Gertrude Michael
Known For
Acting
Born
1911-06-01 in Talladega, Alabama, USA
Died
1964-12-31
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.
Most Known For
Perry Mason
as Helen Rucker
Four Star Playhouse
as Fanny
Sea Hunt
The 20th Century Fox Hour
Cavalcade of America
as Major Pauline Cushman
Wayward
as Mary Morton
The Case of the Dangerous Robin
as Kay Salisbury
Woman Trap
as Barbara 'Buff' Andrews
Club Havana
as Hetty - Powder Room Attendant
I'm No Angel
as Alicia Hatton
Hallmark Hall of Fame
Cleopatra
as Calpurnia
Caged
as Georgia Harrison
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
as The Duchess
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
Flamingo Road
as Millie
Mr. Dodd Takes the Air
as Jessica Stafford
Ann Vickers
as Mona Dolphin
Murder at the Vanities
as Rita Ross
The Last Outpost
as Rosemary Haydon