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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.
Dolores Costello Biography / Wiki
| Name | Dolores Costello |
| Also Know | Dolores Costello Barrymore |
| Gender | Female |
| Known For | Acting |
| Place of Birth | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA |
| Date of Birth | 1903-09-17 |
| Age(as in 2022) | 75 |
| Deathday | 1979-03-01 |
Dolores Costello Acting Movies
| Movie Name | Character | Release Date | Overview |
| Expensive Women | Constance ‘Connie’ Newton | 1931-10-24 | A wealthy young woman struggles to find love while surrounded by possible suitors…. |
| Noah’s Ark | Marie / Miriam | 1928-11-01 | The Biblical story of Noah and the Great Flood, with a parallel story of soldiers in the First World War…. |
| Second Choice | Vallery Grove | 1930-01-04 | Vallery Grove is in love with Don Warren but her mother opposes the match because he is poor and has no social standing. Don decides to terminate his … |
| Old San Francisco | Dolores Vasquez | 1927-09-04 | In San Francisco, a villainous landowner with underworld connections seeks to steal the property of an old Spanish family…. |
| Tenderloin | Rose Shannon | 1928-03-14 | Rose Shannon, a dancing girl at “Kelly’s,” in the ‘Tenderloin’ district of New York City, worships at a distance Chuck White, a younger member of the … |
| Glorious Betsy | Betsy Patterson | 1928-04-25 | Vitaphone production reels #2471-2478; third Warner Bros. feature film – the first being The Jazz Singer and the second Tenderloin – to include talkin… |
| A Million Bid | Dorothy Gordon | 1927-05-27 | To satisfy her controlling mother and secure both of their futures, a daughter hesitantly enters a loveless marriage to a wealthy businessman. Years l… |
| The Redeeming Sin | Joan Billaire | 1929-02-16 | The Redeeming Sin (1929) is a crime drama part-talking silent film with Vitaphone music and sound effects. It was produced and distributed by Warner B… |
| Glad Rag Doll | Annabel Lee | 1929-05-03 | She sought to conquer…but found Cupid her master! This is one of many lost films of the 1920s, no prints or Vitaphone discs survive, but the song w… |
| Madonna of Avenue A | Maria Morton | 1929-06-21 | A young woman is shocked to discover that her mother, who she always believed was a stylish and successful member of upper-crust society, is actually … |
| Hearts in Exile | Vera Zuanova | 1929-09-14 | In this romance set in Russia, a fisherman’s daughter is jilted by her true love and instead marries a baron. Time passes and the two men meet each ot… |
| The College Widow | Jane Witherspoon | 1927-10-15 | Following another instance of the perennial defeat of the Atwater College football team, President Witherspoon is told that unless better athletes can… |
| The Third Degree | Annie Daly | 1926-12-01 | Alicia, a circus artist, deserts her husband and child to elope with Underwood, her handsome lover. Fifteen years later, Annie Martin, Alicia’s desert… |
| The Heart of Maryland | Maryland Calvert | 1927-07-13 | At the outbreak of the War Between the States, Maryland Calvert is loved by Maj. Alan Kendrick, son of a Virginia general, and Capt. Fulton Thorpe. Na… |
| His Sister’s Children | Buster aka Budge | 1911-09-26 | Harry Burton’s sister and her husband are suddenly called away for a few days on business and telegraph him to come to their home and take care of the… |
| Bride of the Storm | Faith Fitzhugh | 1926-02-20 | An American ship is wrecked off the coast of the Dutch East Indies, and little Faith Fitzhugh and her mother have washed ashore on a rocky island that… |
| The Little Irish Girl | Dot Walker | 1926-03-06 | Beautiful Dot Walker is part of a ring of crooks in San Francisco, who use her to lure impressionable young men into a crooked card game. Young Johnny… |
| The Magnificent Ambersons | Isabel Amberson Minafer | 1942-07-10 | The spoiled young heir to the decaying Amberson fortune comes between his widowed mother and the man she has always loved…. |
| Little Lord Fauntleroy | ‘Dearest’ Erroll | 1936-03-06 | An American boy turns out to be the heir of a wealthy British earl. He is sent to live with the irritable and unsentimental aristocrat, his grandfathe… |
| Breaking the Ice | Martha Martin | 1938-09-22 | The story begins while Tommy Martin and his mother, Martha Martin say goodbye to Henry and Reuben Johnson. After having stopped by the Mennonite farm… |
| When a Man Loves | Manon Lescaut | 1927-08-21 | A nobleman studying for the priesthood abandons his vocation in 18th Century France when he falls in love with a beautiful, but reluctant, courtesan…. |
| A Midsummer Night’s Dream | Fairy | 1909-12-25 | The worlds first screen adaptation of a Shakespeare play…. |
