Gertrude Michael

Gertrude Michael

Born: June 1, 1911
Died: December 31, 1964
in Talladega, Alabama, USA
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.

Movies for Gertrude Michael...

The Continental Twist
Title: The Continental Twist
Character: Letitia Clunker
Released: December 12, 1961
Type: Movie
Sam Butera and the Witnesses perform several Twist numbers to save a small New Orleans nightclub and raise the bail to get Louis Prima out of jail.
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Title: The Case of the Dangerous Robin
Character: Kay Salisbury
Released: October 18, 1960
Type: TV
The Case of the Dangerous Robin is an American crime drama series which aired in syndication from October 1960, to July 1961. The series stars Rick Jason. It was produced by Ziv Television Productions, the company responsible for such hit series as Sea Hunt and Highway Patrol.
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Title: Sea Hunt
Released: January 4, 1958
Type: TV
Sea Hunt is an American adventure television series that aired in syndication from 1958 to 1961 and was popular in syndication for decades afterwards. The series originally aired for four seasons, with 155 episodes produced. It stars Lloyd Bridges as ex-Navy frogman Mike Nelson, and was produced by Ivan Tors.
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Title: Perry Mason
Character: Helen Rucker
Released: September 21, 1957
Type: TV
The cases of master criminal defense attorney Perry Mason and his staff who handled the most difficult of cases in the aid of the innocent.
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Title: The 20th Century Fox Hour
Released: October 5, 1955
Type: TV
The 20th Century Fox Hour is an American drama anthology series televised in the United States on CBS from 1955 to 1957. Some of the shows in this series were restored, remastered and shown on the Fox Movie Channel in 2002 under the title Hour of Stars. The season one episode Overnight Haul, starring Richard Conte and Lizabeth Scott, was released in Australia as a feature film.
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Women's Prison
Title: Women's Prison
Character: Chief Matron Sturgess
Released: February 1, 1955
Type: Movie
A crusading psychiatrist battles a sadistic female warden to improve conditions at a women's prison.
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No Escape
Title: No Escape
Character: Olga Valerie Lewis
Released: July 31, 1953
Type: Movie
When the available evidence in a murder case points to a young woman as the main suspect, her boyfriend, a police detective, arranges for a struggling songwriter who is playing piano in a bar to be blamed for the crime. The girl, knowing that neither she nor the piano player committed the murder, helps him to escape from the police dragnet and try to find the real killer.
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Title: Cavalcade of America
Character: Major Pauline Cushman
Released: October 1, 1952
Type: TV
Cavalcade of America is an anthology drama series that was sponsored by the DuPont Company, although it occasionally presented a musical, such as an adaptation of Show Boat, and condensed biographies of popular composers. It was initially broadcast on radio from 1935 to 1953, and later on television from 1952 to 1957. Originally on CBS, the series pioneered the use of anthology drama for company audio advertising. Cavalcade of America documented historical events using stories of individual courage, initiative and achievement, often with feel-good dramatizations of the human spirit's triumph against all odds. This was consistent with DuPont's overall conservative philosophy and legacy as an American company dating back to 1802. The company's motto, "Maker of better things for better living through chemistry," was read at the beginning of each program, and the dramas emphasized humanitarian progress, particularly improvements in the lives of women, often through technological innovation.
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Title: Four Star Playhouse
Character: Fanny
Released: September 25, 1952
Type: TV
Four Star Playhouse is an American television anthology series that ran from 1952 to 1956, sponsored in its first bi-weekly season by The Singer Company; Bristol-Myers became an alternate sponsor when it became a weekly series in the fall of 1953. The original premise was that Charles Boyer, Ida Lupino, David Niven, and Dick Powell would take turns starring in episodes. However, several other performers took the lead from time to time, including Ronald Colman and Joan Fontaine. Blake Edwards was among the writers and directors who contributed to the series. Edwards created the recurring character of illegal gambling house operator Willie Dante for Dick Powell to play on this series. The character was later revamped and spun off in his own series starring Howard Duff, then-husband of Lupino. The pilot for Meet McGraw, starring Frank Lovejoy, aired here, as did another episode in which Lovejoy recreated his role of Chicago newspaper reporter Randy Stone, from the radio drama Nightbeat.
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Bugles in the Afternoon
Title: Bugles in the Afternoon
Character: May
Released: March 4, 1952
Type: Movie
Old enemies stationed together at an Army post vie for the same woman.
