John Drew Barrymore

Diagnoses

Personal

Vocation

Family

American actor from a noted theatrical family who debuted in films as a teen-ager. His rebellious nature and drug and violence problems curtailed his career and destroyed his personal life. His credits included the films "The Sundowners," 1950, "While the City Sleeps," 1956, "Nights of Rasputin," 1961 and "War of the Zombies," 1963. The son of actors John Barrymore and Dolores Costello who divorced in his infancy, John, Jr. claimed to remember seeing his father only once. His mother attempted to keep him from acting, sending him to St. John's Military Academy and intending that he go to college. But Barrymore rebelled and signed a movie contract at 17. Rather than apprentice in the theatre in small roles, he leapt into leading roles then quit at least twice before finally making his stage debut. Barrymore married Cara Williams in 1952 and had one son with her, John Blyth Barrymore. They divorced in 1959. In 1960 he married Gaby Palazzolo, they had one daughter and divorced. He married Ildiko Jaid, had one daughter with her, Drew, and divorced. He was long estranged from his family, including his son (who has repeated many of his father's problems) and daughter, actress Drew Barrymore. During the 1950s, he appeared in several notable films including the western, "High Lonesome." Barrymore had repeated scrapes with the law and was jailed numerous times for drunkenness and spousal abuse. In 1958 he changed his name to John Drew Barrymore and had a brief resurgence in film. His career derailed when he had further incarcerations in the ‘60s for drug activity. He appeared infrequently onscreen and became more and more reclusive, eventually disappearing into a California desert town to live, practicing yoga and meditation. In the mid '70s, he was back in circulation for occasional small bit films and on TV. The sometime-actor died at age 72 on November 29, 2004 in Los Angeles. The cause of his death sas not disclosed. Link to Wikipedia biography