Gertrude Michael was born in Talledega, Alabama on June 1, 1911. After graduating from high school, she appeared on radio, as a musician and “Home Arts” advisor. She attended the University of Alabama and Converse College, Spartenburg,SC and the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. It was in Cincinnati, in 1929, that she made her stage debut in a stock company headed by Stuart Walker. She subsequently appeared on Broadway in Rachel Crothers’ “Caught Wet” (1931). She entered the movies playing Richard Arlen’s fiancée in Wayward (1932). Arguably her best remembered role is the jealous “Rita Ross” of Murder at the Vanities (1934). She died in Hollywood on December 31, 1964.