Too Fast, Too Short
The Life of Diana Barrymore
Will be published approx. on 30. September 2025
Book
Hardback
232 pages
978-1-4968-5866-5 (ISBN)
Description
American actress and socialite Diana Barrymore (1921-1960) was a figure often overshadowed by her famous lineage and tragic narrative. In Too Fast, Too Short: The Life of Diana Barrymore, author Jennifer Ann Redmond illuminates Barrymore's complex world, revealing a woman caught between the glittering facade of Hollywood and the dark shadows of her personal struggles.
That she was the confused, neglected daughter of legendary actor John Barrymore is common knowledge. Just as central to Barrymore's story is the profound influence of her mother, poet/playwright Michael Strange. Both distant and domineering, Strange's contradictory nature stifled Barrymore and her siblings, thrusting her into a socialite world she neither desired nor understood. Barrymore's familial relationships were marked by pain and complexity. Her older brother, Leonard, was detached and the golden child brother Robin, who lived openly as a gay man in an era of secrecy, died by suicide after the death of his lover, Billy Rambo. Barrymore's later years were colored by her relationship with the iconic playwright Tennessee Williams. Viewing Williams as the gateway to her dreams of a successful career, a happy marriage, and motherhood, Barrymore's interactions with him reveal her vulnerability and resilience. Unpublished correspondence with mutual friends sheds light on her aspirations and the poignant desperation of her delusions.
This biography endeavors to present Diana Barrymore not as a cautionary tale but as a complex individual. Volatile, bristly, and unreliable, yet also clever, funny, and profoundly intelligent, Barrymore was a woman of remarkable talent and beauty, even if she rarely saw it herself. Through this volume, Barrymore emerges as a fully realized person, reclaiming her place in Hollywood's history.
That she was the confused, neglected daughter of legendary actor John Barrymore is common knowledge. Just as central to Barrymore's story is the profound influence of her mother, poet/playwright Michael Strange. Both distant and domineering, Strange's contradictory nature stifled Barrymore and her siblings, thrusting her into a socialite world she neither desired nor understood. Barrymore's familial relationships were marked by pain and complexity. Her older brother, Leonard, was detached and the golden child brother Robin, who lived openly as a gay man in an era of secrecy, died by suicide after the death of his lover, Billy Rambo. Barrymore's later years were colored by her relationship with the iconic playwright Tennessee Williams. Viewing Williams as the gateway to her dreams of a successful career, a happy marriage, and motherhood, Barrymore's interactions with him reveal her vulnerability and resilience. Unpublished correspondence with mutual friends sheds light on her aspirations and the poignant desperation of her delusions.
This biography endeavors to present Diana Barrymore not as a cautionary tale but as a complex individual. Volatile, bristly, and unreliable, yet also clever, funny, and profoundly intelligent, Barrymore was a woman of remarkable talent and beauty, even if she rarely saw it herself. Through this volume, Barrymore emerges as a fully realized person, reclaiming her place in Hollywood's history.
Reviews / Votes
"Too Fast, Too Short: The Life of Diana Barrymore is the long-anticipated biography of a gifted actress whose career deserved to shine much more brightly. Author Jennifer Ann Redmond details the turbulent life of stage and screen star Diana Barrymore-her battles with addiction, family challenges, her relationship with her father, John Barrymore, and her self-doubts-making them accessible to readers. She also brings Diana's work to the fore, honoring her as an actress. It is high time Diana's full story was told, and now it is accomplished by a remarkable and empathetic author." - Laura Wagner, critic, author, and film historian"With her outstanding pedigree, Diana Barrymore should have had it all. Destined to act, she had success in films and on stage. A daughter of both Broadway and Newport, she knew everybody who was anybody, and at first all doors opened wide. But she also carried the Barrymore curse, and the promised fairy tale ended when she was thirty-eight. Redmond takes us on the wild roller coaster of her life. Too Fast, Too Short reveals her complex family, talent, relationships with famous friends, and her husbands and lovers. It is a complicated and remarkable story." - Robert Dance, author of Ferocious Ambition: Joan Crawford's March to Stardom and The Savvy Sphinx: How Garbo Conquered Hollywood
"'The only sins I committed are sins against myself,' said Diana Barrymore near the end of her brief, trainwrecked life. In Too Fast, Too Short, Jennifer Ann Redmond details the derailment with meticulous research and concise compassion, making Diana matter again." - David Stenn, author of Clara Bow: Runnin' Wild
"The short life of Diana Barrymore has been a magnet for lurid sensationalism since long before her death, but master biographer Jennifer Ann Redmond has unearthed the deeper history of this brilliant actress, doomed in childhood by emotional neglect, then as an adult by a family history of alcoholism. Redmond's skillful writing and thorough research makes Too Fast, Too Short a gripping read, both for the serious-minded scholar and for the curl-up-with-a-good-book reader on the hunt for a gripping true story, told with unfailing insight and spot-on historical accuracy." - Terry Chester Shulman, author of Film's First Family: The Untold Story of the Costellos
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Jackson
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
With dust jacket
Illustrations
61 b&w illustration
Dimensions
Height: 233 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 26 mm
Weight
498 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4968-5866-5 (9781496858665)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
09/2025
Princeton University Press
€24.49
Available for download
Person
Jennifer Ann Redmond is author of Silents of the Vamps: Bad Girls You Don't Know-But Should, Southern Belle to Hollywood Hell: Corliss Palmer and Her Scandalous Rise and Fall, and Reels & Rivals: Sisters in Silent Film. Her work has been featured in Classic Images, Atlas Obscura, and the Library of Congress website.
Content
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1: Newport, Philadelphia, Manhattan
Chapter 2: A Union of Genius
Chapter 3: Joan Strange Blyth
Chapter 4: Personality Deb of 1938
Chapter 5: The Barrymore Brat
Chapter 6: The Diana Barrymore Show
Chapter 7: Bob and Muzzy
Chapter 8: Too Much, Too Loudly
Chapter 9: The Boy
Chapter 10: Nobody Cared
Source Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index
Chapter 1: Newport, Philadelphia, Manhattan
Chapter 2: A Union of Genius
Chapter 3: Joan Strange Blyth
Chapter 4: Personality Deb of 1938
Chapter 5: The Barrymore Brat
Chapter 6: The Diana Barrymore Show
Chapter 7: Bob and Muzzy
Chapter 8: Too Much, Too Loudly
Chapter 9: The Boy
Chapter 10: Nobody Cared
Source Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index