Who were the first siblings to win acting Oscars?

Ethel and Lionel Barrymore made Oscar history in the 1930s and 1940s by becoming the first siblings to win Academy Awards for acting.

Ethel Barrymore (1879-1959) was an American stage, screen and radio actress whose career spanned six decades. She was regarded as "The First Lady of the American Theatre". Ethel won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the 1944 film ‘None but the Lonely Heart’, opposite Cary Grant.

Her older brother, Lionel Barrymore (1878-1954) 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). He remains best known to modern audiences for the role of villainous Mr. Potter in Frank Capra's 1946 film ‘It's a Wonderful Life.’

The only other siblings to have nabbed Oscars for acting are sisters Joan Fontaine and Olivia de Havilland, who won Best Actress awards in 1941 (for Fontaine's performance in ‘Suspicion’), 1946 (for de Havilland's performance in ‘To Each His Own’), and 1949 (again for de Havilland, in ‘The Heiress’).

The Barrymores and the de Havillands are not the only Oscar-winning siblings in the Academy's history. Over a dozen pairs have won in other (dissimilar) categories including directing, writing, music, and art direction.

*Siblings Ben & Casey Affleck have both won Oscars; Casey’s win was for acting; Ben’s Oscars weren’t.