John Barrymore's acting at his finest. WARNING: This scene and description contain SPOILERS from George Cukor's 1933 masterpiece Dinner at Eight.
Barrymore plays Larry Renault's decline gradually and with much restraint, which makes the sudden explosions of emotions such as at 9:55 that much more unnerving. Director George Cukor (My Fair Lady, Gas Light, Camille, A Star is Born) and John Barrymore (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Grand Hotel, Marie Antoinette, Svengali) had contrasting opinions about how this scene should be played. Cukor envisioned Larry's collapse to be what he described as "an ugly, middle-aged awkward sprawl."
John grounded his character in the idea that Larry's ultimate motivation for killing himself was to preserve his dignity, he felt as oppose to a desperate, haphazard suicide Larry would on the contrary, arrange his death very carefully. Cukor was ultimately persuaded by Barrymore's argument, and thus Larry dies the way he wanted to live, as a star.
While the character of Larry Renault did not appear to be specifically based on John Barrymore, there were elements from Barrymore's own life experience such as his battle for years with addiction, failed marriages and even the premature death of one of his wives (Katherine Corri Harris) that he shared with the character and could draw upon to imbue the performance with great feeling. While Barrymore like Renault enjoyed a wildly successful career as a matinee idol, Barrymore was primarily a dramatic actor in contrast to Renault, whose career was based solely on sex appeal
Barrymore also observed the lives and personalities of his in-laws actor Maurice Costello, and director Lowell Sheman to help form the character of Larry. Maurice Costello, father of Barrymore's third wife Dolores Costello, was especially relevant. He was a leading man of the silent era, associated with titles such as Les Misérables, A Midsummer Night's Dream, A Tale of Two Cities and the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (A role essayed by John Barrymore as well.) Maurice also unfortunately struggled with alcohol abuse and like Renault his career waned as silent pictures began to cease in favor of films with sound. He and Barrymore had a complex relationship with one another.
Dinner at Eight glitters with an all-star cast that includes Jean Harlow, Marie Dressler, Billie Burke, Wallace Beery and of course Jack's big brother Lionel. It was an artistic triumph both for Cukor and Barrymore, and was not the first successful partnership between the actor and director. They had worked together the previous year on the critically-acclaimed talkie picture adaptation of Clemence Dane's A Bill of Divorcement, where Barrymore starred opposite Katharine Hepburn.
While Cukor and Barrymore were passionately opinionated, the two also maintained a very friendly relationship. Cukor described Barrymore as surprisingly down-to-earth, open to new ideas and to use his exact words, "very gentle, curiously enough" for such a famous star.