Actress. Born Irene Frizell in Chicago, she began acting in local theatre and made her Broadway debut in "The Brass Bottle" (1910). A vivacious redhead, adept at both drama and comedy, she had a forceful stage presence that belied her tiny stature (she stood only 4'11"). During the mid-1910s, Fenwick flirted with movie stardom, playing wronged women and vamps in such films as "The Sentimental Lady" (1915), "The Woman Next Door" (1915), "A Coney Island Princess" (1916), and "The Sin Woman" (1917), but she felt restricted by silents and returned to the stage. In the hit plays "The Claw" (1921) and "Laugh, Clown, Laugh" (1923) she co-starred with Lionel Barrymore, whom she married in 1923. It was his second marriage and her third. She retired in 1926 after her husband settled on a Hollywood career. Fenwick died on Christmas Eve, 1936, from complications of anorexia nervosa (they called it "overdieting" in those days). That same evening Barrymore made the first of his famous annual radio broadcasts as Scrooge in "A Christmas Carol." He never remarried.
Actress. Born Irene Frizell in Chicago, she began acting in local theatre and made her Broadway debut in "The Brass Bottle" (1910). A vivacious redhead, adept at both drama and comedy, she had a forceful stage presence that belied her tiny stature (she stood only 4'11"). During the mid-1910s, Fenwick flirted with movie stardom, playing wronged women and vamps in such films as "The Sentimental Lady" (1915), "The Woman Next Door" (1915), "A Coney Island Princess" (1916), and "The Sin Woman" (1917), but she felt restricted by silents and returned to the stage. In the hit plays "The Claw" (1921) and "Laugh, Clown, Laugh" (1923) she co-starred with Lionel Barrymore, whom she married in 1923. It was his second marriage and her third. She retired in 1926 after her husband settled on a Hollywood career. Fenwick died on Christmas Eve, 1936, from complications of anorexia nervosa (they called it "overdieting" in those days). That same evening Barrymore made the first of his famous annual radio broadcasts as Scrooge in "A Christmas Carol." He never remarried.
Bio by: Bobb Edwards
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Beloved Wife of Lionel Barrymore
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