Gertrude Michael
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- June 1, 1911
- Died
- December 31, 1964
- Birthplace
- Talladega, Alabama, USA
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.
Filmography
The Continental Twist 1961
as Letitia Clunker
Women's Prison 1955
as Chief Matron Sturgess
No Escape 1953
as Olga Valerie Lewis
Bugles in the Afternoon 1952
as May
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
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
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
Just like a Woman 1939
as Ann Heston
Hidden Power 1939
as Virginia Garfield
- Star of the Circus
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
Forgotten Faces 1936
as Cleo / Harry's wife
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
Credits from TMDB.