SIDNEY RANKIN DREW 1892-1918 AKA S. Rankin Drew

SIDNEY RANKIN DREW, JR. From The Lafayette Flying Corps. James Norman Hall, editor, and Charles Bernard Nordhoff, associate editor. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, New York: 1920. 2 volumes. Courtesy of Valerie Yaros, 2-11-04

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES Via email from Valerie Yaros, 2-6-04      There was a young movie actor-director who died in the Lafayette Corps, and his name was Sidney Rankin Drew. He was a good friend and colleague of Frank Morgan's and died in 1918.      I have a picture of Sidney Rankin Drew from a circa 1920 book on the Lafayette Escadrille which also has a page of information on him. I had a friend scan it for me a few years ago, and when I find it, I will e-mail it to you. Sidney was Frank's friend, directing him in several silent films. The son used the name "S. Rankin Drew" no doubt to avoid confusion with his famous father Sidney. This family is, of course connected to the Barrymores as Georgiana Drew married Maurice Barrymore which produced John, Lionel and Ethel and, through John's line, Drew Barrymore. I sorry I can't recall exactly how Georgiana is related to Sidney Drew.

 

ONLINE RESOURCES 1      If you search for "Sidney Rankin Drew", using the Google search engine, (2-9-04), you will find just two links.

 

Early British Comedy: International Competition      This page on the website of The British Film Resource offers a paragraph on the career of Sidney Drew, (1864-1919), the father of the aviator. The following sentence is especially poignant. "His son, Sidney Rankin Drew had been killed in action near the end of WW1, Drew Sr. never got over the tragedy and while appearing in a stage show with his wife in Detroit, suffered a nervous breakdown."      So far, this is the only reference to his career I have been able to find.

 

ONLINE RESOURCES 2      If you search for "S. Rankin Drew", using the Google search engine, (2-9-04), you will find about 59 links. Most of them deal with his career in the movies.

S. RANKIN DREW       This page on the IMDb website, (Internet Movie Database), offers a listing of the 29 films in which he was Actor, 11 as a Director and three as a Writer. You can also access a Mini-Biography written by Jim Beaver. It includes links to several of his relatives and others who were active in the movies including Lionel and Ethel Barrymore.You can access the page by clicking on the title above.

SECRETS OF CENTRAL PARK      This page on the Forgotten NY website offers a photo of a tree planted by the American Legion in 1920 in remembrance of S. Rankin Drew. Included is a closeup picture of the memorial plaque. You can access the page by clicking on the title above.

 

From The Lafayette Flying Corps. James Norman Hall, editor, and Charles Bernard Nordhoff, associate editor. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, New York: 1920. 2 volumes. Courtesy of Valerie Yaros, 2-11-04

 

Editor's Note: If you have any information on this pioneer aviator, please contact me. E-mail to Ralph Cooper   Back