Natalie Moorhead

Natalie Moorhead, born Nathalian Moorhead on July 27, 1901, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was an American stage and film actress recognized for her distinctive short platinum blond hair. She was the second daughter of Anna Catherine (née Messner) and James Vincent Moorhead, a steelworker who died when Moorhead was approximately thirteen years old. From her father she developed an appreciation for theater and opera during her adolescence. A self-described tomboy, she was likely nicknamed Natalie by the neighborhood boys she spent time with as a child.

Moorhead graduated from Peabody High School in Pittsburgh and enrolled in a business school to study shorthand and typewriting, intending to pursue secretarial government work during World War I. While on a trip to New York City with friends to attend a football game, she was scouted by a theater executive during a shopping excursion on Fifth Avenue, an encounter that redirected her toward a stage career. She began her Broadway work at the Fulton Theatre, playing a bridesmaid in the 1922 production of Abie's Irish Rose, which ran until October 1, 1927, at the Theatre Republic, breaking viewership records during its run.

In 1927, Moorhead appeared in two additional Broadway productions. She played alongside Sydney Greenstreet in A Lady in Love at the Lyceum Theatre, and she appeared with a young Spencer Tracy in George M. Cohan's farce Baby Cyclone at Henry Miller's Theatre. Baby Cyclone drew the attention of Hollywood casting, leading to Moorhead's film debut in the 1929 courtroom drama Thru Different Eyes, which also marked the screen debut of actress Sylvia Sidney.

Throughout a twelve-year Hollywood career, Moorhead averaged six films per year and was frequently typecast in exotic roles, often as a vamp or the other woman. Her film work peaked in the 1930s with appearances in The Benson Murder Case (1930), Shadow of the Law (1930), Parlor, Bedroom and Bath (1931), and The Thin Man (1934). She appeared in two films nominated for Best Picture: The Thin Man (1934) and All This, and Heaven Too (1940).

In her personal life, Moorhead married director Alan Crosland on December 21, 1930, in Yosemite National Park, and filed for divorce on July 2, 1935. On March 28, 1942, in Maricopa, Arizona, she married Robert J. Dunham, president of the Chicago Park District, who died in 1948. On July 27, 1957, in Beverly Hills, she married actor and former soccer player Juan Garchitorena, who performed under the stage name Juan Torena; they remained married until his death in 1983. Moorhead retired from acting in the early 1940s following her marriage to Dunham. She died on October 6, 1992, in Montecito, California, at the age of 91.