15. John Barrymore had a vulture among his many pets
Actor John Barrymore was a man of prodigious talent whose career was destroyed by his prodigious thirst. He was a major star of the stage and silent film era who adapted to motion pictures with sound readily, becoming immensely wealthy by the 1930s. His estate in Hollywood Hills included more than a dozen buildings and over fifty rooms, and for entertainment was provided with a skeet shooting range, swimming pools, several gardens, fountains, and bocce courts. To share it with him, other than his several wives over time, were numerous pets which covered the property.
Barrymore had several dogs which roamed the property, as well as deer, a monkey which lived in the buildings, at least one possum, raccoons which may or may not have been welcomed guests, and his favorite pet, a vulture which he named Moloney. Following a divorce Barrymore no longer wanted to live in the home, and with no other recourse, he took his yacht to South America and left Moloney on a beach, assuming the bird would fly off. The following morning the bird was still where it had been left and Barrymore retrieved it, taking it back to the United States, where, “I gave Moloney to some zoo and for all, I know he’s still there”, he told an interviewer in 1939.