Gladys George was a talented and versatile actress who appeared in many films and stage plays in the 1930s and 1940s. She was nominated for an Academy Award for her leading role in Valiant Is the Word for Carrie (1936), and also starred in such classics as The Maltese Falcon (1941), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), and Flamingo Road (1949). However, behind her glamorous image, she had a troubled personal life and a deteriorating health that led to her premature death at the age of 50. What was the cause of death of Gladys George, and what were the factors that contributed to it?
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A Life of Drama and Romance
Gladys George was born Gladys Clare Evans on September 13, 1904, in Patten, Maine, to British parents who were touring actors. She made her stage debut at the age of three, and soon joined her parents in a vaudeville act called The Three Clares. She later moved to Broadway, where she debuted in 1918 opposite Isadora Duncan in The Betrothal. She also worked with the famous actress Pauline Frederick, who became her mentor and friend.
George began her film career in the silent era, appearing in several films between 1919 and 1921. However, she suffered a severe burn in an accident that delayed her film career. She returned to the stage and married her first husband, actor Ben Erway, in 1922. They divorced in 1930, after which George married her second husband, millionaire paper manufacturer Edward Fowler, in 1933.
Fowler helped George advance her career, but their marriage was short-lived. In 1935, Fowler found George in the arms of her leading man, Leonard Penn, who was playing her lover in the Broadway hit Personal Appearance. George and Penn eloped and married later that year, but they also divorced in 1944. George married her fourth and final husband, Kenneth Bradley, a hotel bellboy 20 years her junior, in 1946. They divorced in 1951.
George’s romantic escapades and partying lifestyle made her a favorite subject of the gossip columns, but also took a toll on her health and reputation. She was known to drink heavily and smoke excessively, which affected her voice and appearance. She also had a reputation for being difficult and temperamental, which limited her opportunities in Hollywood.
A Career of Success and Struggle
Despite her personal problems, George had a successful and diverse career in film and theater. She made her sound film debut in Straight Is the Way (1934), and achieved her greatest acclaim in Valiant Is the Word for Carrie (1936), in which she played a self-sacrificing mother who raises two orphaned children. She received an Oscar nomination for her performance, but lost to Luise Rainer for The Great Ziegfeld.
George continued to work steadily in films, often playing supporting roles as strong-willed, worldly-wise, or maternal women. She was memorable as Madame du Barry in Marie Antoinette (1938), as James Cagney’s moll in The Roaring Twenties (1939), as Humphrey Bogart’s ex-wife in The Maltese Falcon (1941), as Dana Andrews’ mother in The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), and as Joan Crawford’s rival in Flamingo Road (1949).
George also returned to the stage, appearing in several Broadway plays, such as The Distant City (1937), Lady in Waiting (1938), and The Betrothal (1948). She also toured the country with various productions, such as The Glass Menagerie (1950) and The Moon Is Blue (1951).
However, as George aged, her roles became less prominent and less frequent. She also faced competition from younger and more glamorous actresses, such as Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, and Barbara Stanwyck, who played similar types of characters. George’s last film was The Man Who Played God (1952), in which she had a minor role as a nurse. Her last stage appearance was in The Matchmaker (1954), in which she played the lead role of Dolly Levi, but had to leave the show due to illness.
A Death of Tragedy and Mystery
Gladys George died on December 8, 1954, in Los Angeles, California, from a cerebral hemorrhage, or a stroke. She was only 50 years old, and had no children or surviving relatives. She was buried in the Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery in Burbank, California.
However, there was some speculation that George’s death was not natural, but a result of suicide. According to IMDb, there was suspicion that she had taken an overdose of sleeping pills to end her life. This theory was based on the fact that George was suffering from several ailments, including throat cancer, heart disease, and cirrhosis of the liver, and that she was depressed and lonely after her failed marriages and declining career.
However, there is no conclusive evidence to support this claim, and it remains a mystery. What is certain is that Gladys George was a talented and versatile actress who left behind a legacy of memorable performances in film and theater. She was also a complex and fascinating woman who lived a life of drama and romance, but also of struggle and tragedy. She was, in the words of one of her biographers, “a star who burned brightly, but briefly”. [according to IMDb]
