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The villainous Mr. Potter


Lionel Barrymore in It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
Lionel Barrymore in It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

Lionel Barrymore (April 28, 1878 – November 15, 1954).

Lionel Barrymore (born Lionel Herbert Blythe) was an American actor of stage, screen, and radio as well as a film director. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in A Free Soul (1931) and remains best known to modern audiences for the role of villainous Mr. Potter in Frank Capra's 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life.


From 1934 to 1953, Lionel Barrymore came into homes over the radio as the miserly Scrooge who is visited by three ghosts as a warning to change his cruel ways. This role led directly to his being cast as Mr. Potter in It's A Wonderful Life.






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