The Alcoholic Cult of Diana Barrymore
The Alcoholic Cult of Diana Barrymore (Part One) cultfilmalley April 26, 2020 2 Diana Barrymore’s (1921-60 drug and alcohol overdose) life and career were a train wreck. As a young actress, she tried desperately to live up to a fabulous family name on both Broadway and Hollywood. She was once a little girl who had name, breeding, talent, and opportunity… all squandered. She was the step-aunt of actress Drew Barrymore. Diana Barrymore was not beautiful enough I will piece together this article using a book entitled The Barrymores by John Kotsilibas-Davis, as well as Diana’s ‘tell all’ book Too Much, Too Soon. I have also watched as many of the few films she made that are accessible. Her father John Barrymore (1882-1942 cirrhosis, kidney failure and pneumonia) personified glamour, romance and manhood on the stage before Diana was born. He had met her mother, the already married Blanche Oelrichs Thomas (1890-1950 leukemia) in 1917 at Cartier’s in New York. “it was a ma...