Gertrude Selby was an American actress who was active in Hollywood in the silent era. She appeared in dozens of films between 1914 and 1920, mostly short comedies.
Gertrude Selby | |
---|---|
Born | Gertrude Olga Selby November 7, 1894 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
Died | June 22, 1975 (aged 80) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
Occupation | Actress |
Spouse | Townsend Netcher (div.) |
Early life and education
editGertrude was born in Philadelphia to William Selby and Olga Hansen, and she was educated in New York City.[1]
Career
editShe began her career as a vaudevillian before breaking into the nascent motion picture industry around 1914, working frequently on L-KO comedies.[2][1][3]
In 1919, at age 24, she married wealthy Chicago socialite Townsend Netcher in Beverly Hills, California after a three-week courtship, against the wishes of Necher's family.[4] The couple divorced in the late 1920s, with Selby filing on the grounds of cruelty.[5][6][7] Netcher later married actress Constance Talmadge.
Selby appears to have retired from acting around the time she married Netcher, and spent several years post-divorce living in Spain with her mother and sister.[8] The three were evacuated from their apartment in Barcelona at the start of the Spanish Civil War.[9]
Selby then spent time in a penthouse in Paris before returning to the United States in the early 1940s at the outbreak of World War II.[10][11] She does not appear to have ever remarried.
Select filmography
edit- Easy to Make Money (1919)
- Kidder & Ko (1918)
- Twenty-One (1918)
- The Double Room Mystery (1917)
- A Child of Mystery (1916)
- The Sign of the Poppy (1916)
References
edit- ^ a b "The Photoplay Age". The Daily Gazette. 14 Apr 1916. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
- ^ "Hitch in Hitch". Chicago Tribune. 6 Sep 1919. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
- ^ "LKO Has Famous Group of Girls". Statesman Journal. 4 Dec 1915. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
- ^ Lathrop, Monroe (17 Sep 1919). "To Put the Bible in Films". The Kansas City Star. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
- ^ "Former Actress Sues". The Birmingham News. 29 Nov 1928. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
- ^ "Help Each Other to Divorces". Chicago Tribune. 26 Jan 1929. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
- ^ "Mrs. Netcher Gets Divorce for Cruelty". Lincoln Journal Star. 25 Dec 1928. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
- ^ McIntyre, O.O. (12 Jun 1933). "New York Day by Day". Journal and Courier. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
- ^ "Spanish Civil War Horrors Related by Los Angeles Girl". The Los Angeles Times. 25 Oct 1936. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
- ^ Leimert, Lucille (30 Aug 1939). "Chatterbox". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
- ^ "Visitor". The Los Angeles Times. 18 Mar 1942. Retrieved 2021-12-29.