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Chatsworth Celebrities
Lionel Barrymore
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Chatsworth Celebrities – Lionel Barrymore
•Lionel Barrymore (1878-1954) was a member of the theater’s “royal
family” of Barrymores – Lionel, Ethel and John.
•His parents were Maurice Barrymore and Georgiana Drew, reigning
stage stars of their day that came to America in the 1870’s and
performed Hamlet in New York, also performing in London often.
• While Lionel’s parents traveled to their performances, the three children
lived with their grandmother in various great houses in Philadelphia.
•All of the children were well educated in the arts and theatre.
•In 1938, at the age of 60, Lionel purchased 22 acres in Browns Canyon
at 11050 Independence Ave, Chatsworth.
•Lionel was Honorary Mayor of Chatsworth in 1952, and died of a heart
attack in 1954 at the age of 76.
•Lionel is the great-uncle of Drew Barrymore, who had a breakout role as
a child actress in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), which had scenes
filmed in nearby Porter Ranch. Lionel Barrymore at his Chatsworth
Ranch, photo courtesy of Jerry England
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Chatsworth Celebrities – Lionel Barrymore
• From Lionel’s 1951 autobiography, ‘We Barrymores’,
“his father had been middleweight amateur boxing
champion of England in an era when fighters did not
wear pillows on their hands”.
•His father: “Maurice was a wit and a talented performer
to whom there were two abiding mysteries in life: he
never correctly estimated either his bank account or his
capacity to hold liquor”.
•His father introduced Lionel to Mr. Clemens (Mark
Twain). “Lionel proceeded to recite paragraphs of Tom
Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn to Mark Twain, to the
point that at the end of his recital there were tears in
Twain’s eyes.”
Georgie Drew Barrymore, with her three
children, Ethel, Lionel and John
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Lionel Barrymore’s early career
•Lionel made his debut on the New York Stage at
15 (1893) in “The Rivals,” in which his
grandmother, Louisa Lane Drew, played Mrs.
Malaprop. “I stunk,” Lionel opined afterward, and
he recalled that his grandmother left him a note
telling him regretfully he was “somewhat
inadequate” and was no longer needed in the
cast.
•Later she told him to continue on the stage.
• Lionel said in later years he had “no stomach” for
the stage but became an actor because it
seemed the easiest way to make a living.
An 1887 portrait in the Library of Congress of Louisa
Lane Drew as Mrs. Malaprop in “The Rivals”
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Lionel Barrymore’s stage career
•Lionel had a very successful
stage career, with 40 different
stage appearances, from 1893 to
1925.
• Most of the performances were
on Broadway in New York, many
of them running for over 100
performances over multiple
years.
In 1918 Lionel Barrymore appeared in
“The Copperhead” as Milt Shanks, which
ran for 120 performances at the Shubert
Theatre on Broadway in New York
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Lionel Barrymore’s silent film career
•During his stage career, he began
working at Biograph Studios in
New York with D. W. Griffith.
• One of his first silent movies was
“The New York Hat (1912)”, with
Mary Pickford and Lillian Gish.
•He also was in “Judith and
Bethulia (1914)” that was filmed
in Chatsworth.
A screenshot of the Biograph short
(sixteen minutes) “The New York Hat
(1912)” showing Mary Pickford and
Lionel Barrymore
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Lionel Barrymore’s career in Hollywood
•In 1925, he left the theatre,
signing a contract with Metro-
Goldwyn-Mayer. He would
become good friends with Louis
B. Mayer.
•He made an easy transition to
talking movies in 1929 because
of his stage training.
•He preferred movies to stage
acting, “it was much easier and
you didn’t have to memorize
your lines”.
Jackie Cooper and Lionel Barrymore as Billy
Bones in “Treasure Island (1934)”
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Lionel Barrymore’s career in Hollywood
•He appeared in a total of 131
silent movies, and 82 talking
movies, for a total of 213.
•He is given credit for inventing
the boom microphone, saying
“why don’t you put it on the end
of a fishing pole?”
