Dolores Costello

Acting

Dolores Costello

Born 1903-09-17 · Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

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.

Acting credits

No artwork available
7.0

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 beach with Captain Jenks she is not slow in inviting him to her house. That evening the Captain calls with an engagement ring. He asks the widow to become his wife, but just as he is accepted Mrs. Brown's numerous offspring come running into the room. Upon being told that they are her children the Captain nearly faints and does not know how to break the engagement.

Captain Jenks' Dilemma

1912

The Magnificent Ambersons poster
7.3

The spoiled young heir to the decaying Amberson fortune comes between his widowed mother and the man she has always loved.

The Magnificent Ambersons

1942

Little Lord Fauntleroy poster
6.8

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 grandfather.

Little Lord Fauntleroy

1936

The Show of Shows poster
6.6

Now hear this. The studio that gave the cinema its voice offered 1929 audiences a chance to see and hear multiple silent-screen favorites for the first time in a gaudy, grandiose music-comedy-novelty revue that also included Talkie stars, Broadway luminaries and of course, Rin-Tin-Tin. Frank Fay hosts a jamboree that, among its 70+ stars, features bicyclers, boxing champ Georges Carpentier, chorines in terpsichore kickery, sister acts, Myrna Loy in two-strip Technicolor as an exotic Far East beauty, John Barrymore in a Shakespearean soliloquy (adding an on-screen voice to his legendary profile for the first time) and Winnie Lightner famously warbling the joys of Singing in the Bathtub. Watch, rinse, repeat!

The Show of Shows

1929

Noah's Ark poster
6.4

The Biblical story of Noah and the Great Flood, with a parallel story of soldiers in the First World War.

Noah's Ark

1928

Myrna Loy: So Nice to Come Home To poster
8.5

This tribute to Myrna Loy is organized chronologically with a few photographs, many film clips, a handful of personal appearances, and a detailed commentary delivered on camera by Kathleen Turner. Turner walks us through Loy's career as a dancer and an actress miscast as an exotic. She comes into her own as a grown-up women: shrewd, funny, decorous, and sexy - in "Manhattan Melodrama" and "The Thin Man." Her volunteer work during World War II, later stage work, and progressive politics come in for admiration as well. It's her style - seen best in her roles as a wife of charm and independence - that's captured and celebrated here.

Myrna Loy: So Nice to Come Home To

1990

Old San Francisco poster
5.8

In San Francisco, a villainous landowner with underworld connections seeks to steal the property of an old Spanish family.

Old San Francisco

1927

Second Choice poster
8.0

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 engagement to Vallery after attending a party where he meets a spoiled rich girl who is interested in him.

Second Choice

1930

No artwork available
10.0

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, he visits the village inn and follows this up by pinning a caricature of Elder McWirther on that gentleman's gate. It is decided by the deacons to expel him from the church.

Her Grandchild

1912

This Is the Army poster
5.7

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 Johnny Jones, who was before his fathers assistant, gets the order to stage a knew all-soldier show, called THIS IS THE ARMY. But in his pesonal life he has problems, because he refuses to marry his fiancée until the war is over.

This Is the Army

1943

Mannequin poster
10.0

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 by a slatternly slum woman. The film is still extant.

Mannequin

1926

When a Man Loves poster
6.3

A nobleman studying for the priesthood abandons his vocation in 18th Century France when he falls in love with a beautiful, but reluctant, courtesan.

When a Man Loves

1927

The Telephone poster
NR

An impressive Vitagraph short, one of many popular firemen-to-the-rescue films of the time.

The Telephone

1910

The Beloved Brat poster
6.5

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 business activities. She also feels that the household staff is against her and that no one understands her needs and problems. Things spiral out of control.

The Beloved Brat

1938

The Sea Beast poster
6.7

Based on Herman Melville's novel "Moby Dick."

The Sea Beast

1926

Breaking the Ice poster
6.1

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, where Tommy and Martha stay with the William and Annie Decker, the Johnsons are headed back to their hometown of Goshen. The balance of the film is concerned with both trying to get the necessary train fare and with Tommy clearing his name over a misunderstanding.

Breaking the Ice

1938

Bobbed Hair poster
10.0

Mystery of bootleggers, hijackers, a girl with bobbed hair, and a talented bull terrier.

Bobbed Hair

1925

Yours for the Asking poster
5.3

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. But Lamb's pals fear he may follow Lucille onto the straight-and-narrow path, which would not be good for business. So they hire Gert Malloy and Dictionary McKinney, a pair of con-artists, to manipulate Johnny back off the path of righteousness.

Yours for the Asking

1936

The Golden Twenties poster
7.0

Feature-length compilation of 1920s newsreel footage, with commentary about news, sports, lifestyles, and historical figures.

The Golden Twenties

1950

A Midsummer Night's Dream poster
4.8

An early film adaptation of the Bard's comic fantasy.

A Midsummer Night's Dream

1909

No artwork available
7.0

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 to state their case but he entirely ignores them. They attack him. In terror, he flees before them, escaping by entering the home of a poor widow with two children.

A Reformed Santa Claus

1911

Glad Rag Doll poster
9.0

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 with the same title and the trailer survives.

Glad Rag Doll

1929

No artwork available
NR

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 stowaway. When out to sea a few days, he is discovered, and is about to be disciplined, when the captain's daughter, May, intercedes. A terrific storm strikes them, and the ship is dashed to pieces. The captain, with the assistance of Jack, builds a little raft, and with little May, they set out for an island which they can hardly discern, as it is so many miles away. After drifting for many hours, they at last reach the island, which is inhabited by a savage tribe.

The Child Crusoes

1911

Madonna of Avenue A poster
7.0

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 a dance-hall "hostess" at a low-class nightclub. Wanting revenge on her mother, she marries a brutal bootlegger, which causes her mother to do something that turns out to have dire consequences for everybody. This is reportedly a lost film.

Madonna of Avenue A

1929