Drew family
American acting family
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Drew family is an American multi-generational acting family prominent in the 19th and early 20th centuries.[1] The family is best known as the maternal lineage of the Barrymore family, one of the most influential dynasties in American theatre and film history.[2][3]
September 3, 1827
John Drew | |
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| Born | Jonathan Henry Drewland September 3, 1827 |
| Died | May 21, 1862 (aged 34) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. |
Resting place | Mount Vernon Cemetery (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) |
| Spouse | |
| Children |
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| Family | Drew family |
Members of the Drew family were among the earliest professional stage actors in the United States, with several achieving national prominence during the development of American theatre in the 19th century.[4]
History
The Drew family's theatrical legacy began with actor John Drew and actress Louisa Lane, both of whom were prominent figures in American stage performance during the mid-19th century.[5] While Drew was the first actor in his family, Lane came from a stage family.
Lane was the daughter of Frederick Lane, an actor and theatre manager, and Eliza Trentner (1796-1887), a singer and actress. After her fathers death, her mother would remarry to British actor and stage manager John Kinlock.[6] Lane's paternal grandparents, Thomas Haycraft Lane and Louisa Rouse, were also actors. Her half-sister was actress Georgiana Kinlock.[7][8]
Lane and Drew would move to the United States, where they would establish their careers and eventual acting dynasty. The Drews owned the Arch Street Theatre in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where they staged performances, and she managed the business. The Arch Street was a competitor theatre of the still standing Walnut Street Theatre, also in Philadelphia.[9] Lane was known as a theatre manager and played a significant role in sustaining repertory theatre during a formative period in American dramatic history.[10][11]
Louisa Lane Drew | |
|---|---|
 Lane as Ophelia circa 1840–48 | |
| Born | Louisa Lane January 10, 1820 |
| Died | August 31, 1897 (aged 77) Larchmont, New York, U.S. |
Resting place | Mount Vernon Cemetery, (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) |
| Other names | Mrs. John Drew The Duchess |
| Occupations | Stage actress Theater manager |
| Years active | 1820-1897 |
| Spouses | Henry B. Hunt (m. 1836–1847)George Mossop
(m. 1848; died 1849) |
| Children |
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| Relatives | Georgiana Kinlock (half-sister) |
| Family | Drew family |
| Signature | |
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Relationship to the Barrymore family
The Drew family represents the maternal branch of the Barrymore family. Through the marriage of their daughter Georgiana Drew to Maurice Barrymore, the Drew family became directly linked to the Barrymore acting dynasty. This would unite the two established theatrical families and contribute to a lineage that would dominate American stage acting for decades.[12][13] This union is frequently cited by theatre historians as foundational to the emergence of the Barrymore acting dynasty in American cultural history.[14]
Their descendants continued in the performing arts across multiple generations.
Notable members
First generation
- John Drew Sr. (1827-1862)
- Married Louisa Lane (1820-1897)[15][16]
- Louisa Eliza Drew (1852-1889)
- John Drew Jr. (1853-1927)
- Georgiana Emma Drew (1856-1893)
- Affair with Georgiana Kinlock (1829-1864)
- Married Louisa Lane (1820-1897)[15][16]
- Louisa Lane
- Adopted[19]
- Sidney Drew (1863-1919)
- Adopted[19]
Second generation
- Louisa Eliza Drew (1852-1889)[20]
- Married Charles Albert Mendum (1849-1945)
- John Albert Mendum (1873-1874)[21]
- Georgie Drew Mendum (1876-1957)[22]
- Edmund "Bedloe" Mendum[23]
- Married Charles Albert Mendum (1849-1945)
- John Drew Jr. (1853-1927),
- Married Josephine Baker[24]
- Louise Drew (1882-1954)
- Married Josephine Baker[24]
- Georgiana Emma Drew (1856-1893)[25]
- Married Maurice Barrymore (1849–1905)
- Lionel Barrymore (1878–1954)
- Ethel Barrymore (1879–1959)
- John Barrymore (1882–1942)
- Married Maurice Barrymore (1849–1905)
- Sidney Drew (1863-1919)[26]
- Married Gladys Rankin (1870-1814)
- Sidney Rankin Drew (1891-1918)
- Married Lucille McVey (1890-1925)
- Married Gladys Rankin (1870-1814)
Third generation
- Georgie Drew Mendum (1876-1957)[27]
- Married George Webster Parsons (div.)
