Lillian Albertson

Lillian Albertson (August 6, 1881 – August 24, 1962) was an American actress, theatrical producer, and drama coach whose career spanned stage, screen, and instruction across several decades. Born in Indiana, she relocated to Los Angeles, California during childhood. At nineteen she resolved to pursue acting as a profession.

Albertson made her acting debut in 1902 at the Grand Opera House in San Francisco, working within that theater's stock company. She subsequently traveled east to perform with a stock company led by Ralph Stuart, a move that positioned her for a Broadway career beginning in 1907.

Her Broadway appearances spanned 1907 to 1922 and encompassed a range of productions. Her earliest credited New York appearance was The Silver Girl in 1907, followed by Paid in Full in 1908. She continued with The Talker in 1912, then The Devil's Garden and Moloch, both in 1915. Her final two Broadway credits were The Six-Fifty in 1921 and Malvaloca in 1922.

After roughly two decades as a performer, Albertson departed New York and returned to California to work as a producer. She acquired rights to plays that had achieved popularity in the eastern United States and staged them for western audiences. Among her producing successes were Hit the Deck, Lady Be Good, No, No, Nanette, and The Desert Song. The economic pressures of the Great Depression brought that productive run to a close.

Albertson and her second husband, theatrical producer Louis Macloon, whom she married in 1922, were credited with discovering Clark Gable, who later became a prominent film star. The couple divorced in 1933 after eleven years of marriage and had no children together. Her first marriage, to Abraham Levy on August 22, 1908, had produced a son.

During the 1940s, Albertson worked as a drama coach for both Paramount and RKO Pictures, where she also evaluated prospective actors to determine their suitability for screen tests. She authored a book on the subject titled Motion Picture Acting. Albertson died on August 24, 1962, at her home in Los Angeles at the age of 81.