Gertrude Michael

Lillian Gertrude Michael, born June 1, 1911, in Talladega, Alabama, was an American actress who worked across stage, film, and television until her death on December 31, 1964. The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Carl H. Michael, she completed her secondary education at Talladega High School at the age of fourteen. From an early age she demonstrated musical aptitude, playing piano and organ and helping to establish Little Theatres in two communities. She also worked as a radio singer during her youth.

Michael pursued formal training at multiple institutions, studying law at the University of Alabama and music at Converse College in Spartanburg, South Carolina. She continued her musical education at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, where her performance earned her a scholarship for five years of study in Italy. Her professional stage career began in Cincinnati in 1929 with the Stuart Walker stock theater company.

Her Broadway career ran from 1931 to 1932 and included two productions: Caught Wet, written by Rachel Crothers, and The Round Up. She returned to the stage in 1937 at the Cape Play House in Dennis, Massachusetts, taking the lead role in Damn Deborah.

Michael transitioned to film in 1932, making her screen debut playing Richard Arlen's fiancée in Wayward. She appeared as the society character Alicia Hatton in the Mae West comedy I'm No Angel in 1933, and the following year played Rita Ross in Murder at the Vanities, one of the final pre-Code Hollywood productions, in which she performed a song titled "Sweet Marijuana."

Her television work was extensive. She appeared on Fireside Theater eleven times between 1950 and 1955, and made three appearances on Schlitz Playhouse. Additional credits include single episodes of Crown Theatre with Gloria Swanson, Cavalcade of America, Meet Corliss Archer, The Pepsi-Cola Playhouse, Private Secretary, The Ford Television Theatre, Four Star Playhouse, Cameo Theatre, The New Adventures of Charlie Chan, The 20th Century-Fox Hour, and Sea Hunt. In 1958 she guest-starred on Perry Mason, portraying Helen Rucker in the episode "The Case of the Sun Bather's Diary."

In her personal life, Michael had a relationship with writer Paul Cain, who also published under the name Peter Ruric. After the relationship ended, Cain drew on Michael as the basis for an alcoholic character in his novel Fast One. Michael died at her Hollywood home on December 31, 1964, at the age of fifty-three.