Biography

There is some mystery as to the children born of her union to 'Lionel Barrymore'. Miss Rankin was said to have given birth to three daughters, but two were thought to have died in infancy and the third child was never mentioned after age eight. Lionel Barrymore always denied having had children, but his sister, Ethel Barrymore, wrote in one of her autobiographies about visiting her brother in Paris and meeting her namesake niece. Miss Rankin refused to speak about her ex-husband or their life together so the existence of the children remains a mystery!.

Daughter, Ethel, named after her husband Lionel Barrymore's sister, Ethel Barrymore, was born 1n 1908.

She had 2 daughters with Lionel Barrymore--a daughter who died in March 1910, and a daughter whose custody was given to her mother at the divorce in 1922.

Half-sister of actress Phyllis Rankin and actress/writer Gladys Rankin (Mrs. Sidney Drew).

Daughter of actress Mabel Bert and actor McKee Rankin.