| Outside These Walls | Margaret Bronson | 1939-05-04 | Walen plays Dan Sparling, a convicted embezzler who becomes editor of his prison newspaper. After serving out his sentence, he sets up an independent … |
| The Sea Beast | Esther Harper | 1926-01-15 | Based on Herman Melville’s novel “Moby Dick.”… |
| The Beloved Brat | Helen Cosgrove | 1938-04-30 | Roberta Morgan is being raised in a wealthy home where her mother is occupied with her society-club activities and her father is immersed in his busin… |
| Yours for the Asking | Lucille Sutton | 1936-07-23 | Casino operator Johnny Lamb hires down-on-her-luck socialite Lucille Sutton as his casino hostess, in order to help her and to improve casino income. … |
| Ida’s Christmas | Ida – the Little Smith Girl | 1912-12-24 | A poor young girl finds a purse and returns it to its owner, who decides to reward her honesty…. |
| Mannequin | Joan Herrick | 1926-01-11 | Adapted from the Fannie Hurst story of the same name, Mannequin is the story of Joan Herrick, kidnapped in infancy from her wealthy parents and raised… |
| Whispering Enemies | Laura Crandall | 1939-03-24 | Meet the man who stayed just inside the law with a brand new racket…… |
| She Never Knew | Mr. Blinn’s Granddaughter | 1912-04-02 | Left with the care of his little grandchild through the death of his daughter, old Mr. Blinn tries in every way to give her the cure and attention whi… |
| Bobby’s Father | Bobby Ramsay | 1912-09-23 | Dick Ramsay is a “cracksman” and burglar. His wife, Jane, is a good woman and tries to persuade her husband to give up his dishonest ways. They have o… |
| Greater Than a Crown | Isabel Frances / Princess of Lividia | 1925-07-12 | Tom Conway, a wealthy American from Yonkers, saves a girl from assailants while in London and, with the help of a friend, Tiger Bugg, finds her lodgin… |
| King of the Turf | Eve Barnes | 1939-02-17 | Mason is a former race-horse owner who gave up everything and started to drink after the death of one of his jockeys. One day he meets Goldie who has … |
| The Telephone | Daughter | 1910-10-29 | An impressive Vitagraph short, one of many popular firemen-to-the-rescue films of the time…. |
| A Reformed Santa Claus | The Widow’s 1st Child | 1911-12-22 | The employees of Harrison’s mine have been out on strike for a long time. The men wait for him until he is leaving his office in the evening. They try… |
| Consuming Love; or, St. Valentine’s Day in Greenaway Land | 1911-02-14 | Tommy and Jimmy are very much in love with Dolly. Their appetites however, very much overbalance their affections. Joe, who is not over blessed with t… | |
| Her Grandchild | Little Janet – the Grandchild | 1912-08-19 | Mrs. Grant, a widow, has one son, Donald. He is not really a bad fellow, but is full of devilment and always getting himself into mischief. One day, h… |
| In the Shadow | Neighbor Girl | 1913-10-28 | Thousands of persons would die in the present if it were not for the memories of the past. Old Mrs. Merkle has one cherished reminder of bygone days, … |
| Some Steamer Scooping | The Little Stowaway | 1914-02-12 | The Baron Lafitte is in love with and proposes to Adelaide Burton, daughter of Andrew Burton, a wealthy manufacturer. Clara Lane, a newspaper reporter… |
| The Evil Men Do | David – as a Little Boy | 1915-01-19 | As childhood sweethearts, David Horton and Beatrice Elton are inseparable. Fifteen years later Beatrice goes abroad and while there is heartbroken to … |
| Lulu’s Doctor | Lulu | 1912-06-09 | Magde leaves her fiancé Lewis in order to take care of Lulu, the child of her deceased sister, in New York. After some time, chance brings the two lo… |
| The Meeting of the Ways | One of Tom’s Children | 1912-01-12 | Tom and Dick are brothers and are being educated at the same college. Tom is a studious fellow and graduates with honors, while Dick is expelled from … |
| Some Good in All | Betty Lane – John’s Daughter | 1911-12-25 | John Lane is a prosperous businessman, a widower, who lives in a large house with his seven-year-old daughter Betty. Lane has an enemy, one Ben Hartle… |
| A Juvenile Love Affair | Jane – Alvin’s Sweetheart | 1912-07-30 | Two little children, who think themselves very much in love with each other, imbued with the ideas of their elders, plan a romantic marriage. Alvin St… |
| Vultures and Doves | Mrs. Hanley’s Little Girl | 1912-08-14 | “Thirty per cent dividend! Is your money supporting you? If not, call and see us. Rising Sun Copper Company.” This is the bait that the vultures throw… |
| Captain Barnacle’s Legacy | Ruth – Barnacle’s Adopted Daughter | 1912-09-04 | Captain Barnacle receives a letter telling him that Mr. Markham, a South African whose life he saved some years ago, has died, leaving him a legacy in… |
| The Toymaker | Little Dot Avery | 1912-10-24 | An old German toymaker, Hans Greyburg, living in a little flat on the east side of New York, while engaged one day making and dressing dolls, is visit… |
