Dolores Costello

Dolores Costello was born on September 17, 1903, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to actors Maurice and Mae Costello. Her father was a most popular matinée idol and gave Dolores and her sister Helene their screen debut in 1911. She was in approximately thirty films prior to 1920, including The Evil Men Do (1915), where she appeared as a boy. She later appeared on the New York stage with her sister in the George White Scandals of 1924. They were then signed by Warner Brothers where she met her future husband, John Barrymore.

Barrymore made Dolores his costar in 1926's The Sea Beast, the same year she was named a WAMPAS Baby Star. Around that time she also acquired the nickname "The Goddess of the Silver Screen." From that film forward, Dolores was the lead actress in fifteen successive productions, including When a Man Loves (1927), again starring Barrymore as the male lead. John and Delores married in 1928 and had two children, DeDe in 1931 and John Drew Barrymore in 1932. At that time Dolores left the film world to raise her children, but after a divorce from John in 1935 due to his increasing alcoholism, she resumed acting at the pleading of her sister.

She returned in 1936 to star in Little Lord Fauntleroy, however her physical appearance had been damaged due to harsh studio make-up used on her face in the early years.This forced Delores into early retirement after only eight additional films, her last in a supporting role in 1943's This Is The Army.

Dolores has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1645 Vine Street and may be best known today as Drew Barrymore's grandmother.