Lionel Barrymore

Acting · Born 1878-04-28 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Biography

Lionel Barrymore (born Lionel Herbert Blythe; April 28, 1878 – November 15, 1954) was an American actor of stage, screen and radio as well as a film director. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in A Free Soul (1931), and remains best known to modern audiences for the role of villainous Mr. Potter in Frank Capra's 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life. He is also particularly remembered as Ebenezer Scrooge in annual broadcasts of A Christmas Carol during his last two decades. He is also known for playing Dr. Leonard Gillespie in MGM's nine Dr. Kildare films, a role he reprised in a further six films focusing solely on Gillespie and in a radio series entitled The Story of Dr. Kildare. He was a member of the theatrical Barrymore family.

Filmography

• It's a Wonderful Life as Mr. Potter
• Key Largo as James Temple
• Grand Hotel as Otto Kringelein
• You Can't Take It with You as Martin Vanderhof
• Calling Dr. Gillespie as Dr. Leonard Gillespie
• The Hollywood Revue of 1929 as Self - Director of 'Romeo and Juliet' (uncredited)
• Duel in the Sun as Sen. Jackson McCanles
• Public Hero Number 1 as Dr. Josiah Glass
• West of Zanzibar as Crane
• Mata Hari as General Serge Shubin

TV

• The Ed Sullivan Show as Self