Gertrude Michael
Biography
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
Perry Mason
Sea Hunt
The 20th Century Fox Hour
Cavalcade of America
Hallmark Hall of Fame
The Case of the Dangerous Robin
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
All Movies (54)
- The Continental Twist1961 · as Letitia Clunker
- Women's Prison1955 · as Chief Matron Sturgess
- No Escape1953 · as Olga Valerie Lewis
- Bugles in the Afternoon1952 · as May
- Darling, How Could You!1951 · as Mrs. Rossiter
- Caged1950 · as Georgia Harrison
- Flamingo Road1949 · as Millie
- Club Havana1945 · as Hetty - Powder Room Attendant
- Allotment Wives1945 · as Gladys Smith
- Three's a Crowd1945 · as Sophie Whipple
- Faces in the Fog1944 · as Nora Brooks
- Women in Bondage1943 · as District Director Schneider
- Where Are Your Children?1943 · as Nell Wilson
- Behind Prison Walls1943 · as Elinor Cantwell
- Prisoner of Japan1942 · as Toni Chase
- Slightly Tempted1940 · as Duchess
- I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby1940 · as Magda Delys
- The Farmer's Daughter1940 · as Clarice Sheldon
- Parole Fixer1940 · as Collette Menthe
- Pound Foolish1940 · as Mrs. Irene Reynolds
- Just like a Woman1939 · as Ann Heston
- Hidden Power1939 · as Virginia Garfield
- Star of the Circus1938 · as Yester
- Sophie Lang Goes West1937 · as Sophie Lang
- Mr. Dodd Takes the Air1937 · as Jessica Stafford
- Make Way for a Lady1936 · as Miss Eleanor Emerson
- Second Wife1936 · as Virginia Howard
- The Return of Sophie Lang1936 · as Sophie Lang
- Forgotten Faces1936 · as Cleo / Harry's wife
- Till We Meet Again1936 · as Elsa Duranyi
- Woman Trap1936 · as Barbara 'Buff' Andrews
- The Last Outpost1935 · as Rosemary Haydon
- Four Hours to Kill!1935 · as Mrs. Sylvia Temple
- It Happened in New York1935 · as Vania Nardi
- Father Brown, Detective1934 · as Evelyn Fischer
- Menace1934 · as Helen Chalmers
- Cleopatra1934 · as Calpurnia
- The Notorious Sophie Lang1934 · as Sophie Lang
- Murder on the Blackboard1934 · as Jane Davis
- Murder at the Vanities1934 · as Rita Ross
- The Witching Hour1934 · as Margaret Price
- I Believed in You1934 · as Pamela Banks
- Hold That Girl1934 · as Dorothy Lamont
- George White's Scandals1934 · as Miss Lee
- Bolero1934 · as Lady D'Argon
- Search for Beauty1934 · as Jean Strange
- Cradle Song1933 · as Marcella
- I'm No Angel1933 · as Alicia Hatton
- Ann Vickers1933 · as Mona Dolphin
- Night of Terror1933 · as Sarah Rinehart
- A Bedtime Story1933 · as Louise
- Sailor Be Good1933 · as Kay Whitney
- Unashamed1932 · as Marjorie
- Wayward1932 · as Mary Morton
All TV Shows (9)
- The Case of the Dangerous Robin1960 · as Kay Salisbury
- Sea Hunt1958
- Perry Mason1957 · as Helen Rucker
- The 20th Century Fox Hour1955
- Cavalcade of America1952 · as Major Pauline Cushman
- Four Star Playhouse1952 · as Fanny
- Hallmark Hall of Fame1951
- Schlitz Playhouse of Stars1951 · as The Duchess
- Schlitz Playhouse of Stars1951