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Dolores Costello
Dolores Costello

Dolores Costello

Actress
75 years (Sep 17, 1903 – Mar 1, 1979)Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
Dolores Costello is the sort of actress who has treated acting as a trade rather than a spotlight. For much of the audience, Dolores Costello is Isabel Amberson Minafer from 'The Magnificent Ambersons', whatever else the credits say. By genre, drama dominates the list. Neither the cinema nor the television half of the career can be called the side project.
Dolores Costello is the sort of actress who has treated acting as a trade rather than a spotlight. For much of the audience, Dolores Costello is Isabel Amberson Minafer from 'The Magnificent Ambersons', whatever else the credits say. By genre, drama dominates the list. Neither the cinema nor the television half of the career can be called the side project.
Latest Trailers
The Magnificent Ambersons
Watch Trailer
The Magnificent Ambersons
Full Filmography
This Is the Army
Mrs. Davidson
★ 5.7
1943
The Magnificent Ambersons
Isabel Amberson Minafer
★ 7.3
1942
Outside These Walls
Margaret Bronson
★ 8.8
1939
Whispering Enemies
Laura Crandall
★ 7.0
1939
King of the Turf
Eve Barnes
★ 7.0
1939
Breaking the Ice
Martha Martin
★ 6.1
1938
The Beloved Brat
Helen Cosgrove
★ 6.5
1938
Yours for the Asking
Lucille Sutton
★ 5.3
1936
Little Lord Fauntleroy
'Dearest' Erroll
★ 6.8
1936
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Dolores Costello still alive?
Dolores Costello passed away on March 1, 1979 at age 75.
What are the most famous roles of Dolores Costello?
Dolores Costello is best known for roles in The Magnificent Ambersons, Little Lord Fauntleroy, This Is the Army.
How many movies has Dolores Costello been in?
Over a 70-year career (since 1909), Dolores Costello has appeared in 38 movies and 0 TV shows.
What was Dolores Costello's first movie?
The career of Dolores Costello began with A Midsummer Night's Dream (1909).
What is Dolores Costello's most recent movie or series?
Dolores Costello's most recent release is Hollywood, which premiered on January 8, 1980.
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Dolores Costello
Dolores Costello
1903-09-17 · Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

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.

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