Acting · Talladega, Alabama, USA · Born June 1, 1911
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.
MovieThe Continental Twist
1961
as Letitia Clunker
TVThe Case of the Dangerous Robin
1960
as Kay Salisbury
TVSea Hunt
1958
TVPerry Mason
1957
as Helen Rucker
TVThe 20th Century Fox Hour
1955
MovieWomen's Prison
1955
as Chief Matron Sturgess
MovieNo Escape
1953
as Olga Valerie Lewis
TVCavalcade of America
1952
as Major Pauline Cushman
TVFour Star Playhouse
1952
as Fanny
MovieBugles in the Afternoon
1952
as May
TVHallmark Hall of Fame
1951
TVSchlitz Playhouse of Stars
1951
as The Duchess
MovieDarling, How Could You!
1951
as Mrs. Rossiter
MovieCaged
1950
as Georgia Harrison
MovieFlamingo Road
1949
as Millie
MovieClub Havana
1945
as Hetty - Powder Room Attendant
MovieAllotment Wives
1945
as Gladys Smith
Three's a Crowd
1945
as Sophie Whipple
MovieFaces in the Fog
1944
as Nora Brooks
MovieWomen in Bondage
1943
as District Director Schneider
MovieWhere Are Your Children?
1943
as Nell Wilson
Behind Prison Walls
1943
as Elinor Cantwell
MoviePrisoner of Japan
1942
as Toni Chase
MovieSlightly Tempted
1940
as Duchess
MovieI Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby
1940
as Magda Delys
MovieThe Farmer's Daughter
1940
as Clarice Sheldon
MovieParole Fixer
1940
as Collette Menthe
MoviePound Foolish
1940
as Mrs. Irene Reynolds
Just like a Woman
1939
as Ann Heston
MovieHidden Power
1939
as Virginia Garfield
Star of the Circus
1938
as Yester
MovieSophie Lang Goes West
1937
as Sophie Lang
MovieMr. Dodd Takes the Air
1937
as Jessica Stafford
MovieMake Way for a Lady
1936
as Miss Eleanor Emerson
MovieSecond Wife
1936
as Virginia Howard
MovieThe Return of Sophie Lang
1936
as Sophie Lang
MovieForgotten Faces
1936
as Cleo / Harry's wife
MovieTill We Meet Again
1936
as Elsa Duranyi
MovieWoman Trap
1936
as Barbara 'Buff' Andrews
MovieThe Last Outpost
1935
as Rosemary Haydon
MovieFour Hours to Kill!
1935
as Mrs. Sylvia Temple
MovieIt Happened in New York
1935
as Vania Nardi
MovieFather Brown, Detective
1934
as Evelyn Fischer
MovieMenace
1934
as Helen Chalmers
MovieCleopatra
1934
as Calpurnia
MovieThe Notorious Sophie Lang
1934
as Sophie Lang
MovieMurder on the Blackboard
1934
as Jane Davis
MovieMurder at the Vanities
1934
as Rita Ross
MovieThe Witching Hour
1934
as Margaret Price
MovieI Believed in You
1934
as Pamela Banks
MovieHold That Girl
1934
as Dorothy Lamont
MovieGeorge White's Scandals
1934
as Miss Lee
MovieBolero
1934
as Lady D'Argon
MovieSearch for Beauty
1934
as Jean Strange
MovieCradle Song
1933
as Marcella
MovieI'm No Angel
1933
as Alicia Hatton
MovieAnn Vickers
1933
as Mona Dolphin
MovieNight of Terror
1933
as Sarah Rinehart
MovieA Bedtime Story
1933
as Louise
MovieSailor Be Good
1933
as Kay Whitney
MovieUnashamed
1932
as Marjorie
MovieWayward
1932
as Mary Morton
