Dolores Costello facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Dolores Costello
Costello in 1926
Born	(1903-09-17)September 17, 1903 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died	March 1, 1979(1979-03-01) (aged 75) Fallbrook, California, U.S.
Resting place	Calvary Cemetery
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1909–1943
Spouse(s)	John Barrymore ​ ​ (m. 1928; div. 1934)​ John Vruwink ​ ​ (m. 1939; div. 1950)​
Children	2, including John Drew Barrymore
Parent(s)	Maurice Costello Mae Costello
Relatives	Helene Costello (sister) Drew Barrymore (grand-daughter)

Dolores Costello (born September 17, 1903 – died March 1, 1979) was an American film actress. She became very famous during the time of silent movies. Her first husband, the actor John Barrymore, gave her the nickname "The Goddess of the Silent Screen." She was also the mother of actor John Drew Barrymore.

Early Life and First Roles

Dolores Costello was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her parents, Maurice Costello and Mae Costello, were both actors. She had a younger sister named Helene Costello, who also became an actress.

Dolores and Helene started acting in movies when they were very young, between 1909 and 1915. They worked for the Vitagraph Film Company. They often played small roles in films that starred their father, who was a popular actor at the time. Dolores's first known movie role was as a fairy in a 1909 film version of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Becoming a Movie Star

Costello with her husband John Barrymore and their children, John Drew and Dolores, in 1934

Later, Dolores and her sister Helene performed together on Broadway as dancers. Their success helped them get contracts with Warner Bros. Pictures. In 1926, after having some smaller parts, Dolores Costello was chosen by John Barrymore to act opposite him in The Sea Beast. This movie was based on Herman Melville's famous book Moby-Dick.

After The Sea Beast, Warner Bros. started giving Dolores her own starring roles. She and John Barrymore also fell in love and got married in 1928.

Within a few years, Dolores Costello became a big movie star. In 1926, she was named a WAMPAS Baby Star, which was an award for promising young actresses. She was known as "The Goddess of the Silver Screen."

Warner Bros. cast Costello in different types of movies, from modern stories to fancy historical dramas. In 1927, she worked with John Barrymore again in When a Man Loves. In 1928, she starred with George O'Brien in Noah's Ark, a big movie directed by Michael Curtiz that had both silent and talking parts.

Theater poster for Tenderloin (1928) starring Dolores Costello

Dolores Costello had a slight lisp, which made it a bit tricky for her to switch to "talkie" movies. But after two years of working with a voice coach, she became comfortable speaking into a microphone. One of her first sound film appearances was with her sister Helene in the big Warner Bros. movie The Show of Shows (1929).

After her first child, Dolores Ethel Mae Barrymore, was born in 1930, Dolores Costello decided to take a break from acting. She wanted to spend more time with her family.

She returned to acting a year later and had more success. Some of her notable films include Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936) and The Magnificent Ambersons (1942). She stopped acting for good after appearing in This is the Army (1943), which was also directed by Michael Curtiz.

Dolores Costello also made a rare appearance on a radio show called Suspense in 1943. She played the character of the Danish Countess Elsa in an episode called The King's Birthday.

Later Life

In 1939, Dolores Costello married Dr. John Vruwink, who was her doctor during her pregnancies. They divorced in 1950. Dolores spent her later years living a quiet life, managing an avocado farm.

Sadly, the heavy makeup used in early films had damaged her skin, making it hard to hide later on. Her last movie was This Is the Army in 1943. In the 1970s, her house was flooded, and many of her belongings and movie memories were damaged.

Before she passed away, she was interviewed for a documentary series called Hollywood (1980), where she talked about her movie career. Dolores Costello died in Fallbrook, California, in 1979, from emphysema, a lung condition. She is buried in Calvary Cemetery, East Los Angeles.

Dolores Costello has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame to honor her contributions to movies. You can find it at 1645 Vine Street.

Filmography

Child Roles

Dolores Costello appeared as a child actress in many films between 1909 and 1915. Some of them are:

Adult Roles

Costello and George O'Brien in Noah's Ark (1928)

She began her movie career again in 1923 after working as a model in New York for several years.

See also

In Spanish: Dolores Costello para niños