- Louise Drew (1882-1954)[28]
- Married Jack Devereaux
- John Drew Devereaux (1918-1995)
- Married Jack Devereaux
- Lionel Barrymore (1878–1954)
- Married Doris Rankin (div.)
- Mary Barrymore (died in infancy)
- Ethel Barrymore II (died in infancy)[29]
- Married Irene Fenwick (1887-1936)
- Married Doris Rankin (div.)
- Ethel Barrymore (1879–1959)[30]
- Married Russell Griswold Colt (div.)[31]
- Samuel Peabody Colt (1909-1986)
- Ethel Barrymore Colt (1912-1977)
- John Drew Colt (1913-1975)
- Married Russell Griswold Colt (div.)[31]
- John Barrymore (1882–1942)
- Married Katherine Corri Harris (div.)
- Married Blanche Oelrichs (div.)
- Diana Blanche Barrymore (1921 - 1960)
- Married Dolores Costello (div.)
- Dolores Ethel Mae Barrymore (1930-2003)[32]
- John Drew Barrymore (1932–2004)
- Sidney Rankin Drew (1891-1918)
Fourth generation
- Ethel Barrymore Colt (1912-1977)
- Married John Romeo Miglietta
- John Drew Miglietta (born 1946)[33]
- Married John Romeo Miglietta
- Diana Blanche Barrymore (1921 - 1960)
- Married Bramwell Fletcher
- Married John R. Howard
- Married Robert Wilcox
- Delores Ethel May Barrymore (1930-2003)
- John Drew Barrymore (1932–2004)[35]
- Married Cara Williams (div.)
- John Blyth Barrymore (born 1954)
- Married Gabriella Palazzoli (div.)
- Blyth Dolores Barrymore (born 1960)
- Married Nina Wayne (div.)
- Jessica Barrymore (1966–2014)
- Married Ildiko Jaid (div.)
- Drew Barrymore (born 1975)
- Married Cara Williams (div.)
Fifth generation
- John Blyth Barrymore (born 1954)
- Married Jacqueline (div.)
- John Blyth Barrymore Jr.
- Married Rebecca Pogrow
- Blyth Lane
- Sabrina Brooke
- Married Jacqueline (div.)
- Drew Barrymore (born 1975)
- Married Jeremy Thomas (div.)
- Married Tom Green (div.)
- Married Will Kopelman (div.)
- Olive Barrymore Kopelman (born 2012)
- Frankie Barrymore Kopelman (born 2014)
- Married Elaine Barrie née Jacobs (div.)
Notable works
- The Barbarian and Other Stories Bedlum Mendum. By Bedloe Mendum. New York: F Tennyson Neely, 1899
Auto-biographies
- Barrymore, Ethel (1955). Memories: An Autobiography. Harper. ISBN 978-1299688919.
{{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help) - Drew, John (1922). My Years on the Stage. New York: E.P. Dutton & Company.
- Lane Drew, Louisa; Taylor, Douglas (1899). Autobiographical sketch of Mrs. John Drew. New York, New York: C. Scribner's Sons.
Notable accolades and nominations
Spanning more than five generations, the family has acclaimed a number of accolades, nominations, and honors.
Monuments
- Sidney Rankin Drew has a monument dedicated to him in Central Park in New York City.[37]
- The Ethel Barrymore Theatre was opened in 1928, named for Ethel Barrymore. It is a Broadway theater at 243 West 47th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S.[38]
- A crater on the planet Venus is also named for Ethel.[39]
- In February 2010, an intersection in Fort Lee, New Jersey, was renamed John Barrymore Way on what would have been the actor's 128th birthday. The intersection marked the spot of the former Buckheister's Hotel, where Barrymore had his 1900 stage debut in "A Man of the World".[40]