Ruth Gilbert (May 8, 1912 – October 12, 1993) was an American actress, best known for her role as

Alice Alice may refer to: * Alice (name), most often a feminine given name, but also used as a surname Literature * Alice (''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''), a character in books by Lewis Carroll * ''Alice'' series, children's and teen books by ...

in the first sound version of ''

Alice in Wonderland ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (also known as ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English Children's literature, children's novel by Lewis Carroll, a mathematics university don, don at the University of Oxford. It details the story of a ...

'' in 1931, and as Max in ''

The Milton Berle Show ''Texaco Star Theater'' is an American comedy-variety show, broadcast on radio from 1938 to 1949 and telecast from 1948 to 1956. It was one of the first successful examples of American television broadcasting, remembered as the show that gave Mil ...

''.

Career

A graduate of the

American Academy of Dramatic Arts The American Academy of Dramatic Arts (AADA) is a Private college, private drama school with two locations, one in New York City and one in Los Angeles. The academy offers an associate degree in occupational studies and teaches drama and related ...

, Gilbert's role as Alice in the 1931 film ''

'' was her first major role. The film was made by Metropolitan Studios, an independent film company from

Fort Lee, New Jersey Fort Lee is a Borough (New Jersey), borough at the eastern border of Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, situated along the Hudson River atop The Palisades (Hudson River), The Palisades. As of the 2020 Uni ...

.The first talking film of 'Alice In Wonderland' was shot in Fort Lee , NJ.com
/ref> They made it for educational purposes in readiness for the 100th anniversary of

Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet, mathematician, photographer and reluctant Anglicanism, Anglican deacon. His most notable works are ''Alice ...

's birth the following year Gilbert's success in ''Alice in Wonderland'' gained her national recognition and this led to her first

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

role in '' Girls in Uniform'' in 1932, a play inspired by the German film ''

Mädchen in Uniform ' ("Girls in Uniform") is a 1931 German romantic drama film based on the play ' (''Yesterday and Today'') by Christa Winsloe and directed by Leontine Sagan with artistic direction from Carl Froelich, who also funded the film. Winsloe also wrote ...

'', which was in turn based upon the Christa Winsloe novel and play.Ruth Gilbert; TV, Stage Actress - Los Angeles Times
/ref> Her role as Alice also got Gilbert noticed by

Eugene O'Neill Eugene Gladstone O'Neill (October 16, 1888 – November 27, 1953) was an American playwright. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into the U.S. the drama techniques of Realism (theatre), realism, earlier associated with ...

who cast her in the role of Muriel in the

Theatre Guild The Theatre Guild is a theatrical society founded in New York City in 1918 by Lawrence Langner, Philip Moeller, Helen Westley and Theresa Helburn. Langner's wife, Armina Marshall, then served as a co-director. It evolved out of the work of ...

production of ''

Ah, Wilderness! ''Ah, Wilderness!'' is a comedy play by American playwright Eugene O'Neill that premiered on Broadway at the Guild Theatre on October 2, 1933. It differs from a typical O'Neill play in its happy ending for the central character, and depiction o ...

'', which also starred

George M. Cohan George Michael Cohan (July 3, 1878November 5, 1942) was an American entertainer, playwright, composer, lyricist, actor, singer, dancer and theatrical producer. Cohan began his career as a child, performing with his parents and sister in a vaudev ...

. She continued to work steadily on Broadway and as a radio actress throughout the 1930s and 1940s. During this period, she appeared as Sadie in

John Howard Lawson John Howard Lawson (September 25, 1894 – August 11, 1977) was an American playwright, screenwriter, arts critic, and cultural historian. After enjoying a relatively successful career writing plays that were staged on and off Broadway in the 192 ...

's ''Processional'' at the

Federal Theatre Project The Federal Theatre Project (FTP; 1935–1939) was a theatre program established during the Great Depression as part of the New Deal to fund live artistic performances and entertainment programs in the United States. It was one of five Federal ...

in 1937.Ruth Gilbert Dead; Actress, 71, Starred On Berle's TV Show - New York Times
/ref> She was also a member of the Group Theatre for two years, and in 1946 O'Neill cast her as Pearl in his play ''

The Iceman Cometh ''The Iceman Cometh'' is a play written by American playwright Eugene O'Neill in 1939. First published in 1946, the play premiered on Broadway at the Martin Beck Theatre on October 9, 1946, directed by Eddie Dowling, where it ran for 136 perf ...

''. On radio, she appeared in

Norman Corwin Norman Lewis Corwin (May 3, 1910 – October 18, 2011) was an American writer, screenwriter, producer, essayist and teacher of journalism and writing. His earliest and biggest successes were in the writing and directing of radio drama during th ...

's '' Columbia Presents Corwin''. In 1949, Gilbert replaced

Lee Grant Lee Grant (born Lyova Haskell Rosenthal; October 31, during the mid-1920s) is an American actress, documentarian, and director. In a career spanning over seven decades, she won an Academy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Directors Guil ...

as the shoplifter in the Broadway run of ''

Detective Story Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator or a detective—whether professional, amateur or retired—investigates a crime, often murder. The detective genre began around the same time as specu ...

''. That same year, she also appeared in the ''

NBC Presents ''NBC Presents'' is a live American anthology series produced by the National Broadcasting Company (NBC). A total of thirty-six episodes aired on NBC from January 3, 1949 to October 10, 1949. Guest stars included Cloris Leachman, John Forsythe ...

'' episode entitled, "The Florist Shop", and she became the star of her own short lived TV series, '' Ruthie on the Telephone'', which co-starred

Phillip Reed Phillip Reed (born Milton LeRoy; March 25, 1908 – December 7, 1996) was an American actor. He played Steve Wilson in a series of four films (1947–1948) based on the '' Big Town'' radio series. Early years Reed was a star athlete at Er ...

.Ruth Gilbert – IMDb
/ref> The latter series was notable in that it was a prime time show in which each episode was only five minutes long. Gilbert continued to work well into the 1950s. From 1953 to 1955, she played Max, the lovesick, scatterbrained secretary, in ten episodes of ''

''. Her often repeated line in the show, "Let's not fight this, Mil-l-ton, it's bigger than both of us," became her catchphrase However, midway through her tenure on the show, she was fired for becoming pregnant. Nevertheless, the matter was ultimately resolved by arbitration and she returned to the program after the birth of her daughter. Gilbert's career reached its zenith in the 1950s and thereafter began to slow down. However, a year before her death, she made one last comeback in a cameo as Mrs. Landesman in the film '' Me, Myself and I'' in 1992.

Death

Gilbert died on October 12, 1993, at a hospice in Calvary Hospital in

the Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

of brain cancer. Her death was mistakenly originally reported as happening on October 13, 1993, at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gilbert, Ruth 1912 births 1993 deaths Actresses from New York City American Academy of Dramatic Arts alumni American film actresses American radio actresses American stage actresses American television actresses Deaths from brain cancer in New York (state) 20th-century American actresses Federal Theatre Project people