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Dolores Costello (September 17, 1903 – March 1, 1979) was an American film actress who achieved her greatest success during the era of silent movies. She was nicknamed "The Goddess of the Silent Screen". She was stepmother of John Barrymore's daughter Diana by his second wife Blanche Oelrichs, the mother of John Drew Barrymore and Dolores (Dee Dee) Barrymore, and the grandmother of John Barrymore III, Blyth Dolores Barrymore, Brahma Blyth (Jessica) Barrymore, and Drew Barrymore.
Dolores Costello was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the daughter of actors Maurice Costello and Mae Costello (née Altschuk). She was of Irish and German descent. She had a younger sister, Helene, and the two made their first film appearances in the years 1909–1915 as child actresses for the Vitagraph Film Company. They played supporting roles in several films starring their father, who was a popular matinee idol at the time.
The two sisters appeared on Broadway together as chlorines and their success resulted in contracts with Warner Brothers Studios. In 1926, following small parts in feature films, she was selected by John Barrymore to star opposite him in The Sea Beast, a loose adaptation of Herman Melville's Moby-Dick. Warner Bros. soon began starring her in her own vehicles. Meanwhile, she and Barrymore became romantically involved and married in 1928.
Within a few years of achieving stardom, the delicately beautiful blonde-haired actress had become a successful and highly regarded film personality in her own right. As a young adult her career developed to the degree that in 1926 she was named a WAMPAS Baby Star, and had acquired the nickname "The Goddess of the Silver Screen".
Warners alternated Costello between films with contemporary settings and elaborate costume dramas. In 1927 she was re-teamed with John Barrymore in When a Man Loves, an adaptation of Manon Lescaut. In 1928 she co-starred with George O'Brien in Noah's Ark, a part-talkie epic directed by Michael Curtiz.
Costello spoke with a lisp and found it difficult to make the transition to talking pictures, but after two years of voice coaching she was comfortable speaking before a microphone. One of her early sound film appearances was with her sister Helene in Warner Bros.'s all-star extravaganza The Show of Shows (1929).
Her acting career became less a priority for her following the birth of her first child, Dolores Ethel Mae "DeeDee" Barrymore, on April 8, 1930, and she retired from the screen in 1931 to devote time to her family. Her second child, John Drew Barrymore, was born on June 4, 1932, but the marriage proved difficult due to her husband's increasing alcoholism, and they divorced in 1935.
She resumed her career a year later and achieved some successes, most notably in Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936) and The Magnificent Ambersons (1942). She retired permanently from acting following her appearance in This is the Army (1943), again under the direction of Michael Curtiz.
In 1950 Costello divorced Dr. John Vruwink, whom she had married in 1939. She spent the remaining years of her life in semi-seclusion, managing an avocado farm.
She died from emphysema in Fallbrook, California in 1979.
2009
as Self (archive footage)
1990
as (archive footage)
1953
1950
as Self (archive footage)
1943
as Mrs. Davidson
1942
as Isabel Amberson Minafer
1939
as Margaret Bronson
1939
as Laura Crandall
1939
as Eve Barnes
1938
as Martha Martin
1938
as Helen Cosgrove
1936
as Lucille Sutton
1936
as 'Dearest' Erroll
1931
as Constance 'Connie' Newton
1930
as Vallery Grove
1929
as Performer in 'Meet My Sister' Number
1929
as Vera Zuanova
1929
as Maria Morton
1929
as Annabel Lee
1929
as Joan Billaire
1928
as Marie / Miriam
1928
as Betsy Patterson
1928
as Rose Shannon
1928
as Self
1927
as Jane Witherspoon
1927
as Dolores Vasquez
1927
as Manon Lescaut
1927
as Maryland Calvert
1927
as Dorothy Gordon
1926
as Annie Daly
1926
as Dot Walker
1926
as Faith Fitzhugh
1926
as Esther Harper
1926
as Joan Herrick
1925
as (uncredited)
1925
as Isabel Frances / Princess of Lividia
1923
as Nora the maid
1923
as Secondary Role
1915
1915
as David - as a Little Boy
1914
1914
1914
as The Little Stowaway
1913
as Little Dolores Gray
1913
as Neighbor Girl
1913
as Dolores Tilbury - the Older Child
1913
1912
as Ida - the Little Smith Girl
1912
as Little Bess M.
1912
as Little Dot Avery
1912
as Fourth Child
1912
as Bobby Ramsay
1912
as Ruth - Barnacle's Adopted Daughter
1912
as Little Janet - the Grandchild
1912
as Mrs. Hanley's Little Girl
1912
1912
as Jane - Alvin's Sweetheart
1912
1912
1912
as Lulu
1912
as Mr. Blinn's Granddaughter
1912
as Alice - the Child
1912
as One of Tom's Children
1912
as One of Widow Brown's Children
1911
as Betty Lane - John's Daughter
1911
as The Widow's 1st Child
1911
as Buster aka Budge
1911
1911
1911
1910
as Daughter
1909
as Fairy