John Drew Barrymore

John Drew Barrymore, was born as John Blyth Barrymore, Jr. (June 4, 1929 in Beverly Hills, California – November 29, 2004 in Los Angeles) was a member of The Barrymore family of actors that included his father, John Barrymore, and his father's siblings, Lionel and Ethel. He was the father of 4 children, including John Blyth Barrymore and Drew Barrymore.

His mother was Dolores Costello. His parents divorced when John was around 6 years old in 1935, but he claimed (most likely fallaciously) to have met his father only once.

John and his cousin, Dirk Drew Davenport, enlisted in the US Navy during World War II. Due to their physical appearance, the military did not discover until several weeks later that the boys were underage. John ran away at age 17 and signed a film contract, but he repeatedly abandoned leading roles and had no major film career.

In 1958, he changed his name to John Drew Barrymore and had a brief resurgence in film, appearing in several leading roles. However, his social behavior obstructed any professional progress. In the 1960s, he was occasionally incarcerated due to drug activity, public drunkenness, and spousal abuse.

He married four times, each marriage produced one child, and all four marriages ended in divorce:

1. Cara Williams: married 1952, divorced 1959; son John Blyth Barrymore
2. Gabriella Palazzoli: married October 11, 1960, divorced 19??; daughter Blyth Dolores Barrymore
3. Ildiko Jaid Mako: married 19??, divorced 1977; daughter Drew Barrymore
4. Nina Wayne: married 19??, divorced 19??; daughter Jessica Barrymore

In the late 1960s, John Drew accepted a major guest role as Lazarus in the Star Trek episode "The Alternative Factor". He failed to show up (and was ultimately replaced at the last minute by actor Robert Brown), resulting in SAG suspending Barrymore for six months.

Although he continued to appear occasionally onscreen, he became more and more reclusive. Suffering from the same problems which had destroyed his father, John Drew became a derelict. Estranged from his family, including his children, his lifestyle continued to worsen and his physical and mental health suffered. In 2003, Drew moved him near her home despite their estrangement, paying his medical bills until his death from cancer.

He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to television.

Memory from his son John Jr.:

"My father died on November 29, 2004, we had a wake for him sometime around the middle of December and on December 21, 2004 we (pretty much just the family and a few very close friends) scattered his ashes inside the Joshua Tree monument. He would never talk about what arrangements he wanted once he knew he was dying but he talked about it incessantly before he knew he was dying.

He wanted me to just take his body out there and leave it for the critters but it's hard to get a permit for that kind of thing so scattering his ashes out there was the closest I could reasonably get.

Bake & shake, no grave, no monument, that's how he wanted it (me too for that matter)."

Died Los Angeles California Ashes scatter Joshua Tree National Park in San Bernadino / Riverside County California,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_Tree_National_Park Actor. A native of Beverly Hills, Barrymore was the son of legendary stage, and screen actor John Barrymore and actress Dolores Costello Barrymore, nephew of actor Lionel Barrymore, and actress Ethel Barrymore, and the father of actress Drew Barrymore. Born John Blythe Barrymore, John was also known as John Barrymore, Jr. Barrymore's parents divorced when he was an infant, and young John only saw his father once or twice before he died in 1942. After the divorce his mother took care of him and tried to turn her son away from the acting bug, instead she sent him to the St. John Military Academy, hoping that her son would later go onto college and get a degree. In 1959, when he was 17, John went against his mothers wishes and went into acting. He signed a movie contract to appear in films, but also went into theatre as well. Young John's early attempts at acting were nothing but humiliations and disappointments. He would often leave a production after he had already been cast and disrupt filming or the stage act, by usually wanting to change his lesser role for the lead role. If he did not get what he wanted he would leave the production. This caused the film or stage act to stop production and the producers or directors would have to look for a new actor. In 1952 Barrymore tried to settle down, marrying Cara Williams, but their marriage was nothing but trouble. Throughout the marriage, John was often arrested for spousal abuse, drunkenness, and varied bouts with the law. In 1954, the couple had a son named John Blyth Barrymore, but even this could not mend the problems. The couple divorced in 1959. A year later, John again married, this time to Gaby Palazzolo. During the 1960s John continued to act but still ended up having problems with the law, including drug activity. Around this time he started to keep to himself, or distance himself away from the people who knew and cared about him. After his marriage to Gaby, John became involved with Ildiko Jaid Mako, whom he later married. Mako, who became Jaid Barrymore, gave birth to their daughter Drew Barrymore on February 22, 1975. (Drew would become a talented actress as well appearing in such films as Steven Spielberg's "E.T.," when she was just 7). The couple later divorced, and again John distanced himself from his family. John continued to appear in films, but then totally left the limelight and moved into the wilderness where he became a total recluse. Before he left the world of Hollywood, John had appeared in more then 28 films including, "Winchester '73" (1967), "The Clones" (1974), and 21 television appearances including, 'Gunsmoke," "Jericho," "Rawhide," among many others. Later in his life John became very gaunt and thin, often being confined to a wheelchair. He also suffered from both mental and physical illness. In 2003, John appeared before a judge to see who would act as his guardian as he could no longer look after himself. On November 29, 2004, he passed away at the age of 72. On hearing about her father's death, Drew Barrymore released a statement to the public through her publicist simply saying, "He was a cool cat. Please smile when you think of him."

• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Apr 14 2018, 2:28:54 UTC