Gertrude Michael
Acting
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.
Known for
Acting62
movieThe Continental Twist
1961
Letitia Clunker
tvThe Case of the Dangerous Robin
1960
Kay Salisbury
tvPerry Mason
1957
Helen Rucker
movieWomen's Prison
1955
Chief Matron Sturgess
movieNo Escape
1953
Olga Valerie Lewis
tvCavalcade of America
1952
Major Pauline Cushman
tvSchlitz Playhouse of Stars
1951
The Duchess
movieDarling, How Could You!
1951
Mrs. Rossiter
movieCaged
1950
Georgia Harrison
movieFlamingo Road
1949
Millie
movieClub Havana
1945
Hetty - Powder Room Attendant
movieAllotment Wives
1945
Gladys Smith
Three's a Crowd
1945
Sophie Whipple
movieFaces in the Fog
1944
Nora Brooks
movieWomen in Bondage
1943
District Director Schneider
movieWhere Are Your Children?
1943
Nell Wilson
Behind Prison Walls
1943
Elinor Cantwell
moviePrisoner of Japan
1942
Toni Chase
movieSlightly Tempted
1940
Duchess
movieThe Farmer's Daughter
1940
Clarice Sheldon
movieParole Fixer
1940
Collette Menthe
moviePound Foolish
1940
Mrs. Irene Reynolds
movieHidden Power
1939
Virginia Garfield
movieSophie Lang Goes West
1937
Sophie Lang
movieMr. Dodd Takes the Air
1937
Jessica Stafford
movieMake Way for a Lady
1936
Miss Eleanor Emerson
movieSecond Wife
1936
Virginia Howard
movieThe Return of Sophie Lang
1936
Sophie Lang
movieForgotten Faces
1936
Cleo / Harry's wife
movieTill We Meet Again
1936
Elsa Duranyi
movieWoman Trap
1936
Barbara 'Buff' Andrews
movieThe Last Outpost
1935
Rosemary Haydon
movieFour Hours to Kill!
1935
Mrs. Sylvia Temple
movieIt Happened in New York
1935
Vania Nardi
movieFather Brown, Detective
1934
Evelyn Fischer
movieMenace
1934
Helen Chalmers
movieCleopatra
1934
Calpurnia
movieThe Notorious Sophie Lang
1934
Sophie Lang
movieMurder on the Blackboard
1934
Jane Davis
movieMurder at the Vanities
1934
Rita Ross
movieThe Witching Hour
1934
Margaret Price
movieI Believed in You
1934
Pamela Banks
movieHold That Girl
1934
Dorothy Lamont
movieGeorge White's Scandals
1934
Miss Lee
movieBolero
1934
Lady D'Argon
movieSearch for Beauty
1934
Jean Strange
movieCradle Song
1933
Marcella
movieI'm No Angel
1933
Alicia Hatton
movieAnn Vickers
1933
Mona Dolphin
movieNight of Terror
1933
Sarah Rinehart
movieA Bedtime Story
1933
Louise
movieSailor Be Good
1933
Kay Whitney
movieUnashamed
1932
Marjorie
movieWayward
1932
Mary Morton