Myrtle Tannehill

Myrtle Tannehill Nichols (May 18, 1886 – July 25, 1977) was an American actress who worked in stage, silent film, and television across a career spanning four decades. Born into a multigenerational theatrical family, she was the daughter of actor and playwright Frank Tannehill Jr. and actress Maude Giroux. Her paternal grandparents, Frank Tannehill Sr. and Susan (Nellie) McMurray Tannehill, were likewise figures in the theatre. Her half-sister, Frances Tannehill Clark, who was considerably younger, also pursued an acting career.

Tannehill's Broadway appearances, which ran from 1905 to 1945, were concentrated largely in comedies. Her stage career began with Just out of College in 1905, followed by Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch in 1906. She continued working steadily on Broadway through productions including Electricity (1910), Broadway Jones (1912–1913), Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford (1917), Dear Brutus (1918–1919), The Bonehead (1920), The Broken Wing (1920–1921), and The Dream Maker (1921–1922). After a gap of more than a decade, she returned to Broadway in Dodsworth (1934), then appeared in The Philadelphia Story (1939–1940) and Pygmalion (1945–1946). In 1925 she was cast in Appearances, a play written by Garland Anderson.

Beyond Broadway, Tannehill performed in London, where she appeared in Sealed Orders in 1913 and The Show Off in 1924. In 1916, she and her then-husband, actor Hale Hamilton, toured Australia with their own stock company. She also appeared in three silent films: Ethel's Luncheon (1909), When the Mind Sleeps (1915), and The Barnstormers (1915). Late in her career she made two television appearances, in "Murder by Choice" for Colgate Theatre in 1949 and in "Follow Me" for Lights Out in 1951.

Tannehill married Hamilton in 1912, approximately one month after he divorced actress Jane Oaker. The two divorced in 1920, after which Hamilton married actress Grace La Rue, his third wife. Tannehill subsequently sued La Rue for alienation of affections. In 1925, Tannehill married stockbroker Charles G. Nichols. She stepped away from the stage following that marriage but resumed her acting career after the stock market crash of 1929. Myrtle Tannehill Nichols died in 1977 at the age of 91.