Mr. & Mrs. Sidney Drew

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Mr. & Mrs. Sidney Drew (Sidney 28 August 1863-9 April 1919 and Gladys Rankin Drew c. 1874-9 January 1914) were once a comedy team on stage and screen.

[edit] Biography

An uncle of the Barrymore family, Sidney Drew, or Mr. Sidney Drew as he was usually billed, had been a light hearted leading man along with his wife, Gladys Rankin, better known as Mrs. Sidney Drew. When in the entertainment business, they were known as Mr. and Mrs Sidney Drew. They entered films as a team with the old Kalem Companyin 1911, but claimed to fame after to switch to Vitagraph in 1913. Rankin died later that year and Sidney Drew was briefly paired with Clara Kimball Young.

Remarried to Lucile McVey, a Vitagraph scriptwrite who briefly went under the name Jane Morrow, Drew added his new wife to his two or three reels, acknowledging that McVey was both a writer and co-director. As the comedy team, Mr. & Mrs Sidney Drew, the team perfected the situation comedy style that the team of John Bunny and Flora Finch started. Their style of comedy was usually gentle satire on marriage life, but can poke fun of the world of show business.

In 1916, the poular team was lured over the Louis B. Mayer's newly founded Metro company, where they continued to dominate in the field of material comedy. During World War I, Sidney Drew's son, actor S. Rankin Drew, was killed in action. Drew never recovered the loss. The team left Metro for personal appearances but was signed to V.B.K.. Sidney Drew then died suddenly. Mrs. Sidney Drew died less than six years later from cancer at the age of thirty-five.