John Barrymore, Shakespearean Actor (Cambridge Studies in American Theatre and Drama)

Toward the end of his life, master actor John Barrymore became an embarrassment: he was a classic drunken has-been who could neither pull it together nor pack it in. But this unusual biography spends most of its pages on Barrymore's golden age in the 1920s and 1930s, describing in amazing pre-videotape detail his performances at the height of his powers, playing what may be the 20th century's definitive Hamlet, along with Macbeth and other classical roles. Michael Morrison draws on books, memories, reviews, and other material to present painstaking line-by-line recreations of Barrymore's most shining performances.