Gladys George was an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actress.
Early life
She was born as
Gladys Clare Evans on September 13, 1904 in
Patten, MainePatten is a town in Penobscot County, Maine, United States. The town was named for Amos Patten, an early settler. The population was 1,200 at the 2009 census.-Geography and history:...
to
EnglishThe English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
parents.
Career
George went on the stage at the age of three and toured the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, appearing with her parents. She starred on
stageTheatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
in the 1920s, although she had made several
filmA film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
s in the early part of that decade.
She is credited for contributing to the enormous success on
BroadwayBroadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
of
Personal AppearancePersonal Appearance is a stage comedy by the American playwright and screenwriter Lawrence Riley , which was a Broadway smash and the basis for the classic Mae West film Go West, Young Man ....
, a comedy by
Lawrence RileyLawrence Riley was a successful American playwright and screenwriter. He gained fame in 1934 as the author of the Broadway hit Personal Appearance, which was turned by Mae West into the classic film Go West, Young Man , starring herself.-Biography:Riley was a Princeton University alumnus and a...
in which she had the starring role. This role was reprised by
Mae WestMae West was an American actress, playwright, screenwriter and sex symbol whose entertainment career spanned seven decades....
in the classic film,
Go West, Young ManGo West, Young Man is a 1936 Paramount Pictures comedy film directed by Henry Hathaway starring Mae West. The supporting cast includes Warren William, Alice Brady, Elizabeth Patterson, and Lyle Talbot...
, which West adapted from the play. In 1936 she was nominated for an
Academy Award for Best ActressPerformance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
for
Valiant Is the Word for CarrieValiant is the word for Carrie is a 1936 film starring Gladys George, Arline Judge, John Howard, Dudley Digges, Harry Carey, Isabel Jewell, and Hattie McDaniel. The movie was adapted by Claude Binyon from the novel of the same name by Barry Benefield...
.
Her only other first billed roles were in
Madame XMadame X is a drama film, a sanitized remake of several Pre-Code films of the same name. It was directed by Sam Wood with additional direction by Gustav Machatý .-Plot:...
(1937) and
Love is a Headache. She also appeared in
The Roaring TwentiesThe Roaring Twenties is a 1939 crime thriller starring James Cagney, Priscilla Lane, Humphrey Bogart and Gladys George. The movie was directed by Raoul Walsh, and written by Jerry Wald, Richard Macaulay and Robert Rossen based on the story "The World Moves On" by Mark Hellinger...
(1939),
The Way of All FleshThe Way of All Flesh is a drama film directed by Victor Fleming, written by Lajos Biró, Jules Furthman and Julian Johnson from a story by Perley Poore Sheehan. The film is unrelated to Samuel Butler's novel The Way of All Flesh, and is now considered a lost film.-Cast:*Emil Jannings - August...
(1940),
The Best Years of Our LivesThe Best Years of Our Lives is a 1946 American drama film directed by William Wyler, and starring Fredric March, Myrna Loy, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright, and Harold Russell, a United States paratrooper who lost both hands in a military training accident. The film is about three United States...
(1946) and
He Ran All the WayHe Ran All the Way is a 1951 crime drama, considered a film noir, starring John Garfield and Shelley Winters. The film was Garfield's last, as accusations of his involvement with the Communist Party and a refusal to name names while testifying before the HUAC led to his blacklisting in Hollywood...
(1951). She played the widow of Miles Archer (Iva Archer) in
The Maltese FalconThe Maltese Falcon is a 1941 Warner Bros. film based on the novel of the same name by Dashiell Hammett and a remake of the 1931 film of the same name...
and
Mme. Du BarryJeanne Bécu, comtesse du Barry was the last Maîtresse-en-titre of Louis XV of France and one of the victims of the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution.-Early life:...
in
Marie AntoinetteMarie Antoinette is a 1938 film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed by W. S. Van Dyke and starred Norma Shearer as Marie Antoinette...
.
Her last successful roles were as Madge Parkson in
Flamingo Road, her brief appearance as the corrupt nurse Miss Hatch in
Detective Story (1951) and in
Lullaby of BroadwayLullaby of Broadway is a musical romantic comedy film released by Warner Bros. in 1951. It starred Doris Day as Melinda Howard, an entertainer who travels to New York to see her mother, and Gene Nelson as Tom Farnham, a fellow entertainer and Melinda's love interest. Gladys George appears as...
