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.
Acted in 58
1960s
- 1961
The Continental Twist
Letitia Clunker
- 1960
1950s
- 1958
- 1957
- 1955
Women's Prison
Chief Matron Sturgess
- 1953
No Escape
Olga Valerie Lewis
- 1952
- 1951
Hallmark Hall of Fame
TV
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
The Duchess · 1 episode
Darling, How Could You!
Mrs. Rossiter
- 1950
1940s
- 1949
- 1945
Club Havana
Hetty - Powder Room Attendant
Allotment Wives
Gladys Smith
- 1944
Faces in the Fog
Nora Brooks
- 1943
Women in Bondage
District Director Schneider
Where Are Your Children?
Nell Wilson
- 1942
Prisoner of Japan
Toni Chase
- 1940
Slightly Tempted
Duchess
I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby
Magda Delys
The Farmer's Daughter
Clarice Sheldon
Parole Fixer
Collette Menthe
Pound Foolish
Mrs. Irene Reynolds
1930s
- 1939
Hidden Power
Virginia Garfield
- 1937
Sophie Lang Goes West
Sophie Lang
Mr. Dodd Takes the Air
Jessica Stafford
- 1936
Make Way for a Lady
Miss Eleanor Emerson
Second Wife
Virginia Howard
The Return of Sophie Lang
Sophie Lang
Forgotten Faces
Cleo / Harry's wife
Till We Meet Again
Elsa Duranyi
- 1935
The Last Outpost
Rosemary Haydon
Four Hours to Kill!
Mrs. Sylvia Temple
It Happened in New York
Vania Nardi
- 1934
Father Brown, Detective
Evelyn Fischer
Menace
Helen Chalmers
Cleopatra
Calpurnia
The Notorious Sophie Lang
Sophie Lang
Murder on the Blackboard
Jane Davis
Murder at the Vanities
Rita Ross
The Witching Hour
Margaret Price
I Believed in You
Pamela Banks
Hold That Girl
Dorothy Lamont
George White's Scandals
Miss Lee
Bolero
Lady D'Argon
Search for Beauty
Jean Strange
- 1933
Cradle Song
Marcella
I'm No Angel
Alicia Hatton
Ann Vickers
Mona Dolphin
Night of Terror
Sarah Rinehart
A Bedtime Story
Louise
Sailor Be Good
Kay Whitney
- 1932
Unashamed
Marjorie
Wayward
Mary Morton
