(October 1, 1890-November 5, 1950)
Born in Newport, Rhode Island
Birth name was Blanche Oelrichs
Poet/playwright/stage actress
Published the poetry collections 'Miscellaneous Poems' (1916), 'Resurrecting Life' (1921) and 'Selected Poems' (1928), the play 'Clair de Lune' (1921) and the autobiography 'Who Tells Me True' (1940)
Married John Barrymore (1920-25)
Mother of Diana Barrymore

She was a member of the Lucy Stone League, which encouraged married women to keep their maiden names, but published her poetry under a male pseudonym.
Alexander Woollcott described 'Clair de Lune' as 'incorrigibly pretentious.'
Editor Maxwell Perkins noted that she would extol Communism and the need for a classless society, interrupting her lectures to yell at the maids in her kitchen for making too much noise.
Daughter Diana said of her and John, 'They were in competition with each other as artists, as lovers, as parents: each insisted on being the only focus, each had a terrible temper.'

She had a popular New York radio show reading poetry to musical accompaniment.
Poet John Hall Wheelock noted, 'She was so attractive and magnetic, [she] held audiences spellbound.'
She had lesbian relations with screenwriter Mercedes d'Acosta and 'Goodnight Moon' author Margaret Wise Brown.

Credit: C. Fishel

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