Genevieve Townsend

{{Short description|American actress (1897–1927)}}

{{Infobox person

|image =

|imagesize =

| name = Genevieve Townsend

| birth_date = December 4, 1897

| birth_place = Freeport, Illinois
United States

| death_date = {{death date and age|1927|5|1|1897|12|4}}

| death_place = Switzerland

| othername = Genevieve Schmich, Genevieve Smeek

| occupation = Film actor
stage actor

| yearsactive = 1925 - 1927

}}

Genevieve Schmich (December 4, 1897 – May 1, 1927), known professionally as Genevieve Smeek and Genevieve Townsend, was an American stage and film actress.[https://web.archive.org/web/20090122073121/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/individual/15366 BFI.org] She was born in Freeport, Illinois and attended Mount Holyoke College, where she majored in English and English Literature. [https://compass.fivecolleges.edu/islandora/object/mtholyoke:47844 Llamarada, 1920] After graduating in 1920, she moved to Britain, where she joined Frank Benson's theatre company. During the mid-1920s she had several lead roles in British silent films. She died in Switzerland, of tuberculosis, at the age of 29 in 1927. [https://www.ancestry.com/sharing/18381623?mark=7b22746f6b656e223a2273455162684c7a7a4575676b66694b484c2f2f7763504c344c5a4f35755a50784e53562b744478632b30773d222c22746f6b656e5f76657273696f6e223a225632227d Ancestry.com, "Reports of Deaths of American Citizens Abroad, 1835-1974"]

In 1928, Mount Holyoke College established the Genevieve Schmich Award in her honor.[https://aspace.fivecolleges.edu/repositories/2/resources/481 Mount Holyoke and Hampshire College Archives, Genevieve Schmich Award records]