betsy

Margaret Bronson

Outside These Walls

Esther Harper

The Sea Beast

Helen Cosgrove

The Beloved Brat

Neighbor Girl

In the Shadow

Little Dolores Gray

Fellow Voyagers

Consuming Love; or, St. Valentine's Day in Greenaway Land

The Geranium

The Little Stowaway

Some Steamer Scooping

The Child Crusoes

Buster aka Budge

His Sister's Children

Etta of the Footlights

Too Much Burglar

David - as a Little Boy

The Evil Men Do

Betty Lane - John's Daughter

Some Good in All

One of Widow Brown's Children

Captain Jenks' Dilemma

Alice - the Child

For the Honor of the Family

Mr. Blinn's Granddaughter

She Never Knew

The Troublesome Step-Daughters

The Money Kings

The Heart of Jim Brice

Nora the maid

Lawful Larceny

Jane - Alvin's Sweetheart

A Juvenile Love Affair

Wanted... a Grandmother

Mrs. Hanley's Little Girl

Vultures and Doves

Little Janet - the Grandchild

Her Grandchild

Ruth - Barnacle's Adopted Daughter

Captain Barnacle's Legacy

Bobby Ramsay

Bobby's Father

Fourth Child

The Irony of Fate

Isabel Frances / Princess of Lividia

Greater Than a Crown

(uncredited)

Bobbed Hair

Faith Fitzhugh

Bride of the Storm

Dot Walker

The Little Irish Girl

Little Dot Avery

The Toymaker

Little Bess M.

Song of the Shell

A Birthday Gift

Dolores Tilbury - the Older Child

The Hindoo Charm

Vallery Grove

Second Choice

Self (archive footage)

Paris Hilton, Inc.

Self

The Circus: Premiere

Dolores Vasquez

Old San Francisco

Rose Shannon

Tenderloin

Lucille Sutton

Yours for the Asking

Self (archive footage)

The Golden Twenties

Ida - the Little Smith Girl

Ida's Christmas

Dorothy Gordon

A Million Bid

Lulu

Lulu's Doctor

One of Tom's Children

The Meeting of the Ways

Performer in 'Meet My Sister' Number

The Show of Shows

Joan Billaire

The Redeeming Sin

Annabel Lee

Glad Rag Doll

Maria Morton

Madonna of Avenue A

Joan Herrick

Mannequin

Vera Zuanova

Hearts in Exile

Eve Barnes

King of the Turf

(archive footage)

Myrna Loy: So Nice to Come Home To

Jane Witherspoon

The College Widow

Annie Daly

The Third Degree

Maryland Calvert

The Heart of Maryland