Gertrude Michael
Gertrude Michael (June 1, 1911, Talladega, Alabama – December 31, 1964, Beverly Hills, California) was an American film, stage and television actress.
Born as Lillian Gertrude Michael in Talladega, Alabama, she reportedly graduated from high school at the age of 14. She became a radio singer on the radio. She attended the University of Alabama and Converse College, Cincinnati. Her childhood home in Talladega, Alabama was destroyed by fire in 2007.
In 1929 in Cincinnati she made her stage debut in a stock company. She subsequently appeared on Broadway in Rachel Crothers' Caught Wet (1931). She entered the movies playing Richard Arlen's finaceé in Wayward (1932), but her best-remembered role is probably as Rita Ross in Murder at the Vanities (1934), one of the last pre-Code films, in which she sang an ode to marijuana (Sweet Marijuana).
She had an affair with writer Paul Cain (aka Peter Ruric).After they broke up, Cain wrote the role of the alcoholic lover (based on Michael) in his only novel published during his lifetime, Fast One.
Gertrude Michael died, aged 53, from undisclosed causes, in Beverly Hills, California.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Gertrude Michael,licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Acted in
The Continental Twist
1961
as Letitia Clunker
The Case of the Dangerous Robin
1960
as Kay Salisbury
Sea Hunt
1958
Perry Mason
1957
as Helen Rucker
The 20th Century Fox Hour
1955
Women's Prison
1955
as Chief Matron Sturgess
No Escape
1953
as Olga Valerie Lewis
Cavalcade of America
1952
as Major Pauline Cushman
Four Star Playhouse
1952
as Fanny
Bugles in the Afternoon
1952
as May
Hallmark Hall of Fame
1951
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
1951
as The Duchess
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
1951
Darling, How Could You!
1951
as Mrs. Rossiter
Caged
1950
as Georgia Harrison
Flamingo Road
1949
as Millie
Club Havana
1945
as Hetty - Powder Room Attendant
Allotment Wives
1945
as Gladys Smith
Three's a Crowd
1945
as Sophie Whipple
Faces in the Fog
1944
as Nora Brooks
Women in Bondage
1943
as District Director Schneider
Where Are Your Children?
1943
as Nell Wilson
Behind Prison Walls
1943
as Elinor Cantwell
Prisoner of Japan
1942
as Toni Chase
Slightly Tempted
1940
as Duchess
I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby
1940
as Magda Delys
The Farmer's Daughter
1940
as Clarice Sheldon
Parole Fixer
1940
as Collette Menthe
Pound Foolish
1940
as Mrs. Irene Reynolds
Just like a Woman
1939
as Ann Heston
Hidden Power
1939
as Virginia Garfield
Star of the Circus
1938
as Yester
Sophie Lang Goes West
1937
as Sophie Lang
Mr. Dodd Takes the Air
1937
as Jessica Stafford
Make Way for a Lady
1936
as Miss Eleanor Emerson
Second Wife
1936
as Virginia Howard
The Return of Sophie Lang
1936
as Sophie Lang
Till We Meet Again
1936
as Elsa Duranyi
Woman Trap
1936
as Barbara 'Buff' Andrews
The Last Outpost
1935
as Rosemary Haydon
Four Hours to Kill!
1935
as Mrs. Sylvia Temple
It Happened in New York
1935
as Vania Nardi
Father Brown, Detective
1934
as Evelyn Fischer
Menace
1934
as Helen Chalmers
Cleopatra
1934
as Calpurnia
The Notorious Sophie Lang
1934
as Sophie Lang
Murder on the Blackboard
1934
as Jane Davis
Murder at the Vanities
1934
as Rita Ross
The Witching Hour
1934
as Margaret Price
I Believed in You
1934
as Pamela Banks
Hold That Girl
1934
as Dorothy Lamont
George White's Scandals
1934
as Miss Lee
Bolero
1934
as Lady D'Argon
Search for Beauty
1934
as Jean Strange
Cradle Song
1933
as Marcella
I'm No Angel
1933
as Alicia Hatton
Ann Vickers
1933
as Mona Dolphin
Night of Terror
1933
as Sarah Rinehart
A Bedtime Story
1933
as Louise
Sailor Be Good
1933
as Kay Whitney
Unashamed
1932
as Marjorie
Wayward
1932
as Mary Morton