Birthday girl Drew Barrymore is 44 today

For a while there, she seemed allergic to clothing.

She somehow managed to be a laid-back actor more in the Owen Wilson mold than in the style of her legendary over-acting and usually drunk grandfather, John Barrymore. Here’s The Great Profile at his amateurish, hammiest worst (best?) in Twentieth Century (1934):

2 thoughts on “Birthday girl Drew Barrymore is 44 today

  1. I’d excuse it by saying “oh, he was doing it on purpose,” but this is not much different from every other one of his performances, even when he did Shakespeare, at which he was said to be “brilliant.”

    It was a different time, and the natural acting style was far in the future for American movies.

  2. Actually, I have seen “The Twentieth Century” 2 or 3 times, and Barrymore’s overacting for once seemed quite appropriate to the character he was playing. I like the move a lot. “I’d put my arm in fire for you…up to here!!!”

    It is also the move where Carole Lombard is said (or said so herself) to have learned to cut loose and act. I think it was where she became a star for more than just her looks. I don’t know if Barrymore was felt to have influenced that.

    I am glad Drew has had a better life than John or her parents.

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