Gwili Andre

Infobox actor
name = Gwili Andre


imagesize = 100px
caption =
birthname = Gurli Andresen
birthdate = birth date|1908|2|4
location = Copengahen, Denmark
deathdate = Death date and age|1959|2|5|1908|2|4
deathplace = Venice, California, California, U.S.

Gwili Andre (February 4, 1908 – February 5, 1959) was a Danish actress who had a brief career in Hollywood films.

Film career

Born Gurli Andresen in Copenhagen, Denmark, Andre came to Hollywood in the early 1930s with the intention of establishing herself as a film star. She appeared in the RKO Studio films, "Roar of the Dragon" and "Secrets of the French Police" (both 1932) and began to attract attention for her striking good looks. These films provided her with starring roles playing against such established actors as Richard Dix, ZaSu Pitts and Frank Morgan, and RKO began promoting her for her glamour. A widespread publicity campaign ensured that her name and face became well known to the American public, but her next role in "No Other Woman" (1933 opposite Irene Dunne), was not the success the studio expected. Over the next few years she was relegated to supporting roles which included the Joan Crawford picture "A Woman's Face" (1941).Her final role was a minor part in one of the popular The Falcon series, "The Falcon's Brother" in 1942.

She did not return to the screen, although she spent the rest of her life trying to orchestrate a comeback. As she faced further rejection, she found solace in alcohol.

Death

On February 5, 1959, on the day after her 51st birthday, she committed suicide by self-immolation. Alone in her apartment in Venice, California, Andre surrounded herself with reams of publicity photographs and press clippings, all of which represented the career she had expected but had not achieved. Setting the paper alight, she allowed herself to be consumed by the fire, sustaining injuries which caused her death. Like Peg Entwistle and Sidney Fox, who also committed suicide when their first periods of success were followed by failure and disappointment, Andre is chiefly recalled as a cautionary example of the indifference of the Hollywood system and the anguish of a person emotionally unable to cope with initial success and promise followed by immediate and irreversible failure.

Filmography

* "Roar of the Dragon" (1932)
* "Secrets of the French Police" (1932)
* "No Other Woman" (1933)
* "Meet the Boyfriend" (1937)
* "The Girl Said No" (1937)
* "A Woman's Face" (1941)
* "The Falcon's Brother" (1942)

External links

* [http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/filmography.html?p_id=1656 New York Times page]
*imdb|name=Gwili Andre|id=0028145

Persondata
NAME= Andre, Gwili
ALTERNATIVE NAMES= Andresen, Gurli
SHORT DESCRIPTION= Actress
DATE OF BIRTH= February 4, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH= Copengahen, Denmark
DATE OF DEATH= February 5, 1959
PLACE OF DEATH= Venice, California, California, U.S.