| A Birthday Gift | 1913-03-18 | Left alone by the death of her mother and the imprisonment of her father for theft, little Alice goes to live with her uncle and aunt. The latter does… | |
| Fellow Voyagers | Little Dolores Gray | 1913-11-26 | Miss Marbury comes on deck and looks haughtily at Mrs. Cray, an attractive young widow, half suspecting that she has her steamer chair. When she finds… |
| Myrna Loy: So Nice to Come Home To | (archive footage) | 1990-06-04 | This tribute to Myrna Loy is organized chronologically with a few photographs, many film clips, a handful of personal appearances, and a detailed comm… |
| Captain Jenks’ Dilemma | One of Widow Brown’s Children | 1912-01-08 | Mrs. Brown, who is a widow, finds it a rather difficult matter to clothe and feed her large family of children, so when she becomes acquainted on the … |
| Wanted… a Grandmother | 1912-08-09 | Kitty Mallory, the young actress, finds herself in straightened circumstances. Looking for the immediate dollar, she sees an “ad” in the newspaper, fo… | |
| Song of the Shell | Little Bess M. | 1912-12-13 | Suffering with ennui, bored by society, Annie Bradley, a wealthy girl, is anxious to make her time more profitable by doing something worthwhile…. |
| This Is the Army | Mrs. Davidson | 1943-08-14 | In WW I dancer Jerry Jones stages an all-soldier show on Broadway, called Yip Yip Yaphank. Wounded in the War, he becomes a producer. In WW II his son… |
| The Geranium | 1911-07-15 | One glance at the poor and disordered home of the Tunisons shows us there is something still lacking. Mrs. Tunison is obliged to provide for her cripp… | |
| For the Honor of the Family | Alice – the Child | 1912-01-27 | On account of his extravagance and dissipation, Col. Ryder disowns his son and casts him off. Guy, resolved to redeem himself, joins an Indian regimen… |
| The Hindoo Charm | Dolores Tilbury – the Older Child | 1913-09-17 | Advised by his friends to seek a second wife so that his children, Helen and Dolores, may know a mother’s care, Sir Edward Tilbury marries Phyllis, th… |
| Etta of the Footlights | 1914-05-23 | Etta Lang, a chorus girl, is the principal support of an invalid mother and her sister and brother, not only working at the theater, but looking after… | |
| The Heart of Jim Brice | 1915-04-01 | Jovial and big-hearted, Jim Brice, of the Howard Detective Agency, is sent to trap bribetakers in a nearby city…. | |
| Lawful Larceny | Nora the maid | 1923-07-22 | During his wife’s absence, Andrew Dorsey is snared by Vivian Hepburn, owner of a crooked gambling house, and her silent partner, Guy Tarlow. Dorsey lo… |
| The Glimpses of the Moon | Secondary Role | 1923-03-25 | The film is based upon the 1922 Edith Wharton novel The Glimpses of the Moon…. |
| The Child Crusoes | 1911-09-13 | Jack, a little orphan, is anxious to become a sailor, and although Captain Rhines refuses to take him aboard his ship, manages to sneak in as a stowaw… | |
| The Money Kings | 1912-07-15 | The Money Kings is a 1912 silent short film…. | |
| The Irony of Fate | Fourth Child | 1912-09-28 | Virginia Jameson, a girl of lovely disposition, is wooed by a man much older than herself whom she very much dislikes, but who stands very high in the… |
| The Circus: Premiere | Herself | 1928-01-13 | Footage from the premiere of Charlie Chaplin’s 1928 film ‘The Circus’…. |
| Too Much Burglar | 1914-11-19 | An exceptionally capable girl, Trixie Joyce, proves a great help, to her mother, a widow with a large family of girls. They receive a proposition from… | |
| The Troublesome Step-Daughters | 1912-07-06 | A widower with four grown daughters remarries and brings his new wife home to meet them. The girls set out to make life as difficult as possible for t… | |
| Bobbed Hair | (uncredited) | 1925-10-24 | Mystery of bootleggers, hijackers, a girl with bobbed hair, and a talented bull terrier…. |
| The Golden Twenties | Herself (archive footage) | 1950-04-07 | Feature-length compilation of 1920s newsreel footage, with commentary about news, sports, lifestyles, and historical figures…. |
| Show of Shows | Performer in ‘Meet My Sister’ Number | 1929-11-21 | It’s 1929. The studio gave the cinema its voice gave offered the audiences a chance to see their favorite actors and actresses from the silent screen … |
| Hollywood My Home Town | 1965-12-31 | Ken Murray narrates his 16mm home movies shot over 35 years in Hollywood…. | |
| Paris Hilton Inc.: The Selling of Celebrity | Self (archive footage) | 2009-11-29 | We are drowning in celebrity culture and certainly no tabloid topic has been as big as Paris Hilton. Her incarceration and subsequent release, then re… |
Credit: TMDB
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