John Barrymore was an American actor on stage, screen, and radio. A member of the Drew and Barrymore theatrical families, he initially tried to avoid the stage, and briefly attempted a career as an artist, but appeared on stage together with his father Maurice in 1900, and then his sister Ethel the following year. He began his career in 1903 and first gained attention as a stage actor in light comedy, then high drama, culminating in productions of Justice (1916), Richard III (1920), and Hamlet (1922); his portrayal of Hamlet led to him being called the "greatest living American tragedian".
Alice Brady was an American actress of stage and film. She began her career in the theatre in 1911, and her first important success came on Broadway in 1912 when she created the role of Meg March in the original production of Marian de Forest's Little Women. As a screen actress she first appeared in silent films and was one of the few actresses to survive the transition into talkies. She worked until six months before her death from cancer in 1939. Her films include My Man Godfrey (1936), in which she plays the flighty mother of Carole Lombard's character, and In Old Chicago (1937) for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Ethel Barrymore was an American actress and a member of the Barrymore family of actors. Barrymore was a stage, screen and radio actress whose career spanned six decades, and was regarded as "The First Lady of the American Theatre". She received four nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, winning for None but the Lonely Heart (1944).
Vanity Fair is a 1932 American pre-Code drama film directed by Chester M. Franklin and starring Myrna Loy, Conway Tearle and Anthony Bushell. The film is modernized adaptation of William Makepeace Thackeray's 1848 novel of the same name with the original Regency-era story reset in Twentieth Century Britain. Three years later Thackeray's novel was adapted again as Becky Sharp, the first three-strip technicolor film.
Dragon Seed is a 1944 American war drama film, about Japan's WWII-era actions in China.The movie directed by Jack Conway and Harold S. Bucquet, based on the 1942 novel of the same name by Pearl S. Buck. The film stars Katharine Hepburn, Walter Huston, Aline MacMahon, Akim Tamiroff, and Turhan Bey. It portrays a peaceful village in China that has been invaded by the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War. The men in the village choose to adopt a peaceful attitude toward their conquerors, but the headstrong Jade (Hepburn) stands up to the Japanese.
Marceline Day was an American motion picture actress whose career began as a child in the 1910s and ended in the 1930s.
Mary Carlisle was an American actress, singer, and dancer, best known for her roles as a wholesome ingénue in numerous 1930s musical-comedy films.
Lucy Beaumont was an English actress of the stage and screen from Bristol.
The Hound of the Baskervilles is a 1978 British comedy film spoofing the 1902 novel The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It starred Peter Cook as Sherlock Holmes and Dudley Moore as Dr. Watson. A number of other well-known British comedy actors appeared in the film including Terry-Thomas, Kenneth Williams and Denholm Elliott.
When Ladies Meet is a 1933 American pre-Code comedy film directed by Harry Beaumont and starring Ann Harding, Myrna Loy, Robert Montgomery, Alice Brady, and Frank Morgan. The film is the first adaptation of the 1932 Rachel Crothers play of the same name. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Art Direction by Cedric Gibbons.
Stingaree is an American pre-Code romantic drama film directed by William A. Wellman released by RKO Radio Pictures in 1934. The film was based on a 1905 novel by Ernest William Hornung. Set in Australia, it stars Irene Dunne as Hilda Bouverie and Richard Dix as Stingaree. Hollywood had previously filmed the Hornung story as serials in 1915 and 1917, starring True Boardman.
Conway Tearle was an American stage actor who went on to perform in silent and early sound films.
Courage of Lassie is a 1946 American Technicolor MGM feature film featuring Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Morgan, and dog actor Pal.
Beauty for Sale is a 1933 American pre-Code film about the romantic entanglements of three beauty salon employees. Based on the 1933 novel Beauty by Faith Baldwin, it stars Madge Evans, Alice Brady, Otto Kruger and Una Merkel.
Katharine Alexander was an American actress on stage and screen. She appeared in 44 films between 1930 and 1951.
Rasputin and the Empress is a 1932 American pre-Code film directed by Richard Boleslawski and written by Charles MacArthur. Produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), the film is set in Imperial Russia and stars the Barrymore siblings. It is the only film in which all three siblings appear together.
His Double Life is a 1933 American pre-Code comedy drama film directed by Broadway theatrical impresario and first time film director Arthur Hopkins with directorial input from the experienced William C. deMille, Cecil's older brother. It stars Roland Young and Lillian Gish.
Dancing Mothers is a 1926 American black and white silent drama film produced by Paramount Pictures. The film was directed by Herbert Brenon, and stars Alice Joyce, Conway Tearle, and making her debut appearance for a Paramount Pictures film, Clara Bow. Dancing Mothers was released to the general public on March 1, 1926. The film tells the story of a pretty mother, who was almost cheated out of life by a heartless husband and a thoughtless daughter. The film survives on 16mm film stock and is currently kept at the UCLA Film and Television Archive.
Arsène Lupin is a 1932 American pre-Code mystery film directed by Jack Conway and starring John Barrymore and Lionel Barrymore. It was produced and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.The film is based on a popular 1909 play by Maurice Leblanc and Francis de Croisset. Leblanc created the character Arsène Lupin, a charming, brilliant gentleman thief in 1905. Lupin preys on rich villains.
The Vinegar Tree is an early play by the American playwright Paul Osborn. It is a light comedy of manners and opened in 1930 at the Playhouse in New York starring Mary Boland and Warren William. In the review from the New York Times, Brooks Atkinson called Mary Boland's performance "a great treat for an audience that laughed until it burst its stays at The Playhouse last evening." The Vinegar Tree was revived successfully at the York Theater in 1988 with Frances Cuka. Clive Barnes remarked in his review, "The misunderstandings are all very well understood, but what gives Osborn's play its finesse and glitter is the neatness of its writing and the sheer style of its construction as well as the observation and comic insight Osborn brings to his characters" The Vinegar Tree was made into a movie called Should Ladies Behave? in 1933 with Alice Brady, Lionel Barrymore, Conway Tearle, Katherine Alexander, Mary Carlisle, William Janney, Halliwell Hobbes. The screenwriters were Bella and Samuel Spewack and the director was Harry Beaumont.
