Lionel Barrymore Net Worth

What Was Lionel Barrymore's Net Worth?

Lionel Barrymore was an American actor, director, composer, and artist who had an estate valued at $25,000 at the time of his death in 1954. That's the same as around $310,000 in today's dollars after adjusting for inflation.

A member of the legendary Barrymore acting family, Lionel enjoyed a career spanning more than 60 years across the stage, silent films, talking pictures, and radio.

Barrymore won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as an alcoholic defense attorney in the 1931 drama "A Free Soul." He later became one of Hollywood's most dependable character actors, appearing in classics including "Grand Hotel," "Dinner at Eight," "Captains Courageous," "You Can't Take It with You," "Key Largo," and "It's a Wonderful Life." Modern audiences know him best as the cruel banker Henry F. Potter opposite James Stewart in "It's a Wonderful Life."

Despite earning one of MGM's largest weekly salaries and working steadily into his seventies, Barrymore left a modest estate burdened by tax debt. He had no surviving children, and his will named a longtime family friend as his sole beneficiary.

Early Life and the Barrymore Family

Lionel Herbert Blyth was born on April 28, 1878, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His parents were actors Maurice Barrymore and Georgiana Drew Barrymore. Lionel was the older brother of Ethel Barrymore and John Barrymore. Lionel's great-niece is Drew Barrymore.

Although born into a theatrical dynasty, Lionel also had serious interests in painting and music. He studied art in New York and Paris and became an accomplished illustrator and etcher. He composed orchestral works, maintained an art studio, and continued drawing and painting throughout his acting career.

Barrymore began appearing onstage as a teenager. After working in touring companies and Broadway productions, he temporarily stepped away from acting to study art in Europe. Financial necessity ultimately drew him back to the family profession.

Stage and Silent Film Career

Barrymore established himself as a respected stage actor during the early 1900s. His Broadway appearances included "The Mummy and the Humming Bird," "The Copperhead," and "The Jest," in which he performed with John.

He began working regularly in motion pictures during the 1910s, appearing in numerous short films for the Biograph Company. His early screen credits included D.W. Griffith productions such as "The New York Hat," which starred Mary Pickford.

Barrymore eventually moved behind the camera and directed several silent and early sound films. His directing credits included "Madame X," for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Director, and "The Rogue Song."

In 1925, he signed a long-term contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. His theatrical training and powerful voice allowed him to make an effortless transition to talking pictures, while many silent-era performers struggled with the arrival of sound.

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Academy Award and MGM Stardom

Barrymore won the Academy Award for Best Actor for "A Free Soul," in which he starred opposite Clark Gable and Norma Shearer. His emotional courtroom speech became the film's defining sequence.

He followed that success with prominent roles in "Grand Hotel," starring Greta Garbo, John, and Joan Crawford, and "Dinner at Eight," which reunited him with John and featured Jean Harlow.

Barrymore also appeared in "Treasure Island," "David Copperfield," "Captains Courageous," and Frank Capra's "You Can't Take It with You." His commanding voice and severe features made him particularly effective as doctors, judges, patriarchs, financiers, and irritable authority figures.

Wheelchair Roles and "It's a Wonderful Life"

During the late 1930s, Barrymore suffered serious hip injuries that compounded his arthritis and made walking increasingly difficult. He eventually began using a wheelchair full-time.

Rather than ending his career, MGM adapted roles around his disability. Writers placed his characters behind desks, in beds, or in wheelchairs, and Barrymore continued appearing in dozens of films.

He became closely associated with Dr. Leonard Gillespie, first playing the character in the Dr. Kildare film series before becoming the central figure in several later installments. He also portrayed Inspector Markham in the mystery series featuring Dr. Gillespie.

In 1946, Barrymore played Henry F. Potter in director Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life." Potter was a wealthy, vindictive banker determined to destroy George Bailey's community-minded business. The performance became Barrymore's most enduring screen role.

Radio Career and Ebenezer Scrooge

Barrymore also became a major radio personality. Beginning in the 1930s, he regularly portrayed Ebenezer Scrooge in annual Christmas broadcasts of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol."

His gravelly voice and ability to move between cruelty, regret, and warmth made his Scrooge one of the most celebrated radio performances of the era. John filled in for him in 1936 after the death of Lionel's wife, Irene.

Barrymore later starred in the radio program "Mayor of the Town" and reprised Dr. Gillespie in "The Story of Dr. Kildare."

Salary and Career Earnings

Barrymore maintained one of the longest continuous studio relationships in Hollywood history. His MGM contract reportedly guaranteed him $3,500 per week during his peak years, equal to more than $180,000 annually before radio income and other work.

That was an exceptional salary during the Great Depression and made Barrymore one of Hollywood's highest-paid character actors. MGM continued employing him after he began using a wheelchair, allowing him to work steadily until shortly before his death.

However, Barrymore developed substantial tax problems. MGM eventually withheld portions of his salary to satisfy debts owed to the federal government.

Personal Life

Barrymore married actress Doris Rankin in 1904. They had two daughters, Ethel and Mary, but both died during infancy. The losses deeply affected the couple, and they divorced in the early 1920s.

In 1923, Barrymore married actress Irene Fenwick. They remained together until her sudden death on Christmas Eve in 1936. Barrymore never remarried.

He formed a particularly close friendship with actress Jean Harlow, who was born around the same time as his deceased daughters. Her death in 1937 reportedly devastated him.

Real Estate

In 1926, Lionel and Irene built a 10-room house on North Roxbury Drive in Beverly Hills. After Irene died there in 1936, Barrymore moved out but kept the property largely untouched as a memorial to her. Maintaining the empty residence became expensive, and he sold it in 1949 to help pay back taxes.

Barrymore also acquired 22 acres in Chatsworth in 1939. Known as Sycamore Woods, the property included a rambling ranch house built around a large sycamore tree. He raised roses, orange trees, corn, livestock, and hogs on the land.

A separate Beverly Hills property long marketed as the Lionel Barrymore Estate was placed on the market for $950,000 in 1979. The price was later reduced to $725,000. It sold for $3 million during the early 2000s and was listed for $7.095 million in 2014. The 5,833-square-foot property featured a two-story living room, dual primary suites, a pool, a cabana, and city, ocean, and canyon views.

Who Inherited Lionel Barrymore's Estate?

Because both of Barrymore's daughters died in infancy, he left no direct descendants.

His will named Florence Wheeler, a nurse and longtime family friend, as the sole beneficiary of his $25,000 estate. Florence and members of the Wheeler family had helped care for Barrymore and his wife during Irene's illness, and Barrymore lived with the family for a period after her death.

The estate faced roughly $40,000 in unpaid taxes. Administrators attempted to raise money by selling Barrymore's paintings, etchings, recordings, literary rights, music, and personal possessions. More than 1,000 objects were offered at auction, including the skull John Barrymore had used while performing "Hamlet."

Death and Legacy

Lionel Barrymore died from a heart attack on November 15, 1954, in Los Angeles. He was 76 years old.

He was entombed at Calvary Cemetery in East Los Angeles. Barrymore received two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, honoring his work in motion pictures and radio, and was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame with Ethel and John.

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