•“Captains Courageous”
would be the last picture with
Barrymore standing.
Mickey Rooney, Lionel Barrymore (as the captain)
Spencer Tracy, and Freddie Bartholomew in
“Captains Courageous (1937)”
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1936, a catastrophic year, at the age of 58
•Lionel broke his hip as he leaned on a drafting board, upset it, tripped and fell. After a
slow recovery, he gradually learned to walk a little. Then in 1937, while working on
the movie Saratoga with Clark Gable, he tripped over a sound cable, fell heavily and
snapped his hip again. As he said in his autobiography, “this time I did not come out
on my feet”.
•Walking was difficult and dangerous for him, and he chose to confine himself to a
wheelchair for the rest of his life.
•Louis B. Mayer instructed his MGM writers to invent scenes for Lionel where he
did not have to walk; he could sit behind desks, he could act in beds, he could be
in a wheelchair.
•He ended up making over forty movies after the second accident.
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Lionel Barrymore’s career in Hollywood
•He became best known
as a grumpy and irritable
character actor.
•He also performed on
CBS radio as Ebenezer
Scrooge from 1934 to
1953, broadcast annually
on Christmas Day.
Lionel Barrymore (as Henry F. Potter
in a wheelchair) and James Stewart
in “It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)”
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Lionel Barrymore’s personal life
•In 1904 at the age of 26, Lionel married Doris
Rankin who was 16.
•They went to Paris where Lionel studied art for
two years.
•They had two daughters, neither of which
survived infancy.
•In 1923 Lionel married his second wife Irene
Fenwick.
•In 1926 they built a 10 room house at 802 No.
Roxbury Drive in Beverly Hills.
Irene Fenwick and
Lionel Barrymore in
the Claw 1921
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• Lionel’s second wife, Irene Fenwick, died on Christmas Eve in 1936 at the age of 49, at
their home for 10 years at Roxbury Drive in Beverly Hills. Irene had been unwell for
many years.
•Lionel mentions in his autobiography that he and Irene were no contribution to the
night-life side of Hollywood.
• During Irene’s illness they became close friends with Mrs. Mary Ellen Wheeler and
her three daughters, Violet, Florence and Murdie (Florence and Murdie were
registered nurses). As Irene’s illness became worse, the Wheelers were often at
the Roxbury home.
•“Their presence and friendship is one of the blessings that have been showered on
me, one of the arrangements made from above, for they were with me in the
garden on the afternoon of Christmas Eve, 1936, when Irene suddenly died.”
Lionel Barrymore’s personal life
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•“I was supposed to go on
the radio in ‘A Christmas
Carol’ the next day. Jack
(John) took my place…. I
went home with the
Wheelers. I never returned
to Roxbury Drive.”
A recent photo of 800 (was 802)
North Roxbury Drive, Beverly Hills.
Zillow has the estimated value at
$10 Million, 5,709 sqft. on ½ acre
with a swimming pool, ten rooms,
two-stories with Spanish tile, built
in 1926.
Lionel Barrymore’s personal life
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•When Irene died, so did Lionel Barrymore. Unable to stay at the Roxbury Drive
house, the Wheeler's moved him in with them. He took only his personal belongings
with him, while the rest of Roxbury remained intact.
•Irene's personal item's remained as she had left them. Lionel retained a caretaker to
mow the lawn and trim the bushes and a housekeeper to keep the inside cleaned,
dusting the rooms and polishing the brass door knocker. He turned 802 North
Roxbury Drive into a shrine to Irene.
•He would never live in the house again, though he would visit and remember his lost
love. Since it kept her memory alive for him, he couldn't bring himself to sell it.
•Keeping the Roxbury Drive Memorial drained his wallet and in 1949, thirteen years
after his wife's death, he was forced to sell the house and all of Irene's treasures to
pay back taxes.
Lionel Barrymore’s personal life
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Sycamore Woods - 11050 Independence Ave
•In April 1939,
Lionel
announced
his purchase
of 22 acres in
Chatsworth.
