Ethel Barrymore was born on August 15, 1879, in Philadelphia, in the state of Pennsylvania, in the United States.
His family was part of the world of entertainment and theater. Her parents, Maurice Barrymore and Georgiana Drews, were actors, and her aunt, Drew Barrymore, was an actress and theatrical producer. His brothers John and Lionel Barrymore were also theater actors.
The children that Ethel Barrymore would later have, Samuel, John and Ethel, would also continue the family tradition of being actors and actresses, until today, when there are still well-known descendants of theirs in the world of theater and cinema.
From a very young age, Ethel Barrymore began to stand out in theater roles that she represented in New York City, where she became known for her charisma and her way of representing.
His first Broadway performance was in 1901, in the play “Captain Jinks and the Sea Horses”, later highlighting in “The house of the dolls” and in “Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare.
One of his greatest successes was the representation in the play “The Constant Wife”, in the year 1926, a tremendously funny comedy, in which it obtained very good reviews.
In the year 1934 he represented the play “Laura Garnett”, in New York, a play by Leslie and Sewell Stokes.
In the 1940s, Ethel moved to Hollywood, where she wanted to further her career in the world of cinema. In the year 1944 he starred in the feature film “A heart in danger”, performance with which she won an Oscar for best actress. In 1946 she starred in the film The spiral staircase, a thriller in which she played the role of Mrs. Warren. In the year 1948, he intervened in the film “The children of the hanged man” Y “Jennie”.
In the 1950s, he played various roles in films such as “This is not a big city”, “Always you and me” or “Johnny Trouble”, which would be his last movie.
On June 18, 1959, Ethel died of a cardiac arrest at her Hollywood residence.
As a tribute to his entire artistic career and to his collaboration with the world of acting, the New York Theater was named after him.