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Famous Like Me > Actress > G > Gilda Gray

Profile of Gilda Gray on Famous Like Me

 
Name: Gilda Gray  
   
Also Know As:
   
Date of Birth: 24th October 1901
   
Place of Birth: Krakau (Kraków), Poland, Austria-Hungary [now Kraków, Poland]
   
Profession: Actress
 
 
From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia
 Gilda Gray

Gilda Gray (October 24, 1901 - December 22, 1959) was a Polish-American actress and dancer who became famous in the US for popularizing a dance called the "shimmy" which became fashionable in 1920s films and theater productions.

Gilda Gray was born Marianna Winchalaska (or Michalski) in Cracow, Poland on 24 October 1901. Her parents immigrated to the United States in 1909 and settled in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. When Marianna was fourteen or fifteen, a marriage was arranged for her with a saloonkeeper's son, John Gorecki. To increase their income, Marianna began singing in saloons owned by her father-in-law. Although the shimmy is said to have been introduced to white audiences by Gray in New York, other sources say that her shimmy was born one night when she was singing the Star Spangled Banner and forgot some of the lyrics. She covered up her embarrassment by shaking her shoulders and hips. Although the shimmy was already a well-known dance, Marianna appropriated it as her own when she was asked about her dancing style, she replied in a heavy Polish accent; "I'm shaking my chemise," which sounded to the English-speaking audience like shimmy.

Her desire for to continue her burgeoning career and the faltering relationship with her husband prompted Gray to move to Chicago where she was noticed by a talent Frank Westphal who took her to New York and introduced her to his wife, singer Sophie Tucker. It was Tucker who prompted her to change her name to Gilda Gray. By 1919, she was appearing in a J. J. Shubert show, The Gaieties of 1919. By 1920, Gilda had found a new manager, Gallaird T. 'Gil' Boag. After being seen by Florenz Ziegfeld, she appeared in the 1922 Ziegfeld Follies where she was enormously popular with the public.

After her divorce from her first husband, in 1923 she married her new manager, Gil Boagand took her successful vaudeville to Hollywood, California. She quickly abandoned vaudeville to become a film star, and between 1919 and 1936 Gray made several movies, in all of which she performed her famous shimmy. Her second role was a small part in Girl with the Jazz Heart. Jesse Lasky signed her to a contract with Famous Players. With him she made Aloma of the South Seas, which grossed $3,000,000 in its first three months. The success of this film was enhanced by Gilda's personal appearances doing the shimmy as a promotion. In 1927, she made two more films, The Devil Dancer and Cabaret.

When the stock market crashed in 1929, Gilda Gray lost most of her financial assets, but she managed to get a job dancing at the Palace Theater in New York. By now, her second marriage had failed. In 1931 she suffered a heart attack. That same year she married a Venezuelan diplomat several years her junior, named Hector B. Riceno de Saa. This marriage also failed.

In 1936 she was signed to play herself in the movie, The Great Ziegfeld, but unfortunately her scenes were cut from the picture. In 1946, she again became newsworthy when she sued Columbia Pictures for using her name in their movie, Gilda. Although the title role, played by Rita Hayworth, had no resemblance to the real Gilda's life, Gilda reportedly received an out of court settlement which enabled her to establish a ranch in Colorado.

By the time of her death from a second heart attack on December 22, 1959, Gilda Gray was in again in financial trouble. The Motion Picture Relief Fund paid for her funeral.

Filmography

  • Virtuous Vamp (1919)
  • Girl with the Jazz Heart (1923)
  • Lawful Larceny (1925)
  • Aloma of the South Seas (1927)
  • Cabaret (1927)
  • The Devil Dancer (1929)
  • Piccadilly (1936)
  • The Great Ziegfeld (1936)
  • Rose-Marie (1936)

Plays

  • Music Box Revue (1921)
  • Ziegfeld Follies (1922)
  • Devil Dancer Play (1927)

This content from Wikipedia is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Gilda Gray