About

Known credits:
54
Birthday:
1911-06-01
Place of birth:
Talladega, Alabama, USA
Website:
N/A

Gertrude Michael

Overview

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

Acting
1961 The Continental Twist Actor Letitia Clunker 58
Average
1955 Women's Prison Actor Chief Matron Sturgess 58
Average
1953 No Escape Actor Olga Valerie Lewis 58
Average
1952 Bugles in the Afternoon Actor May 58
Average
1951 Darling, How Could You! Actor Mrs. Rossiter 58
Average
1950 Caged Actor Georgia Harrison 60
Fair
1949 Flamingo Road Actor Millie 60
Fair
1945 Club Havana Actor Hetty - Powder Room Attendant 58
Average
1945 Allotment Wives Actor Gladys Smith 59
Average
1945 Three's a Crowd Actor Sophie Whipple N/A
N/A
1944 Faces in the Fog Actor Nora Brooks 58
Average
1943 Women in Bondage Actor District Director Schneider 59
Average
1943 Where Are Your Children? Actor Nell Wilson 59
Average
1943 Behind Prison Walls Actor Elinor Cantwell N/A
N/A
1942 Prisoner of Japan Actor Toni Chase 58
Average
1940 Slightly Tempted Actor Duchess N/A
N/A
1940 I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby Actor Magda Delys 59
Average
1940 The Farmer's Daughter Actor Clarice Sheldon 58
Average
1940 Parole Fixer Actor Collette Menthe N/A
N/A
1940 Pound Foolish Actor Mrs. Irene Reynolds N/A
N/A
1939 Just like a Woman Actor Ann Heston N/A
N/A
1939 Hidden Power Actor Virginia Garfield N/A
N/A
1938 Star of the Circus Actor Yester 59
Average
1937 Sophie Lang Goes West Actor Sophie Lang 59
Average
1937 Mr. Dodd Takes the Air Actor Jessica Stafford 58
Average
1936 Make Way for a Lady Actor Miss Eleanor Emerson 58
Average
1936 Second Wife Actor Virginia Howard N/A
N/A
1936 The Return of Sophie Lang Actor Sophie Lang 59
Average
1936 Forgotten Faces Actor Cleo / Harry's wife N/A
N/A
1936 Till We Meet Again Actor Elsa Duranyi 58
Average
1936 Woman Trap Actor Barbara 'Buff' Andrews N/A
N/A
1935 The Last Outpost Actor Rosemary Haydon 58
Average
1935 Four Hours to Kill! Actor Mrs. Sylvia Temple 59
Average
1935 It Happened in New York Actor Vania Nardi N/A
N/A
1934 Father Brown, Detective Actor Evelyn Fischer 58
Average
1934 Menace Actor Helen Chalmers 59
Average
1934 Cleopatra Actor Calpurnia 59
Average
1934 The Notorious Sophie Lang Actor Sophie Lang 58
Average
1934 Murder on the Blackboard Actor Jane Davis 58
Average
1934 Murder at the Vanities Actor Rita Ross 58
Average
1934 The Witching Hour Actor Margaret Price 59
Average
1934 I Believed in You Actor Pamela Banks N/A
N/A
1934 Hold That Girl Actor Dorothy Lamont N/A
N/A
1934 George White's Scandals Actor Miss Lee 58
Average
1934 Bolero Actor Lady D'Argon 58
Average
1934 Search for Beauty Actor Jean Strange 59
Average
1933 Cradle Song Actor Marcella N/A
N/A
1933 I'm No Angel Actor Alicia Hatton 59
Average
1933 Ann Vickers Actor Mona Dolphin 59
Average
1933 Night of Terror Actor Sarah Rinehart 58
Average
1933 A Bedtime Story Actor Louise 59
Average
1933 Sailor Be Good Actor Kay Whitney N/A
N/A
1932 Unashamed Actor Marjorie 59
Average
1932 Wayward Actor Mary Morton 59
Average