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person_profile-Dolores Costello

Dolores Costello Died at age: 75

Actor | Producer

Fullname:

Dolores Costello

Date of Birth:

Sep 17, 1903

Country of birth:

USA

Died:

Mar 01, 1979

Biography of

Dolores Costello

    From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    Dolores Costello (September 17, 1903 – March 1, 1979) 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". She was stepmother of John Barrymore's daughter Diana by his second wife Blanche Oelrichs, the mother of John Drew Barrymore and Dolores (Dee Dee) Barrymore, and the grandmother of John Barrymore III, Blyth Dolores Barrymore, Brahma Blyth (Jessica) Barrymore, and Drew Barrymore.

    Dolores Costello was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the daughter of actors Maurice Costello and Mae Costello (née Altschuk). She was of Irish and German descent. She had a younger sister, Helene, and the two made their first film appearances in the years 1909–1915 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.

    The two sisters appeared on Broadway together as chlorines and their success resulted in contracts with Warner Brothers Studios. In 1926, following small parts in feature films, she was selected by John Barrymore to star opposite him in The Sea Beast, a loose adaptation of Herman Melville's Moby-Dick. Warner Bros. soon began starring her in her own vehicles. Meanwhile, she and Barrymore became romantically involved and married in 1928.

    Within a few years of achieving stardom, the delicately beautiful blonde-haired actress had become a successful and highly regarded 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, and had acquired the nickname "The Goddess of the Silver Screen".

    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.

    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. One of her early sound film appearances was with her sister Helene in Warner Bros.'s all-star extravaganza The Show of Shows (1929).

    Her acting career became less 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.

    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.

    In 1950 Costello divorced Dr. John Vruwink, whom she had married in 1939. She spent the remaining years of her life in semi-seclusion, managing an avocado farm.

    She died from emphysema in Fallbrook, California in 1979.

Photos of

Dolores Costello

Photos ( 4 Photos

Filmography of

Dolores Costello

Found 37 Movies in total

Paris Hilton Inc.

Self (archive footage) ( Actor )

... 2009

Myrna Loy: So Nice to Come Home To

(archive footage) ( Actor )

... 1990

Hollywood My Home Town

Self (archive footage) ( Actor )

... 1965

The Golden Twenties

Self (archive footage) ( Actor )

... 1950

This Is the Army

Mrs. Davidson ( Actor )

... 1943

The Magnificent Ambersons

Isabel Amberson Minafer ( Actor )

... 1942

Outside These Walls

Margaret Bronson ( Actor )

... 1939

Whispering Enemies

Laura Crandall ( Actor )

... 1939

King of the Turf

Eve Barnes ( Actor )

... 1939

Breaking the Ice

Martha Martin ( Actor )

... 1938

The Beloved Brat

Helen Cosgrove ( Actor )

... 1938

Yours for the Asking

Lucille Sutton ( Actor )

... 1936

Little Lord Fauntleroy

'Dearest' Erroll ( Actor )

... 1936

Expensive Women

Constance 'Connie' Newton ( Actor )

... 1931

Second Choice

Vallery Grove ( Actor )

... 1930

Show of Shows

Performer in 'Meet My Sister' Number ( Actor )

... 1929

Hearts in Exile

Vera Zuanova ( Actor )

... 1929

Madonna of Avenue A

Maria Morton ( Actor )

... 1929

Glad Rag Doll

Annabel Lee ( Actor )

... 1929

The Redeeming Sin

Joan Billaire ( Actor )

... 1929

Noah's Ark

Marie / Miriam ( Actor )

... 1928

Glorious Betsy

Betsy Patterson ( Actor )

... 1928

Tenderloin

Rose Shannon ( Actor )

... 1928

The College Widow

Jane Witherspoon ( Actor )

... 1927

Old San Francisco

Dolores Vasquez ( Actor )

... 1927

When a Man Loves

Manon Lescaut ( Actor )

... 1927

The Heart of Maryland

Maryland Calvert ( Actor )

... 1927

A Million Bid

Dorothy Gordon ( Actor )

... 1927

The Third Degree

Annie Daly ( Actor )

... 1926

The Little Irish Girl

Dot Walker ( Actor )

... 1926

Bride of the Storm

Faith Fitzhugh ( Actor )

... 1926

The Sea Beast

Esther Harper ( Actor )

... 1926

Mannequin

Joan Herrick ( Actor )

... 1926

Bobbed Hair

(uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1925

Greater Than a Crown

Isabel Frances / Princess of Lividia ( Actor )

... 1925

Lawful Larceny

Nora the maid ( Actor )

... 1923

The Glimpses of the Moon

Secondary Role ( Actor )

... 1923