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Title: Hallmark Hall of Fame
Released: December 24, 1951
Type: TV
Hallmark Hall of Fame is an anthology program on American television, sponsored by Hallmark Cards, a Kansas City based greeting card company. The longest-running primetime series in the history of television, it has a historically long run, beginning during 1951 and continuing into 2013. From 1954 onward, all of its productions have been shown in color, although color television video productions were extremely rare in 1954. Many television movies have been shown on the program since its debut, though the program began with live telecasts of dramas and then changed to videotaped productions before finally changing to filmed ones. The series has received eighty Emmy Awards, twenty-four Christopher Awards, eleven Peabody Awards, nine Golden Globes, and four Humanitas Prizes. Once a common practice in American television, it is the last remaining television program such that the title includes the name of the sponsor. Unlike other long-running TV series still on the air, it differs in that it broadcasts only occasionally and not on a weekly broadcast programming schedule.
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Title: Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
Released: October 5, 1951
Type: TV
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars is an anthology series that was telecast from 1951 until 1959 on CBS. Offering both comedies and drama, the series was sponsored by the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company. The title was shortened to Schlitz Playhouse, beginning with the fall 1957 season.
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Title: Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
Character: The Duchess
Released: October 5, 1951
Type: TV
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars is an anthology series that was telecast from 1951 until 1959 on CBS. Offering both comedies and drama, the series was sponsored by the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company. The title was shortened to Schlitz Playhouse, beginning with the fall 1957 season.
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Darling, How Could You!
Title: Darling, How Could You!
Character: Mrs. Rossiter
Released: August 8, 1951
Type: Movie
Two absentee American parents get to know their three children again after spending five years in Panama.
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Caged
Title: Caged
Character: Georgia Harrison
Released: May 19, 1950
Type: Movie
A single mistake puts a 19-year old girl behind bars, where she experiences the terrors and torments of women in prison.
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Flamingo Road
Title: Flamingo Road
Character: Millie
Released: April 30, 1949
Type: Movie
A stranded carnival dancer takes on a corrupt political boss when she marries into small-town society.
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Club Havana
Title: Club Havana
Character: Hetty - Powder Room Attendant
Released: November 23, 1945
Type: Movie
A number of different characters unfolding love, hate, and death problems during an evening in a fashionable Latin nightclub.
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Allotment Wives
Title: Allotment Wives
Character: Gladys Smith
Released: November 8, 1945
Type: Movie
Unscrupulous women marry servicemen for their pay.
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Three's a Crowd
Title: Three's a Crowd
Character: Sophie Whipple
Released: May 23, 1945
Type: Movie
What would you do in this house of fear... if you knew that your husband killed your former flame?
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Faces in the Fog
Title: Faces in the Fog
Character: Nora Brooks
Released: November 30, 1944
Type: Movie
Tom and Cora Elliott love their active social life so much that they neglect their daughter Mary and son Les. Fred Mason, Tom's neighbor and the doctor at the defense plant employing Tom, worries about the effect that Tom and Cora's drinking and socializing have on the children....
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Women in Bondage
Title: Women in Bondage
Character: District Director Schneider
Released: December 16, 1943
Type: Movie
Women in Bondage is a 1943 World War II film about conditions for women under Hitler's regime. The plot involves two women imprisoned for speaking out against the government. It was directed by Steve Sekely and starred Gail Patrick and Nancy Kelly.
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Where Are Your Children?
Title: Where Are Your Children?
Character: Nell Wilson
Released: November 26, 1943
Type: Movie
Judy Wilson (Gale Storm), feeling neglected because both of her parents are working in defense plants, meets and falls in love with Danny Chester (Jackie Cooper), who enlists in the Navy and is sent to San Diego for training. She accepts an invitation to go on a ride to San Diego with her friends Herb (Neyle Morrow), Opal (Evelyn Eaton)and Jerry (Jimmy Zahner) but doesn't know the car has been stolen.
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Behind Prison Walls
Title: Behind Prison Walls
Character: Elinor Cantwell
Released: March 22, 1943
Type: Movie
A reworking of a familiar theme, the story finds scheming steel tycoon James J. MacGlennon (Tully Marshall) and his high-minded lawyer son Jonathan (Alan Baxter) simultaneously ending up behind bars. While incarcerated, Jonathan tries to mend his larcenous father's ways, thereby drawing closer to his not-so-bad dad.