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The Neighborhood in 1938
Dec 1938 UCSB aerial photo
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Driving Directions to Sycamore Woods - 11050 Independence Ave
Dec 1938 UCSB
aerial photo
When writer Gene Fowler
wanted to visit him, Lionel
gave him these directions:
"Go straight along
Sepulveda, almost to San
Fernando, left on
Devonshire Blvd until you
come to 'Popes Market',
where you turn right on
Canoga Blvd and follow the
road until you come up to
the gates of the ranch"
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Dec 1938
UCSB
aerial photo
2018 Google
Maps. The red
circle is the
approx. location
of the Barrymore
house site.
80 years later - Sycamore Woods - 11050 Independence Ave
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Dec 1938 UCSB aerial photo above,
circa 1960 photo at right.
The Barrymore estate was described
as a rambling ranch house. The house
surrounded a huge sycamore on three
sides, with the tree shading the
westerly porch/patio.
2018 Google
Maps. The red
circle is approx.
location of
Barrymore
house site.
House outline in red, Sycamore outline in green
A photograph of the ranch house - 11050 Independence Ave
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A enlargement of
the previous photo,
highlighting the
porch and patio,
and shade from the
sycamore tree.
Notice the retaining
wall in front of the
porch, a similar wall
will be seen later in
the barbeque area
behind the house.
A photograph of the ranch house - 11050 Independence Ave
Another photograph of the west porch - 11050 Independence Ave
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Photo at right, 1941 Los
Angeles Times article
Excerpts from the 1941 Los Angeles Times
article:
“He is the lonliest man in Hollywood and yet
one of the best loved in all America.”
“Stranger still, he maintains two homes,
one for himself, one for his memories.”
“Barrymore lives in a rambling farmhouse
out at Chatsworth. Here he raises roses,
orange trees, Indian corn and razorback
hogs. The hogs came about by chance,
being acquired to root out the rattlesnakes.”
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Photo at left,
courtesy
Jerry England
Photo at right,
Lionel Barrymore
with his dogs
Sally and Johnny
More photographs of the ranch - 11050 Independence Ave
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The barbeque area - 11050 Independence Ave
The following photos were
taken in 2011, before
completion of the Sierra
Canyon School athletic fields.
The barbeque area was
behind the Barrymore house,
built into the slope on the east
side of the property.
The area still exists today, on
the east side of the lacrosse
field.
Main entrance to
BBQ and patio
area, looking east
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The barbeque area - 11050 Independence Ave
BBQ and patio
area, looking east
BBQ patio
looking south
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The barbeque area - 11050 Independence Ave
Retaining walls
north of patio area
Steps from patio
north
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The barbeque area - 11050 Independence Ave
Similar retaining
walls north of
today’s barbeque
patio area
Retaining walls in
front of the patio
at the house
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At Lucy’s Ranch
1944
Lucille Ball and Lionel Barrymore
at Lucy and Desi’s Chatsworth
ranch for Lucy’s birthday party
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Dec 1938
UCSB
aerial photo
Notice that in 1938, access to the
house required the crossing of
Brown’s creek. (blue circle)
Sierra Canyon School provided us
with title search documents from their
lower campus, which at that time was
owned by Reginald and Mary Wild.
Included was an Aug 13, 1938
easement to Lionel Barrymore. It was
30 ft wide, along the eastern line of
their property, ending 150 ft. south of
the northern edge of their property.
So Barrymore crossed the creek
before he got to the north end of the
Wild property. (easement in yellow)
The Barrymore easement and access to his ranch home
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•By 1944, trees lined the Barrymore
easement on the Wild property (some of
those trees remain today).
•Another entrance road from DeSoto
was added.
•There was a gate with pillars at the
entrance to the Barrymore estate at
Independence and Rinaldi (circled in
red in the photo on the right and the
closeup below)
Nov 1944
UCSB
aerial photo
The Barrymore easement and access to his ranch home
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Nov 1944
UCSB
aerial photo
Emma Johnson Graves (1873-1962), riding Duke.
