S. Rankin Drew

Short Biography

Silent film actor and director, son of Sidney Drew and his first wife, Mrs. Sidney Drew, and first cousin of actors John Barrymore, Lionel Barrymore, and Ethel Barrymore. Although his famous parents had hoped for him to choose another career than the theatre and sent him to military school, the draw of the family tradition was too strong. He toured in plays with his parents and his cousin Lionel, who encouraged him to enter motion pictures. He had a brief but prominent career as a film actor, followed by an equally brief but more prominent period as a director. In 1915, he volunteered for service with the Lafayette Escadrille flying corps, in which he served with future director William A. Wellman. He was shot down and killed by the Germans in the last year of the World War. His father never got over the tragedy and himself died less than a year later at the age of 54.