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Prisoner of Japan
Title: Prisoner of Japan
Character: Toni Chase
Released: July 22, 1942
Type: Movie
An American astronomer living on a Pacific island attempts to thwart the Japanese during WWII.
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Slightly Tempted
Title: Slightly Tempted
Character: Duchess
Released: October 18, 1940
Type: Movie
A con man tries to sell phony stocks to unwary investors.
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I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby
Title: I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby
Character: Magda Delys
Released: May 1, 1940
Type: Movie
In I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby, Broderick Crawford plays a sentimental gangster who abducts songwriter Johnny Downs and forces him to write a love ballad. It is Crawford's hope that the song will reach out and touch his long-lost childhood sweetheart. I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby was based on James Edward Grant's short story Trouble in B Flat; echoes of the basic premise later resurfaced in the 1957 "A" picture The Girl Can't Help It.
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The Farmer's Daughter
Title: The Farmer's Daughter
Character: Clarice Sheldon
Released: March 29, 1940
Type: Movie
Broadway producer Nickie North and press agent Scoop Trimble find an investor for their next show who insists that they cast his ex-girlfriend, Clarice Sheldon, in the lead role and rehearse out of town. The crew set up on a family farm, and all is well until the leading man falls for the farmer's daughter, Patience Bingham. When flighty starlet Sheldon finds out he has a new girlfriend, she takes off, leaving North and Trimble to find a new leading lady.
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Parole Fixer
Title: Parole Fixer
Character: Collette Menthe
Released: February 2, 1940
Type: Movie
This expose of the U.S. parole system, as seen through the eyes of FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, takes dead aim on lawyers who manipulate the justice system in order to get undeserving convicts parole from prisons. The point is made when FBI agents are assigned to track down "Big Boy" Bradmore, who after getting an undeserved parole, via the efforts of a shyster lawyer, promptly murders an FBI agent.
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Pound Foolish
Title: Pound Foolish
Character: Mrs. Irene Reynolds
Released: January 27, 1940
Type: Movie
An expose of attempts by wealthy people to avoid payment of customs duties. Part of the MGM "Crime Does Not Pay" series.
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Just like a Woman
Title: Just like a Woman
Character: Ann Heston
Released: November 16, 1939
Type: Movie
A group of private detectives working for a jeweler pursue a gang of thieves in Argentina.
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Hidden Power
Title: Hidden Power
Character: Virginia Garfield
Released: September 7, 1939
Type: Movie
Dr. Garfield gets so involved in his research for an antitoxin for severe burns that he completely neglects his wife, Virginian, and their young son, Steve. Virginia divorces him and takes the son with her. Their paths cross again in a life-or-death situation.
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Star of the Circus
Title: Star of the Circus
Character: Yester
Released: January 1, 1938
Type: Movie
English-language version or remake of the German film, TRUXA (1937).
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Sophie Lang Goes West
Title: Sophie Lang Goes West
Character: Sophie Lang
Released: September 10, 1937
Type: Movie
Reformed jewel-thief Sophie Lang, tired of being questioned by the New York City police every time a jewel disappears, decides to head for California only to get into more trouble.
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Mr. Dodd Takes the Air
Title: Mr. Dodd Takes the Air
Character: Jessica Stafford
Released: August 11, 1937
Type: Movie
A country bumpkin becomes a singing sensation on the radio.
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Make Way for a Lady
Title: Make Way for a Lady
Character: Miss Eleanor Emerson
Released: November 13, 1936
Type: Movie
An imaginative teenager decides to play matchmaker for her widowed father. Director David Burton's 1936 comedy stars Herbert Marshall, Anne Shirley, Gertrude Michael, Margot Grahame, Clara Blandick, Frank Coghlan Jr., Willie Best and Maxine Jennings.
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Second Wife
Title: Second Wife
Character: Virginia Howard
Released: August 21, 1936
Type: Movie
Kenneth discovers that his son by his first wife is ill in a remote Swiss village, and is forced to leave Wife Number Two alone during childbirth.
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The Return of Sophie Lang
Title: The Return of Sophie Lang
Character: Sophie Lang
Released: June 18, 1936
Type: Movie
In order to give up her life of crime and go straight, renowned jewel thief Sophie Lang fakes her own death and retires to London. She soon finds a job as a companion to a wealthy old lady who is also a jewel collector. One day her employer decides to take an ocean trip to the US, taking Sophie with her. She also takes along a $200,000 diamond, which she locks up in the ship's safe. Of course, the diamond is soon stolen from the safe. A reporter also happens to be aboard the ship, and he has had his suspicions about who Sophie really is. Sophie has to find the real thief and recover the jewel before the ship docks in New York, because an investigation could reveal her true identity.
