Dolores Costello

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Dolores Costello
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Costello in 1926
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Resting place
Calvary Cemetery (East Los Angeles, California)
OccupationTemplate:Pluralize from textActress
Years active1909–1943
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Notable creditTemplate:Pluralize from textTemplate:Pluralize from text
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(m. 1928; div. 1934)
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John Vruwink
(m. 1939; div. 1950)
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Children2, including John Drew Barrymore
ParentTemplate:Pluralize from textMaurice Costello
Mae Costello (née Altschuk)Template:Pluralize from text
RelativesHelene Costello (sister)
Drew Barrymore (grand-daughter)

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Dolores Costello (September 17, 1903[1][note 1] – March 1, 1979)[2][3] 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" by her first husband, the actor John Barrymore. She was the mother of John Drew Barrymore and grandmother of actress and talk show host Drew Barrymore.

Early years

Dolores Costello was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the daughter of actors Maurice Costello[2] and Mae Costello (née Altschuk). She was of Irish and German descent. She had a younger sister, Helene, and the two made their early film appearances from 1909 to 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.

Film career

Costello, age 20, as a Ziegfeld girl, c. 1923

File:Dolores Costello - Old San francisco - scenes - 1927.webm

Costello with husband John Barrymore and their children, John Drew and Dolores, 1934

The two sisters appeared on Broadway together as chorus line dancers, and their success resulted in contracts with Warner Bros. Pictures. In 1926, following small parts in feature films, Dolores Costello was selected by John Barrymore to star with him in The Sea Beast,[4] a loose adaptation of Herman Melville's Moby-Dick, after which Warner soon began starring her in her own vehicles. Meanwhile, she and Barrymore became involved romantically, and married in 1928.[2]

Within a few years of achieving stardom, Costello had become a 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,[5] and had acquired the nickname "The Goddess of the Silver Screen".[citation needed]

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.

Theater poster for Tenderloin (1928) starring Dolores Costello

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.[citation needed] One of her early sound film appearances was with her sister Helene in the Warner Bros. all-star extravaganza The Show of Shows (1929).

Her acting career became less of 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.[6][7]

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.

Making a rare radio appearance, Costello appeared as the Danish Countess Elsa on the radio program Suspense on August 28, 1943. The title of the episode was The King's Birthday, written by Corporal Leonard Pellitier, U.S. Army.

Later years

Costello's final film was This Is the Army (1943). The destructive effects of early film makeup, which affected her complexion too severely to camouflage, is blamed for the end of her film career.[8][9] In 1939, she married Dr. John Vruwink, an obstetrician who was her physician during her pregnancies; they divorced in 1950. She died of emphysema in California in early March 1979 at age 75. Costello has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contributions to motion pictures at 1645 Vine Street.[10]

Filmography

Child roles

Costello appeared as a child actress in many films made from 1909 to 1915. Among them are:

Year Film Source
Template:Dts A Midsummer Night's Dream
Template:Dts The Telephone
Template:Dts Consuming Love, or St. Valentine's Day in Greenaway Land a Geranium
Template:Dts The Child Crusoes
Template:Dts His Sister's Children
Template:Dts A Reformed Santa Claus
Template:Dts Some Good in All
Template:Dts Captain Jenks' Dilemma
Template:Dts The Meeting of the Ways
Template:Dts For the Honor of the Family
Template:Dts She Never Knew; Lulu's Doctor
Template:Dts The Troublesome Step-Daughters
Template:Dts The Money Kings
Template:Dts A Juvenile Love Affair
Template:Dts Wanted...a Grandmother
Template:Dts Vultures and Doves
Template:Dts Her Grandchild
Template:Dts Captain Barnacle's Legacy
Template:Dts Bobby's Father
Template:Dts The Irony of Fate
Template:Dts The Toymaker
Template:Dts Ida's Christmas
Template:Dts A Birthday Gift
Template:Dts The Hindoo Charm
Template:Dts In the Shadow
Template:Dts Fellow Voyagers
Template:Dts Some Steamer Scooping
Template:Dts Etta of the Footlights
Template:Dts Too Much Burglar
Template:Dts The Evil Men Do

Adult roles

Costello and George O'Brien in Noah's Ark (1928)

She restarted her movie career in 1923 after spending several years modeling in New York.[citation needed]

