Web Quotableonline.com Frasescelebres.org Greatbookscollection.org

Gertrude Lawrence (4 June 1898 - 6 September 1952)
was an actress and musical performer popular in
the 1930s and 1940s, appearing on stage in London
and on Broadway, and in several films. She is
particularly associated with the light comedy of
Noel Coward.

She was born Gertrude Alexandria Dagmar
Lawrence-Klasen in London and was a professional
performer by the age of ten.  She understudied
Beatrice Lillie in the Andre Charlot London revues
in the 1920s and became the star when the revues
were brought to Broadway in 1924 and 1926.  She
was one of the foremost comedians of her time,
capable of playing both slapstick clowns and
elegant ladies. Her great charisma is attested to
by those who saw her on stage, but her films
struggle to convey her charm.

She married Francis Gordon-Howley, a director, in
1924. They divorced in 1927. Lawrence had a
daughter, Pamela, during this marriage. Lawrence
then married Richard Stoddard Aldrich, an American
theatre owner from a blueblood family, in 1940. In
addition to an affair with film star Douglas
Fairbanks Jr., she also had lesbian affairs,
including a much-rumored relationship with the
British novelist Daphne du Maurier. Passionate
letters written between the two women were
published in a 1993 biography of du Maurier.
Lawrence appears to have had a much earlier affair
with du Maurier's father, Sir Gerald du Maurier;
in fact, Daphne du Maurier referred to Lawrence as
"the last of Daddy's actress loves".

Lawrence's onstage persona inspired composers and
writers. George Gershwin|George and Ira Gershwin
wrote the play Oh, Kay! for her, with the
well-loved song "Someone to Watch Over Me". She
was the first British actress to have a lead role
on Broadway. Cole Porter wrote Nymph Errant for
her to star in, and it opened in London in 1929. 
Noel Coward wrote Private Lives and Tonight at
8:30 (a cycle of nine one-act musicals and plays)
for her. She starred as Liza Elliot in Kurt Weill
and Ira Gershwin's psychoanalysis|psychoanalytic
musical Lady in the Dark, and was a popular
entertainer of the troops in World War II.

She won the 1952 Tony Award for Best Actress for
her role as Anna Leonowens in The King and I by
Richard Rodgers|Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein
II|Hammerstein. 

Lawrence died of cervical cancer in New York, New
York and was buried in her pink "Shall We Dance?"
gown from the second act of The King and I, in
Lakeview Cemetery, in Upton, Massachusetts.

In the 1968 film, Star! (movie)|Star!, based on
her life, Gertrude Lawrence was played by Julie
Andrews.

==Broadway==

*Andre Charlot's Revue of 1924 - 1924
*Charlot Revue - 1925
*Oh, Kay! - 1926
*Treasure Girl - 1928
*Candle Light - 1929
*The International Review - 1930
*Private Lives - 1931
*Tonight at 8:30 - 1936
**Hands Across the Sea
**Red Peppers
**The Astonished Heart
**We Were Dancing 
**Shadow Play
**Fumed Oak
**Ways and Means
**Family Album
**Still Life
*Susan and God - 1937
*Skylark
*Lady in the Dark - 1941
*Gratefully Yours - 1942
*Pygmalion (play)|Pygmalion - 1945
*The King and I - 1951

==Films==

*The Battle of Paris -  1929
*Aren't We All? - 1932
*Lord Camber's Ladies - 1932
*No Funny Business - 1933
*Mimi - 1935
*Rembrandt - 1936
*Men Are Not Gods - 1936
*Catherine the Great - 1948
*The Glass Menagerie - 1950

== External Links ==

*http://www.ibdb.com/person.asp?id=49117 Gertrude
Lawrence's Internet Broadway Database page
*http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0492775/ Gertrude
Lawrence's Internet Movie Database page