S. Rankin Drew(1891-1918)
- Actor
- Director
- Writer
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.