Last Years
In 1896, Barrymore became the first major Broadway star to headline in vaudeville—a brave foray at the time that he speculatively would have later made into motion pictures had he lived. In the 1895 theater season on Broadway he co-starred with Mrs. Leslie Carter in The Heart of Maryland. In the 1899 season on Broadway he had a success playing opposite Mrs. Fiske in the part of Rawdon Crawley in Becky Sharp. This play was based on a character from William Thackeray's novel Vanity Fair. Becky Sharp was Barrymore's last Broadway success. In 1900, Barrymore toured the U.S. with a play called The Battle of the Strong. In the company of this play was a five year old child actress, Blanche Sweet, who grew up to be a silent movie actress and acted with Lionel in his first film. When the Battle of the Strong company stopped in Louisville, Kentucky Barrymore sat for his last posed photograph. Also during this time he got to spend time with his son John, who was now in his late teens. Lionel and Ethel were on the road in theater companies having already started their careers.
Read more about this topic: Maurice Barrymore
Famous quotes containing the word years:
“In most nineteenth-century cities, both large and small, more than 50 percent—and often up to 75 percent—of the residents in any given year were no longer there ten years later. People born in the twentieth century are much more likely to live near their birthplace than were people born in the nineteenth century.”
—Stephanie Coontz (20th century)
“Thirty years ago I said, “But how can one be sick?” But now I say, “If only one could find the secret of not being sick, I would not exchange it for all the secrets in the world.””
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)