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Till We Meet Again
Title: Till We Meet Again
Character: Elsa Duranyi
Released: April 4, 1936
Type: Movie
In London, August 1914, Austrian star Elsa Duranyi (Gertrude Michael) and English matinee idol Alan Barclay (Herbert Marshall) are in love and plan an immediate marriage. But the War comes and Elsa mysteriously disappears. Alan's ease in speaking German results in his appointment to the British Intelligence and, to aid his use as a spy, they announce he was killed in action. He takes the name and personality of "shell-shocked" Hans Teller, a German prisoner, and is sent into Germany on an exchange of prisoners.
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Woman Trap
Title: Woman Trap
Character: Barbara 'Buff' Andrews
Released: March 6, 1936
Type: Movie
A gangland murder is the motivating factor of this fast-moving crime drama. George Murphy stars as reporter Kent Shevlin, whose investigation of the murder leads to a tenure as a temporary FBI agent.
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The Last Outpost
Title: The Last Outpost
Character: Rosemary Haydon
Released: October 11, 1935
Type: Movie
During WW1, the destinies of British officers Michael Andrews and John Stevenson seem intertwined on the battle front as much as on a more personal level.
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Four Hours to Kill!
Title: Four Hours to Kill!
Character: Mrs. Sylvia Temple
Released: April 11, 1935
Type: Movie
A detective who has "four hours to kill" before delivering his prisoner, an escaped killer, spends the time in the lobby of a Broadway theater where a musical is playing. The film focuses on the relationship between the two men, and also between various characters in the theater audience, staff and cast.
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It Happened in New York
Title: It Happened in New York
Character: Vania Nardi
Released: March 29, 1935
Type: Movie
A New York City cab driver in need of $200 picks up a movie star in his cab, and schemes to get the money from her.
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Father Brown, Detective
Title: Father Brown, Detective
Character: Evelyn Fischer
Released: December 14, 1934
Type: Movie
After notorious jewel thief Flambeau meets Evelyn Fischer during a raid on a casino, he falls deeply in love with her. Later Flambeau sends notes to both Leopold Fischer, who unknown to him is Evelyn's uncle, and Father Brown, in which he vows he will steal from them the ten diamonds that comprise the "Flying Star." Flambeau intends to give these diamonds to Evelyn. Father Brown, whose gold cross contains some of the Flying Star diamonds, is determined to meet Flambeau before he is arrested, to reform and redeem his soul.
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Menace
Title: Menace
Character: Helen Chalmers
Released: November 22, 1934
Type: Movie
A psychotic man stalks three innocent people whom he believes are responsible for his brother's death.
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Cleopatra
Title: Cleopatra
Character: Calpurnia
Released: October 5, 1934
Type: Movie
The queen of Egypt barges the Nile and flirts with Mark Antony and Julius Caesar.
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The Notorious Sophie Lang
Title: The Notorious Sophie Lang
Character: Sophie Lang
Released: July 20, 1934
Type: Movie
After an extended stay in England, Sophie Lang returns to America. She is beautiful, sophisticated--and a notorious jewel thief. A New York police detective who's been trying to nail her finally comes up with what seems a foolproof scheme--to catch her off guard by having her fall for a handsome and suave jewel thief who happens to be in the U.S. traveling under an assumed name.
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Murder on the Blackboard
Title: Murder on the Blackboard
Character: Jane Davis
Released: June 15, 1934
Type: Movie
There are plenty of guilty secrets at the school where Hildegarde Withers teaches. When she finds the body of the pretty music teacher, she calls in her old friend Inspector Piper, who promptly arrests the obvious suspect. Clues multiply and everyone looks suspicious as Piper and Miss Withers continue their battle of the sexes.
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Murder at the Vanities
Title: Murder at the Vanities
Character: Rita Ross
Released: May 18, 1934
Type: Movie
Shortly before the curtain goes up the first time at the latest performance of Earl Carroll's Vanities, someone is attempting to injure the leading lady Ann Ware, who wants to marry leading man Eric Lander. Stage manager Jack Ellery calls in his friend, policeman Bill Murdock, to help him investigate. Bill thinks Jack is offering to let him see the show from an unusual viewpoint after he forgot to get him tickets for the performance, but then they find the corpse of a murdered woman and Bill immediately suspects Eric of the crime.
