Gwili Andre
{{Short description|Danish model and actress (1907–1959)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Gwili Andre
| image = Gwili Andre Argentinean Magazine AD.jpg
| image_size =
| caption = Andre in 1932
| birth_name = Gurli Ingeborg Elna Andresen
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1907|02|04|df=yes}}
| birth_place = Copenhagen, Denmark
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1959|02|05|1907|02|04|df=yes}}
| death_place = Venice, California, U.S.
| other_names = Gwili Mlotkowski
Gwili A. Cross
| occupation = Model, actress
| years_active = 1932–1942
| spouse = {{plainlist|
- {{marriage|Stanisŀaw Mlotkowski|1929|1935|reason=divorced}}
- {{marriage|William Dallas Cross, Jr.|1940|1948|reason=divorced}}
}}
| children = 1
}}
Gwili Andre (born Gurli Ingeborg Elna Andresen; 4 February 1907 – 5 February 1959) was a Danish model and actress who had a brief career in Hollywood films.{{cite journal|last1=Wagner|first1=Laura|title=Gwili Andre: An Ideal Model|journal=Films of the Golden Age|date=Summer 2014|issue=77|pages=63–64}}
Early years
Born in Frederiksberg, Andre had two sisters. Her parents were Carl Axel Andresen and Emma Marie Ellen Sørensen Bruun, married in 1904. Her parents divorced, and her father remarried in 1917.
Career
Andre came to Hollywood in the early 1930s with the intention of establishing herself as a film star after working as a model in Europe. In 1930, she moved to New York City with her first husband where she was reportedly spotted by David O. Selznick at the premiere of a Broadway show. Selznick was taken by her beauty, and he arranged for a screen test.{{cite book|last=Wollstein|first=Hans J.|title=Strangers in Hollywood: The History of Scandinavian Actors in American Films From 1910 To World War II|year=1994|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=0-810-82938-X|pages=18–20}}
She was signed to RKO Studio, and in 1932 appeared in Roar of the Dragon{{cite book |last1=Richards |first1=Jeffrey |title=China and the Chinese in Popular Film: From Fu Manchu to Charlie Chan |date=2016 |publisher=I.B.Tauris |isbn=9781786720641 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OgPCDQAAQBAJ&q=%22Gwili+Andre%22&pg=PT142 |accessdate=18 April 2019 |language=en}} and Secrets of the French Police.{{cite book |last1=Pitts |first1=Michael R. |title=RKO Radio Pictures Horror, Science Fiction and Fantasy Films, 1929-1956 |date=2015 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=9780786460472 |page=267 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=op6vBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA267 |accessdate=18 April 2019 |language=en}} While her striking looks were likened to that of Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich,{{r|rko|page1=268}} her acting garnered poor reviews. One newspaper columnist called her a "stiff, colorless and completely talentless performer." Despite the poor reviews of her acting, RKO began using her glamorous looks to promote her career.{{cite web|url=http://www.glamourgirlsofthesilverscreen.com/show/564/Gwili+Andre/index.html|title=The Private Life and Times of Gwili Andre|publisher=glamourgirlsofthesilverscreen.com|accessdate=1 June 2010}} 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 a role in the Joan Crawford picture A Woman's Face (1941).{{Cite news|last=T.s|date=1941-05-16|title=At the Capitol|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1941/05/16/archives/at-the-capitol.html|access-date=2020-06-09|issn=0362-4331}}
Personal life
Andre was married twice. She was married to realtor Stanisław Mlotkowski in 1929. They separated in 1930 and divorced in 1935.{{cite news|title=Reno Divorce Lists for '35 Show Gains Over Year Ago|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4040706/oakland_tribune/|work=Oakland Tribune|date=23 April 1935|location=California, Oakland|page=18|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = 14 January 2016}} {{Open access}} Andre then married engineer William Dallas Cross Jr. in 1943. They had a son, Peter Lance Cross, in February 1944. They divorced in 1948.
Later years and death
By the early 1940s, Andre's film career had come to a standstill. Her final role was a minor part in The Falcon's Brother, one of the popular Falcon series, in 1942. She did not return to the screen, but she spent the rest of her life trying to orchestrate a comeback. Andre returned to her native Denmark with her son after her divorce from William Cross Jr. but returned to New York City in 1954. She eventually moved back to California.
On 5 February 1959, Andre died in a fire that started in her apartment in Venice, California{{cite news|title=Once a Top Model|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4040729/the_kansas_city_times/|work=The Kansas City Times|date=7 February 1959|location=Missouri, Kansas City|page=20|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = 14 January 2016}} {{Open access}} where she lived alone. The cause of the fire never was determined. Upon her death, she was cremated at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California,{{Cite news|date=1959-02-09|title=Obituary for Gwili A. Cross|pages=84|work=Los Angeles Times|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/43191501/obituary-for-gwili-a-cross/|access-date=2020-06-09}} and her ashes sent for burial at Søndermark Cemetery in Copenhagen, Denmark.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FOHgDAAAQBAJ&q=Gwili+Andre+burial+site&pg=PA22|title=Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed.|first=Scott|last=Wilson|date=19 August 2016|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9781476625997|via=Google Books}}
Filmography
| class="wikitable sortable" |
| Year
! Title ! Role ! Director |
|---|
| rowspan=2| 1932
| Natascha |
| Secrets of the French Police
| Eugenie Dorain |
| 1933
| Margot Van Deering |
| rowspan=2| 1937
| Vilma Vlare |
| The Girl Said No
| Gretchen Holman |
| 1941
| Gusta |
| 1942
| Diane Medford |
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{commons category|Gwili Andre}}
- {{IMDb name|0028145}}
- [http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art32008.asp Gwili Andre Article at Bellaonline.com]
- {{Tcmdb name}}
- [http://ao.salldata.dk/vis1.php?bsid=149693&side=249 County of Copenhagen, Sokkelund, Frederiksberg, 1904-1909 birth record] Gwili # 33, bottom of the page.
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Andre, Gwili}}
Category:20th-century Danish actresses
Category:Accidental deaths in California
Category:Danish emigrants to the United States
Category:Danish expatriates in the United States
Category:Danish film actresses