"He was a cool cat," Drew Barrymore said of her late father, John. "Please smile when you think of him." John Barrymore, while an actor in his own right, stood in the shadows of his father, daughter, and siblings than in the spotlight.

He started his career while a teenager, appearing professionally first as John Barrymore Jr. and then as John Drew Barrymore. He had movie roles in the 1950s in "The Sundowners," "High Lonesome," "Quebec," "The Big Night," "Thunderbirds" and "While the City Sleeps."

But along the way there were problems with drugs, drunken driving and violence, domestic and otherwise. By the early 1960s he had left Hollywood for Italy to work in European movies.

In a 1962 interview with The Associated Press in Rome he made no apologies for headline-grabbing street brawls there.

"I'm not a nice, clean-cut American kid at all," he said. "I'm just a human being. Those things just happen."

Barrymore was 72.

AceTracer

Hollywood, FL

January 2004

NOV 29, 2004 11:09 PM

At least he made it that far.

DigDug

Portland, OR

OLD SKOOL

NOV 29, 2004 11:27 PM

perhaps this story should have mentioned the words "�has died"

stockula

Anchorage, AK

May 2003

NOV 29, 2004 11:40 PM

I didn't know he was still alive.

sexypalegirl

Milwaukee, WI

June 2004

NOV 30, 2004 12:21 AM

oh my god when did he pass...i didnt hear this...was it today thats such a shame...he was quite an inspiration...

will be missed

February

San Diego, CA

August 2004

NOV 30, 2004 12:31 AM

DigDug said:
perhaps this story should have mentioned the words "�has died"

Yes, that confused me a bit too.

Doghouse_Reilly

I'm lost

February 2004

NOV 30, 2004 01:50 AM

stockula said:
I didn't know he was still alive.

I was just thinking that.

dem_z

United Kingdom

June 2004

NOV 30, 2004 04:12 AM

I'm disappointed that this isn't about the popular UK telly host Barrymore "Awight?"

bbc story: dead man in entertainer's pool

jbone

Huntington Beach, CA

September 2004

NOV 30, 2004 06:27 AM

Drew said "He was a cool cat." If that's the best thing you can say about your dead father, that's pretty weak. Obviously, he was a better entertainer than he was a father. And if we're smiling when we think of him, he's still entertaining us.

_Mr_TLB_

United Kingdom

January 2004

NOV 30, 2004 10:50 AM

demetrius_z said:
I'm disappointed that this isn't about the popular UK telly host Barrymore "Awight?"

bbc story: dead man in entertainer's pool

Yeah i was thinking exactly that.

Anissa

Detroit, MI

March 2004

NOV 30, 2004 06:58 PM

Suprise #1: I didn't know he was that fricken elderly.

Suprise #2: All the shit he was doing, I didn't think he would last that long.

Oracle

Courtenay, BC

September 2003

NOV 30, 2004 07:14 PM

I feel bad for Drew I love her...we are about the same age I feel like we grew up together...I used to hate when people bad mouthed her...

BOARDS:

TOPICS:

Portland, OR

November 2002

NOV 29, 2004 11:03 PM

AceTracer

Hollywood, FL

January 2004

NOV 29, 2004 11:09 PM

Portland, OR

OLD SKOOL

NOV 29, 2004 11:27 PM

Anchorage, AK

May 2003

NOV 29, 2004 11:40 PM

Milwaukee, WI

June 2004

NOV 30, 2004 12:21 AM

San Diego, CA

August 2004

NOV 30, 2004 12:31 AM

Doghouse_Reilly

I'm lost

February 2004

NOV 30, 2004 01:50 AM

United Kingdom

June 2004

NOV 30, 2004 04:12 AM

Huntington Beach, CA

September 2004

NOV 30, 2004 06:27 AM

United Kingdom

January 2004

NOV 30, 2004 10:50 AM

Detroit, MI

March 2004

NOV 30, 2004 06:58 PM

Courtenay, BC

September 2003

NOV 30, 2004 07:14 PM