The Book of Barrymore: Acting’s Royal Family, in Their Own Words

As Margot Peters notes in the engrossing 1990 biography House of Barrymore—a sprawling portrait of the dynasty which suffers only from an off-putting, presumptuously catty tone—the tragic early death of their high-spirited, witty mother and the perpetual absence of their debonair, wastrel father led to the three siblings being scattered to different boarding schools and family touring companies while still children. “We were separated very early in our lives…Consequently, when we met later in life, we were rather formal with each other and very, very polite. It appears that rather terrified observers,” Ethel writes. “I remember Lionel telling me that… Read Full Article