# Gladys George

Gladys George (born Gladys Clare Evans; September 13, 1904 – December 8, 1954) was an American actress of stage and screen. Though nominated for an Academy Award for her leading role in Valiant Is the Word for Carrie (1936), she spent most of her career in supporting roles in films such as Marie Antoinette (1938), The Roaring Twenties (1939), The Maltese Falcon (1941), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), and Flamingo Road (1949).

## Early life

George was born on September 13, 1904 in Patten, Maine to British parents, Sir Arthur Evans Clare, a "noted Shakespearean actor", and his wife, Lady Alice. Another source indicated "Gladys was born in a little town in Missouri, where the troupe her parents belonged to happened to be stranded at the time."

## Career

George went on the stage at the age of 3 and toured the United States, appearing with her parents, who were British actors. She starred onstage in the 1920s, and she had made several films during the early part of that decade. For her role in the film Valiant Is the Word for Carrie (1936), she received a Best Actress nomination at the 9th Academy Awards.
Other roles were in Madame X (1937), Marie Antoinette (1938), The Roaring Twenties (1939), The Way of All Flesh (1940), The Maltese Falcon (1941), The Hard Way (1943), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), He Ran All the Way (1951), Detective Story (1951), and Lullaby of Broadway (1951).
George's Broadway credits include The Distant City, Lady in Waiting, and The Betrothal.

## Personal life

Gladys George was married and divorced four times. All of the unions were childless.
* On March 31, 1922, she and actor Ben Erway eloped and were married by a judge in Oakland, California. "They were remarried in San Luis Obispo August 3 of the same year. They separated September 14, 1930." The couple divorced in October 1930.
* Her second husband 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.
* George and actor Leonard Penn were married in a probate court in New Haven, Connecticut, September 19, 1935.
* Her last husband Kenneth Bradley, whom she married when she was 41, was a hotel bellboy 20 years her junior.

## Illnesses and death

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 in Burbank, California.

## Filmography

Film :
| Title | Year | Role | Notes |
| Red Hot Dollars | 1919 | Janet Muir | film debut |
| The Woman in the Suitcase | 1920 | Ethel | |
| Below the Surface | 1920 | Alice | |
| Homespun Folks | 1920 | Beulah Rogers | |
| The Easy Road | 1921 | Isabel Grace | |
| Chickens | 1921 | Julia Stoneman | |
| The House that Jazz Built | 1921 | Lila Drake | |
| Straight Is the Way | 1934 | Shirley | |
| Valiant Is the Word for Carrie | 1936 | Carrie Snyder | Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Only Academy Award for which Gladys George was ever nominated. |
| They Gave Him a Gun | 1937 | Rose Duffy | Co-starred with Spencer Tracy. |
| Madame X | 1937 | Madame X / Jacqueline Fleuriot / Miss Pran | Only film starring Gladys George to have been released on VHS. |
| Love Is a Headache | 1938 | Carlotta 'Charlie' Lee | |
| Marie Antoinette | 1938 | Madame du Barry | First time Gladys George portrayed a historical figure. First supporting role since Oscar nomination. |
| I'm from Missouri | 1939 | Julie Bliss | |
| Here I Am a Stranger | 1939 | Clara Paulding | |
| The Roaring Twenties | 1939 | Panama Smith | James Cagney film with one of many substantial early supporting roles for Humphrey Bogart. |
| A Child Is Born | 1939 | Florette Laverne | |
| The House Across the Bay | 1940 | Mary Bogel | |
| The Way of All Flesh | 1940 | Anna Kriza | |
| The Lady from Cheyenne | 1941 | Elsie | |
| Hit the Road | 1941 | Molly Ryan | |
| The Maltese Falcon | 1941 | Iva Archer | |
| The Hard Way | 1943 | Lily Emery | |
| The Crystal Ball | 1943 | Madame Zenobia | |
| Nobody's Darling | 1943 | Eve Hawthorne | |
| Christmas Holiday | 1944 | Valerie De Merode | |
| Minstrel Man | 1945 | Mae White | |
| Steppin' in Society | 1945 | Penelope Webster | |
| The Best Years of Our Lives | 1946 | Hortense Derry | |
| Millie's Daughter | 1947 | Millie Maitland | |
| Alias a Gentleman | 1948 | Madge Parkson | |
| Flamingo Road | 1949 | Lute Mae Sanders | |
| Bright Leaf | 1950 | Rose | |
| Undercover Girl | 1950 | Liz Crow | |
| Lullaby of Broadway | 1951 | Jessica Howard | |
| He Ran All the Way | 1951 | Mrs. Robey | |
| Detective Story | 1951 | Miss Hatch | |
| Silver City | 1951 | Mrs. Barber | |
| It Happens Every Thursday | 1953 | Mrs. Lucinda Holmes | |