, as the alcoholic mother of
Doris DayDoris Day is an American actress, singer and, since her retirement from show business, an animal rights activist. With an entertainment career that spanned through almost 50 years, Day started her career as a big band singer in 1939, but only began to be noticed after her first hit recording,...
's ingenue character.
Health
George was afflicted with numerous ailments, including throat cancer, heart disease, and cirrhosis of the liver. She died from a cerebral hemorrhage in 1954 in
Los Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, aged 50, and was interred in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
Selected filmography
Film
| Film |
Role |
Date |
Notes |
| Red Hot Dollars |
Janet Muir |
1919 |
film debut |
| The Woman in the Suitcase The Woman in the Suitcase is a 1920 silent drama film directed by Fred Niblo.-Cast:* Enid Bennett - Mary Moreland* William Conklin - James B. Moreland* Dorcas Matthews - Dolly Wright* Rowland V. Lee - W.H. 'Billy' Fiske...
|
Ethel |
1920 |
|
| Below the Surface |
Alice |
1920 |
|
| Homespun Folks |
Beulah Rogers |
1920 |
|
| The Easy Road |
Isabel Grace |
1921 |
|
| Chickens |
Julia Stoneman |
1921 |
|
| The House that Jazz Built |
Lila Drake |
1921 |
|
| Straight Is the Way |
Shirley |
1934 |
|
| Valiant Is the Word for Carrie Valiant is the word for Carrie is a 1936 film starring Gladys George, Arline Judge, John Howard, Dudley Digges, Harry Carey, Isabel Jewell, and Hattie McDaniel. The movie was adapted by Claude Binyon from the novel of the same name by Barry Benefield...
|
Carrie Snyder |
1936 |
Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
. Only Academy Award for which Gladys George was ever nominated. |
| They Gave Him a Gun They Gave Him a Gun is a 1937 American drama film directed by W. S. Van Dyke- Cast :* Spencer Tracy: Fred P. Willis* Gladys George: Rose Duffy* Franchot Tone: James 'Jimmy' Davis* Edgar Dearing: Sgt. Meadowlark* Mary Treen: Saxe...
|
Rose Duffy |
1937 |
Co-starred with Spencer TracySpencer Bonaventure Tracy was an American theatrical and film actor, who appeared in 75 films from 1930 to 1967. Tracy was one of the major stars of Hollywood's Golden Age, ranking among the top ten box office draws for almost every year from 1938 to 1951...
. |
| Madame X Madame X is a drama film, a sanitized remake of several Pre-Code films of the same name. It was directed by Sam Wood with additional direction by Gustav Machatý .-Plot:...
|
Madame X / Jacqueline Fleuriot / Miss Pran |
1937 |
Only role for which Gladys George is known to have sung in a film. Only film starring Gladys George to have been released on VHS. |
| Love Is a Headache |
Carlotta 'Charlie' Lee |
1938 |
|
Marie AntoinetteMarie Antoinette is a 1938 film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed by W. S. Van Dyke and starred Norma Shearer as Marie Antoinette...
|
Madame du BarryJeanne Bécu, comtesse du Barry was the last Maîtresse-en-titre of Louis XV of France and one of the victims of the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution.-Early life:...
|
1938 |
First time Gladys George portrayed a historical figure. First supporting role since Oscar nomination. |
| I'm From Missouri |
Julie Bliss |
1939 |
|
| Here I Am Stranger |
Clara Paulding |
1939 |
|
The Roaring TwentiesThe Roaring Twenties is a 1939 crime thriller starring James Cagney, Priscilla Lane, Humphrey Bogart and Gladys George. The movie was directed by Raoul Walsh, and written by Jerry Wald, Richard Macaulay and Robert Rossen based on the story "The World Moves On" by Mark Hellinger...
|
Panama Smith |
1939 |
Film contains one of the more substantial of Humphrey Bogart'sHumphrey DeForest Bogart was an American actor. He is widely regarded as a cultural icon.The American Film Institute ranked Bogart as the greatest male star in the history of American cinema....
early roles. |
| A Child Is Born |
Florette Laverne |
1939 |
|
External links