From Hollywood lights to Fallbrook nights: Silent star Dolores Costello Barrymore

Hollywood knew her as the “Goddess of the Silent Screen,” but Dolores Costello Barrymore’s truest sanctuary was far from the studio lights—in the peaceful avocado groves of Fallbrook.

Born Sept. 17, 1903, in Pittsburgh to actors Maurice and Mae Costello, Dolores became a child actress in the 1910s, appearing alongside her father. By the 1920s, she was celebrated for her beauty and screen presence, earning the WAMPAS Baby Star award in 1926.

Film fan magazines praised her ethereal quality, with Photoplay describing her as “one of the loveliest women ever to face a camera” (Photoplay, 1926) and The New York Times noting her “grace and serenity” in Old San Francisco (1927).

Dynamic Duo

In 1928, she married actor John Barrymore, forming one of Hollywood’s most high-profile couples.

Barrymore himself was quoted in publicity reports as saying: “I just laid eyes upon the most preposterously lovely creature in all the world. She walked into the studio like a charming child, slender and shy and golden-haired. Never saw such radiance. My God! I knew that she was the one I had been waiting for. Waiting all my life, just for her.”

Together, they had two children, Dolores Ethel Mae (“DeeDee”) Barrymore, born April 8, 1930, and John Drew Barrymore, born June 4, 1932.

Their marriage ended in divorce in 1935 due to Barrymore’s increasing alcoholism and desertion. She was awarded custody of their children and $163,000 in securities in the divorce settlement ([The New York Times, Oct. 10, 1935]).

On a side note, Dolores was the grandmother of actress Drew Barrymore.

A New Life in Fallbrook

According to the Fallbrook Historical Society, her connection to Fallbrook began in September 1938, when she visited with her future second husband, Dr. John Vruwink. They purchased a 40-acre ranch at 1030 De Luz Road in April 1940, where they planted avocados and initially used it as a weekend retreat from Hollywood.

During World War II, the U.S. Navy requisitioned the ranch for military use, forcing the couple to relocate to Los Angeles. After the war, they reclaimed the property, and by the late 1940s, she had retired there permanently.

Although the ranch was never a significant producer of avocados, she embraced a quieter life away from the spotlight. The Fallbrook Historical Society said that she became deeply involved in community life, volunteering at St. Peter’s Church, the Fallbrook Woman’s Club, the Fallbrook Children’s Home Society, and the Friends of Fallbrook Library. She also served as an area lieutenant for the March of Dimes, judged events such as Pioneer Days, and was a longtime member of the Fallbrook Republican Women’s Club.

Even as her movies continued to screen at the Fallbrook Mission Theater on Main Avenue, the former star maintained cordial relations with neighbors.

“Dolores was a private person, but she had cordial relations with her Fallbrook neighbors,” the Historical Society said. “She was often publicly seen volunteering around town.”

The De Luz Road home remained her residence from 1940 until her death, though tragically, it was destroyed in a March 1978 flash flood, and much of her memorabilia was lost. Her grandson, John Barrymore III, confirmed the house no longer exists, though the land has since been subdivided, the Fallbrook Historical Society said.

Death and Buried

Dolores Costello Barrymore passed away from emphysema on March 1, 1979, at Fallbrook Hospital at age 75. She was buried at Calvary Cemetery in East Los Angeles alongside her parents.

From her early days as a child actress in the 1910s, through her rise as the silent screen’s “Goddess” in the 1920s, her transition to talking films in the 1930s and 40s, and her decades in Fallbrook beginning in the 1940s, her life bridged Hollywood’s Golden Age with a quieter, community-centered existence.

The next time I visit Fallbrook, I think I will see avocados in a different light.

Dolores Costello – Filmography Appendix

Child & Early Roles

• 1914 – The Daddy of Them All (short, uncredited) – surviving: unknown
• 1915 – Cinderella’s Satin Slipper (short) – surviving: unknown

Silent Era / Adult Roles

• 1925 – Sally, Irene, and Mary (uncredited) – surviving: incomplete
• 1925 – Greater Than a Crown – surviving: incomplete
• 1926 – Mannequin – surviving: partial prints
• 1926 – The Sea Beast – surviving: complete
• 1926 – Bride of the Storm – surviving: lost
• 1926 – The Little Irish Girl – surviving: incomplete
• 1926 – The Third Degree – surviving: partial
• 1927 – When a Man Loves (with John Barrymore) – surviving: incomplete
• 1927 – Old San Francisco – surviving: complete
• 1927 – The Heart of Maryland – surviving: complete
• 1927 – The College Widow – surviving: lost
• 1928 – Tenderloin – surviving: lost
• 1928 – Glorious Betsy – surviving: complete
• 1928 – Noah’s Ark – surviving: complete
• 1929 – The Redeeming Sin – surviving: lost
• 1929 – Glad Rag Doll – surviving: lost
• 1929 – Madonna of Avenue A – surviving: lost
• 1929 – Hearts in Exile – surviving: partial
• 1929 – The Show of Shows – surviving: complete
• 1930 – Second Choice – surviving: lost
• 1931 – Expensive Women – surviving: complete

Sound Era / Later Roles

• 1936 – Little Lord Fauntleroy – surviving: complete
• 1936 – Yours for the Asking – surviving: complete
• 1938 – The Beloved Brat – surviving: complete
• 1938 – Breaking the Ice – surviving: complete
• 1939 – King of the Turf – surviving: complete
• 1939 – Whispering Enemies – surviving: unknown
• 1939 – Outside These Walls – surviving: complete
• 1942 – The Magnificent Ambersons (Orson Welles) – surviving: incomplete theatrical version
• 1943 – This Is the Army (cameo) – surviving: complete

Sources

• Photoplay magazine profiles, 1926–1928 (Media History Digital Library / Internet Archive)
• The New York Times, Oct. 10, 1935, “WIFE DIVORCES JOHN BARRYMORE; Former Dolores Costello, Charging Desertion, Gets Children and $163,000 in Securities”
• Fallbrook Historical Society, Tom Frew, Historian
• Fallbrook Enterprise, various issues 1949–1975
• IMDb – Dolores Costello Filmography
• Catholic Cemeteries & Mortuaries, Calvary Cemetery, East Los Angeles
• Library of Congress / Silent Film Survival Catalog (for surviving vs. lost status)

Debbie L. Sklar is a long-time contributing editor to the Times of San Diego. For more historical stories about Hollywood’s Golden Age visit here and here.