“Pillars at the Entrance to the home of Lionel
Barrymore movie star”
Pillars at the entrance to Barrymore’s ranch home
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Sycamore Woods residents in 1940
The 1940 census listed the following residents at the Barrymore estate:
•Lionel Barrymore (62),
•friends Mary Ellen Wheeler (66), Violet Wheeler (42) and Florence Wheeler (40)
•Servant Alonzo Miller as cook with his wife Willie as maid.
•Murdie Wheeler (38) with her husband Stanley Campbell (30) lived in nearby Studio
City.
The Wheeler/Campbell family connection
•Murdie Wheeler and husband Stanley
Campbell had Barrymore connections.
•Stanley worked at MGM as a makeup artist for
Lionel Barrymore (and his more famous brother
John Barrymore), and was also Lionel’s driver.
•Murdie and Stanley were married in 1938, two
years after Lionel left the Beverly Hills house
and the same year Lionel began building
Sycamore Woods.
•In 1942 two of the pallbearers for John
Barrymore were WC Fields and Stanley
Campbell.
•In 1952, when Lionel Barrymore was installed
as Chatsworth Honorary Mayor, Stanley
Campbell was present and also said a few
words.
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Jan 10, 1952 Van Nuys News
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Lionel Barrymore’s years in Chatsworth
•Lionel Barrymore remained active in Hollywood from 1939 to 1954, when he died of heart
congestion at the age of 76.
•He had a special car with controls that would allow him to drive to sound studios in Hollywood.
•He also was a renowned painter, music composer, and was considered for an Academy
Award for Best Director. He appeared in a total of 213 movies, 38 of them filmed after he
moved to Chatsworth. He also broadcast “A Christmas Carol” on radio each Christmas from
1934 to 1953.
• In 1951 he wrote an autobiography, “We Barrymores”. Once a week for 10 months he would
drive his car 20 miles to his collaborator, where they would sit in the car and chat while a
secretary took notes in the back seat.
•His thoughts on Chatsworth “My domestic arrangements today are as pleasant as any man’s.
I live in Chatsworth, a place about the size that would be sneered at as a farm back East but is
solemnly called a “ranch” in Southern California. At first, it was my ambition to raise chickens.
When marauding weasels got them, I decided that there was no profit in producing rodent food
and purchased a cow….
•I am usually on the road through the San Fernando Valley by 6 o’clock in the morning….”
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The Barrymore estate becomes the Wheeler estate
• In 1954 Lionel Barrymore’s will named the
second daughter Florence Wheeler as the
sole beneficiary of his $25,000 estate.
•In July 1955 it was published that Lionel
owed $40,000 in back taxes, and a Judge
hoped to salvage $25,000 from sale of
paintings, etchings, music, literary and
other rights.
•There was an auction held on Wilshire
Blvd. later that year, that included over
1,000 items collected by Barrymore,
including his own recordings such as
“Casey at the Bat”, and the skull that his
brother John used when he played Hamlet.
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The Barrymore estate becomes the Wheeler estate
•CHS Life Member, Cindy
Cooley Sage, shared her
memories of the Wheeler
family with us, as she lived at
11047 De Soto, just south of
the Wheeler Estate.
(Wheeler estate circled in
red)
•The Cooley family lived there
from 1954 to 1966, on a ten
acre lemon ranch that she
remembers as heavenly, with
lemon blossoms in the air.
•Reginald and Mary Wild lived
at 11052 Independence.
Nov 1944
UCSB
aerial photo
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The Barrymore estate becomes the Wheeler estate
•Cindy does not recall the Wheelers
ever using the lower Independence
access. Only the De Soto driveway
right above their house.
“It was far superior as an all-weather
access (okay, in comparison to the
Brown's Creek access, which was
seasonally impassible - but
remember even De Soto was a dirt
road for years). When it rained hard,
my dad took us to Chatsworth Park
Elementary School with the orchard
tractor because of the mud.”