Year Film Role Director Notes
1923 The Glimpses of the Moon bit part Allan Dwan Lost film
Lawful Larceny Nora the maid Allan Dwan Lost film
1925 Greater Than a Crown Isabel Frances / Princess of Lividia Roy William Neill
Bobbed Hair Bit part Alan Crosland
1926 Mannequin Joan Herrick James Cruze
The Sea Beast Esther Harper Millard Webb
Bride of the Storm Faith Fitzhugh J. Stuart Blackton Lost film
The Little Irish Girl Dot Walker Roy Del Ruth Lost film
The Third Degree Annie Daly Michael Curtiz A copy is preserved at the Library of Congress
1927 When a Man Loves Manon Lescaut Alan Crosland
A Million Bid Dorothy Gordon Michael Curtiz An incomplete copy is held at the Library of Congress with Italian intertitles
Old San Francisco Dolores Vasquez Alan Crosland Copies held at the Library of Congress, George Eastman House and Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research
The Heart of Maryland Maryland Calvert Lloyd Bacon An incomplete copy is held at the Library of Congress
The College Widow Jane Witherspoon Archie Mayo Lost film
1928 Tenderloin Rose Shannon Michael Curtiz Lost film
Glorious Betsy Betsy Patterson Alan Crosland Preserved at the Library of Congress, while its Vitaphone track survives incomplete at the UCLA Film & Television Archive
Noah's Ark Marie/Miriam Michael Curtiz Film survives as a partially restored 108 minute version; the original 138 minute version is lost
1929 The Redeeming Sin Joan Billaire Howard Bretherton Lost film
Glad Rag Doll Annabel Lee Michael Curtiz Lost film
Trailer survives
Madonna of Avenue A Maria Morton Michael Curtiz Lost film
Hearts in Exile Vera Zuanova Michael Curtiz Lost film
The Show of Shows Meet My Sister number John G. Adolfi Survives in black and white copy, fragments of color segments exist
1930 Second Choice Vallery Grove Howard Bretherton Lost film
1931 Expensive Women Constance "Connie" Newton Hobart Henley Preserved at the Library of Congress
1936 Little Lord Fauntleroy "Dearest" Erroll John Cromwell
Yours for the Asking Lucille Sutton Alexander Hall
1938 The Beloved Brat Helen Cosgrove Arthur Lubin
Breaking the Ice Martha Martin Edward F. Cline
1939 King of the Turf Eve Barnes Alfred E. Green
Whispering Enemies Laura Crandall Lewis D. Collins
Outside These Walls Margaret Bronson Ray McCarey
1942 The Magnificent Ambersons Isabel Orson Welles
1943 This Is the Army Mrs. Davidson Michael Curtiz
1980 Hollywood: A Celebration of the American Silent Film Herself her scenes broadcast posthumously

Notes

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  1. ^ Costello's obituary in The New York Times says that she was born on September 17, 1905.

References

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  1. ^ Shulman, Terry Chester (2019). "Film's First Family: The Untold Story of the Costellos (Screen Classics)" · University Press of Kentucky, 2019 ·Template:ISBN
  2. ^ a b c Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Flint, Peters B. (March 3, 1979). "Dolores Costello, 73, Film Star". The New York Times. Archived from the original on September 29, 2017. Retrieved September 29, 2017.
  3. ^ Motion Picture Performers. A bibliography of magazine and periodical articles, 1900–1969; compiled by Mel Schuster. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1971.
  4. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Rainho, Manny (March 2015). "This Month in Movie History". Classic Images (477): 26.
  5. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Brody, Richard (June 18, 2009). "Stars Are Born". The New Yorker. Retrieved July 23, 2020.
  6. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."John Drew Barrymore". Syracuse Post Standard. November 30, 2004. Retrieved July 23, 2020.
  7. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."WIFE DIVORCES JOHN BARRYMORE; Former Dolores Costello, Charging Desertion, Gets Children and $163,000 in Securities". The New York Times. October 10, 1935. Retrieved July 23, 2020.
  8. ^ Olive Borden: The Life and Films of Hollywood's Joy Girl   by Michelle Vogel page 89; Retrieved February 10, 2016
  9. ^ Orson Welles: A Biography   by Barbara Leaming page 222; Retrieved February 10, 2016
  10. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Dolores Costello". Hollywood Walk of Fame. Archived from the original on February 18, 2014. Retrieved October 3, 2023.

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