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Gladys Brockwell, born September 26, 1893 - died July 2, 1929, was an American actress.
Born Gladys Lindeman in Brooklyn, New York, she was the daughter of a chorus girl who put her on stage at a very early age. By the time she reached her middle teens, she was already a veteran and taking on dramatic leading roles. She made her East Coast film debut in 1913 as Gladys Brockwell for Lubin Studios and within a short time was starring in a number of films. Developing her craft, Brockwell moved to Hollywood where she earned herself an important role in the acclaimed 1922 version of Oliver Twist and in The Hunchback of Notre Dame the following year.
Never one of the glamorous leading ladies, by the mid 1920s she was past the age of thirty and although still given top female billing, Brockwell performed mainly in supporting roles. Regarded as one of the finest character actors of the day who not only adapted to the new talkies but excelled in them, her first appearance in a "talkie" came in 1928 in The Lights of New York. Her performance received strong reviews at the time of the film's release and as well by present-day critics of the preserved film. A Warner Bros. feature length production, The Lights of New York was filmed with microphones strategically hidden around the sets, creating the first motion picture released with fully synchronic dialogue. Signed by Warner Bros. to a multi-year contract, Brockwell's next talkie was in another supporting role to Norma Talmadge in one of only three sound films Talmadge ever made.
In late June of 1929 Gladys Brockwell and friend Thomas Drennan were involved in an automobile accident in Calabasas, California. Seriously injured, the thirty-five-year old Brockwell died a few days later in a Hollywood hospital.
Gladys Brockwell's final film was completed before her accident. Directed by Edward Laemmle while she was on loan to Universal Pictures, "The Drake Case" was released posthumously in September of 1929.
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