Nov 1944
UCSB
aerial photo
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The Barrymore estate becomes the Wheeler estate
•In 1959, the first Wheeler daughter, Violet (Benson)
Wheeler, published a book, “I Becky Barrymore, the
autobiography of a famous cat”, illustrated by Lionel
Barrymore.
• Benson gave an autographed copy to Cindy’s mother,
Carolyn.
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The Barrymore estate becomes the Wheeler estate
Cindy Cooley Sage’s memories of the house:
•The second daughter Florence was vivacious and spirited.
Always full of wisdom and down-to-earth spirituality. Just
a wisp of a woman - she was equally at ease in her
Hollywood clothes, or her garden duds, with her shears
attached somewhere to her.
•Their home was rambling and full of treasures (artwork,
paintings, silver tea sets, elaborate china, linens, beautiful
furniture and all the trimmings of a luxurious '40s-50's
lifestyle).
•The home was shaped in sort of a crescent and many
rooms opened out into some part or other of the gardens
and sycamores. Each had a patio surrounded by a low
rock wall, making it completely charming. On hot
Chatsworth summer days, it was cooler and shaded.
•You couldn't quite see the creek from there (but we were
small). The lawns seemed endless.
Florence Wheeler and Cynthia Cooley at her
18th birthday party (11047 De Soto)
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The Barrymore estate becomes the Wheeler estate
Cindy Cooley Sage’s memories of the
Barrymore/Wheeler house after the 1970 brush fire:
The cat that survived the 1970 fire
•Orrin and I sifted ashes after the fire. We found
some melted jewelry, and melted silver, most likely
from their gorgeous sterling silver tea/coffee set.
• How fitting that it was a cat that survived (if only
ceramic).
•It's head was just visible in the ashes. We have
kept it all these years.
•The Sages kept in touch and visited Murdie and
Stanley in their later years in Westlake Village.
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The Barrymore estate becomes a part of the
Sierra Canyon School Athletic Fields
•The property was known as the Wheeler estate locally for many years.
•Mary Ellen and Violet died in 1961 and 1963; Florence died in 1969.
•The property was then willed to the remaining sister, Murdie Wheeler Campbell, who had
married Stanley Campbell, Lionel’s makeup man and driver.
•An October 1970 LA Times article on structure fires (Calabasas Fire), listed 11050
Independence Ave, Owner = Campbell, Damage = $60,000.
•Murdie and Stanley never lived at the estate according to our searches.
•Cindy and Orrin Sage said that the Campbells lived at Westlake Village in their later years.
They died in 1979 and 1978 and are buried with the rest of the family at Rosedale
Cemetery in Moosejaw, Saskatchewan, Canada.
•At some point, the property was purchased by Charles Smith, who owned it for a number of
years, and it was then sold to Sierra Canyon School in 2007.
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Drew Barrymore
•Lionel is the great-uncle of Drew Barrymore,
who had a breakout role as a child actress in
“E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)”, which
had scenes filmed in nearby Porter Ranch.
She was 7 years old.
•Drew Barrymore is currently filming Season
3 of “Santa Clarita Diet” on Netflix, which is
filmed in the Santa Clarita Valley.
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Drew Barrymore / ET Filming Locations
ET the Extra Terrestial (1982) Filming Locations in Yellow.
Lionel Barrymore Estate Location (1939-1970) in Red.
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Drew Barrymore continues the Barrymore family legacy
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Sources/Acknowledgements
•Sierra Canyon title search documents on 11052 Independence, donated by Howard Wang,
founder Sierra Canyon School. Documents include a 1938 easement to Lionel Barrymore.
• 1951 “We Barrymores”, an autobiography by Lionel Barrymore
•Nitrateville.com, BurbankBob 2010 blog post, https://www.nitrateville.com/viewtopic.php?t=7421
•Memories and photographs from Cindy Cooley Sage
•Photo archives Chatsworth Historical Society
Prepared by Ann & Ray Vincent, Chatsworth Historical Society, November 2018