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The Witching Hour
Title: The Witching Hour
Character: Margaret Price
Released: April 26, 1934
Type: Movie
Jack Brookfield, a gambler with clairvoyant and hypnotic powers, is able to win at cards through his unique gift. But when he inadvertently hypnotizes young Clay Thorne, Thorne kills an enemy of Brookfield's while under a trance. No one believes Brookfield's protestations that Thorne is innocent of any murderous intent, so Brookfield teams up with retired lawyer Martin Prentice in hopes of saving the young man from the gallows.
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I Believed in You
Title: I Believed in You
Character: Pamela Banks
Released: April 9, 1934
Type: Movie
an aspiring writer and her boyfriend, a professional agitator head off to the Big Apple in search of good fortune. Unfortunately, the agitator soon finds himself in trouble with the cops. Meanwhile the writer attempts to become a Greenwich Village Bohemian type. She and her new friends are all starving for their art until a kindly gent offers them financial assistant. They refuse on principle. Tragedy pays a call when the writer learns that her boyfriend has been untrue.
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Hold That Girl
Title: Hold That Girl
Character: Dorothy Lamont
Released: March 23, 1934
Type: Movie
"That girl" is newspaper sob-sister Tony Bellamy (Claire Trevor), whose nose for news gets her into one jam after another, especially when she poses as an exotic dancer to get the goods on a gangster.
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George White's Scandals
Title: George White's Scandals
Character: Miss Lee
Released: March 15, 1934
Type: Movie
Reporter Miss Lee is looking for a story and approaches George White as he's assembling the latest edition of his famous revue. As it turns out, she has lots of backstage gossip to choose from
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Bolero
Title: Bolero
Character: Lady D'Argon
Released: February 23, 1934
Type: Movie
The complicated relationship between an ambitious, ruthless nightclub dancer and the woman he loves.
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Search for Beauty
Title: Search for Beauty
Character: Jean Strange
Released: February 2, 1934
Type: Movie
Three con artists dupe two Olympians into serving as editors of a new health and beauty magazine which is only a front for salacious stories and pictures.
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Cradle Song
Title: Cradle Song
Character: Marcella
Released: November 19, 1933
Type: Movie
In a deeply cloistered convent, nun Dorothea Wieck (Mädchen in Uniform) raises a foundling to be Evelyn Venable. But at 17, what if, guided by a kindly doctor, she sees the world and finds love?
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I'm No Angel
Title: I'm No Angel
Character: Alicia Hatton
Released: October 6, 1933
Type: Movie
The bold Tira works as dancing beauty and lion tamer at a fair. Out of an urgent need of money, she agrees to a risky new number: she'll put her head into the lion's mouth! With this attraction, the circus makes it to New York and Tira can pursue her dearest occupation— flirting with rich men and accepting expensive presents.
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Ann Vickers
Title: Ann Vickers
Character: Mona Dolphin
Released: September 26, 1933
Type: Movie
After a love affair ending in an abortion, a young prison reformer submerges herself in her work. She then falls for a controversial and married judge and scandal looms again.
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Night of Terror
Title: Night of Terror
Character: Sarah Rinehart
Released: April 23, 1933
Type: Movie
The heirs to a family fortune are required to attend a seance at the spooky old family mansion. However, throughout the night members of the family are being killed off one by one.
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A Bedtime Story
Title: A Bedtime Story
Character: Louise
Released: April 22, 1933
Type: Movie
Parisian playboy plays father to an abandoned baby who interferes with his womanising.
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Sailor Be Good
Title: Sailor Be Good
Character: Kay Whitney
Released: March 7, 1933
Type: Movie
A Navy boxer (Jack Oakie) meets a dance-hall hostess (Vivienne Osborne) who tries to sober him up for a fight.
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Unashamed
Title: Unashamed
Character: Marjorie
Released: July 2, 1932
Type: Movie
A debutante's (Helen Twelvetrees) brother (Robert Young) stands trial for killing her no-good lover.
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Wayward
Title: Wayward
Character: Mary Morton
Released: February 19, 1932
Type: Movie
Story of a mother's antagonism to her son's wife. Based on the novel "Wild Beauty" by Mateel Howe Farnham.