Gladys George

Gladys George
250px from the trailer for the film Marie Antoinette (1938)
Born	Gladys Clare Evans (1904-09-13)September 13, 1904 Patten, Maine, U.S.
Died	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Cause of death	Cerebral hemorrhage
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1919–1954
Spouse(s)	Ben Erway (m. 1922-1930; divorced) Edward Fowler (m. 1933-1935; divorced) Leonard Penn (m. 1935-1944; divorced) Kenneth Bradley (m. 1946-1950; divorced)

Gladys George (September 13, 1904 – December 8, 1954) was an American actress.

Early life

She was born as Gladys Clare Evans on September 13, 1904 in Patten, Maine to English parents.

Career

George went on the stage at the age of three and toured the United States, appearing with her parents. She starred on stage in the 1920s, although she had made several films in the early part of that decade. She starred in Personal Appearance, a comedy by Lawrence Riley. This role was reprised by Mae West in the classic film, Go West, Young Man, which West adapted from the play. In 1936 George was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for Valiant Is the Word for Carrie.

Her only other first billed roles were in Madame X (1937) and Love is a Headache. She also appeared in The Roaring Twenties (1939), The Way of All Flesh (1940), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) and He Ran All the Way (1951). She played the widow of Miles Archer (Iva Archer) in The Maltese Falcon and Mme. Du Barry in Marie Antoinette.

Her last successful roles were as Lute Mae Sanders in Flamingo Road, her brief appearance as the corrupt nurse Miss Hatch in Detective Story, and Lullaby of Broadway as the alcoholic mother of Doris Day's ingenue character.

Personal life

Gladys George was married and divorced four times.

• Her first and third husbands were actors Ben Erway and Leonard Penn.
• Her second was millionaire paper manufacturer Edward Fowler, who walked out in 1933 after finding the actress in the arms of her leading man, Leonard Penn. At the time George was playing a nymphomaniacal star in the Broadway hit Personal Appearance.
• Her last husband Kenneth Bradley, whom she married when she was 46, was a hotel bellboy 20 years her junior.

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, California, aged 50, and was interred in the Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery.

Selected filmography

Film

Film	Role	Date	Notes
Red Hot Dollars	Janet Muir	1919	film debut
The Woman in the Suitcase	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	Carrie Snyder	1936	Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Only Academy Award for which Gladys George was ever nominated.
They Gave Him a Gun	Rose Duffy	1937	Co-starred with Spencer Tracy.
Madame X	Madame X/Jacqueline Fleuriot/Miss Pran	1937	Only film starring Gladys George to have been released on VHS.
Love Is a Headache	Carlotta 'Charlie' Lee	1938
Marie Antoinette	Madame du Barry	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 a Stranger	Clara Paulding	1939
The Roaring Twenties	Panama Smith	1939	Film contains one of the more substantial of Humphrey Bogart's early roles.
A Child Is Born	Florette Laverne	1939
House Across The Bay	Mary Bogel	1940
The Maltese Falcon	Iva Archer	1941
The Crystal Ball	Madame Zenobia	1943
The Hard Way	Lily Emery	1943
The Best Years of Our Lives	Hortense Derry	1946
Flamingo Road	Lute Mae Sanders	1949
Lullaby of Broadway	Jessica Howard	1951

External links

• Gladys George at the Internet Movie Database
• Gladys George at the Internet Broadway Database
• Gladys George at Find a Grave