Screen, stage, radio, vaudeville actor, film producer, and screenwriter.
Son of Maurice Barrymore and Georgiana Barrymore; grandson of Louisa Drew and stage actor John Drew (1827-62); nephew of Sidney Drew; cousin of S. Rankin Drew. Fathered two daughters: Ethel (1909-1910) and Mary (1916- 1917).
Started as a stock player at the Biograph Company. His first film was The Paris Hat (1908), which seems to be a lost Biograph film. His second film was Fighting Blood (1911), produced by the Biograph Company in 1911.
The three Barrymore siblings appeared in only one film together: Rasputin and the Empress (1932). Lionel and John appeared without Ethel in Arsène Lupin (1932), Grand Hotel (1932), Night Flight (1933) and Dinner at Eight (1933). A decade after John's demise, Lionel and Ethel appeared in Main Street to Broadway (1953), Lionel's last film.