Gertrude Olmstead

Acting

Gertrude Olmstead

Born 1897-11-12 · Chicago, Illinois, USA

From Wikipedia Gertrude Olmstead (November 13, 1897 – January 18, 1975) was an American actress of the silent era. She appeared in 56 films between 1920 and 1929. Olmstead was born in Chicago, Illinois, and appeared in her first credited film role in the 1921 film The Fox. She obtained several more roles that same year, appearing in nine films in 1921, and another five in 1922. She would appear in seventeen more films by the time she received what is today her best-known role, opposite Rudolph Valentino in the 1925 film Cobra. Throughout the silent film era her career thrived. From 1925 through 1929 she appeared in twenty eight films, most often portraying the heroine. With the advent of sound film her career stalled, and she retired from acting in 1929. In 1926 she met MGM director Robert Z. Leonard and they were married June 8 of that year. Leonard and Olmstead remained married until his death in 1968. After Leonard's death, Olmstead remained in the Los Angeles area, and died in Beverly Hills on January 18, 1975.

Acting credits

The Show of Shows poster
6.6

Now hear this. The studio that gave the cinema its voice offered 1929 audiences a chance to see and hear multiple silent-screen favorites for the first time in a gaudy, grandiose music-comedy-novelty revue that also included Talkie stars, Broadway luminaries and of course, Rin-Tin-Tin. Frank Fay hosts a jamboree that, among its 70+ stars, features bicyclers, boxing champ Georges Carpentier, chorines in terpsichore kickery, sister acts, Myrna Loy in two-strip Technicolor as an exotic Far East beauty, John Barrymore in a Shakespearean soliloquy (adding an on-screen voice to his legendary profile for the first time) and Winnie Lightner famously warbling the joys of Singing in the Bathtub. Watch, rinse, repeat!

The Show of Shows

1929

The Callahans and the Murphys poster
8.0

The story of two feuding Irish immigrant families living in a tenement.

The Callahans and the Murphys

1927

Buttons poster
3.7

Working as a pageboy on an ocean liner, a street orphan and his friend Slugger end up on the wrong side of the ship's captain when they try to tell him that his wife is cheating on him with other members of the crew. The boys end up in deeper trouble, after they are thrown in the brig and the ship starts sinking...

Buttons

1927

The Boob poster
6.0

To impress the girl he loves, a naive country boy tries to capture a group of local bootleggers.

The Boob

1926

The Scrapper poster
9.0

Malloy, a young Irish construction engineer just out of college, is assigned to a project and immediately falls in love with the contractor's daughter, Eileen. The contractor's secretary, who also loves the girl, hires Oleson, a Swede, to work with Malloy and delay the building sufficiently to arouse the ire of the contractor. Under these conditions, however, Malloy works all the harder, never looking gloomy or restraining his Irish humor until the Swede comes to blows with him over a strike.

The Scrapper

1922

No artwork available
10.0

String Whalen, a carnival wheel-of-fortune operator, is greatly attracted to Lutie and gains her gratitude when he recovers her purse from a pickpocket. At a dance that evening, String promises Lutie to forsake his gambling career.

Hey Rube!

1928

Trilby poster
10.0

The hypnotist Svengali makes an artist's model sing, but cannot force her love.

Trilby

1923

No artwork available
7.0

Ranchmen try to play a joke on one of their associates by signing his name to a letter addressed to Sarah Smith, who has advertised in a matrimonial journal. A mix-up occurs on the day of the arrival of the lady when a younger woman, sent to buy stock, also appears on the scene and is mistaken for the prospective bride.

Tipped Off

1920

Time, the Comedian poster
3.0

Nora Dakon, bored with the dullness of her life in a small New Jersey town, leaves her husband and small daughter to run off with Larry Brundage, a wealthy New York City sportsman. Nora's husband kills himself, and, to avoid scandal, Brundage walks out on Nora. She returns to her child and later she becomes a noted singer. Nora moves to Paris, France, and at a party to celebrate the Armistice, she again meets Brundage, who falls madly in love with her daughter, Ruth. To break up their engagement, Nora is forced to tell Ruth of her tragic relationship with Brundage years earlier. Ruth leaves Brundage and soon finds consolation in the love of Tom Cautley, a young art student.

Time, the Comedian

1925

Cobra poster
5.6

Rodrigo, an impoverished Italian nobleman takes a job with a New York antique dealer he met overseas. Swearing off women, Rodrigo focuses on his job. But complications arise when he falls in love with his friend's secretary-- and his friend's wife looks to make a date with him.

Cobra

1925

Becky poster
8.0

Rebecca (Sally O'Neil) is a salesgirl who gets a chance at a Broadway show; there, she attracts and is ultimately rejected by a society playboy.

Becky

1927

No artwork available
7.0

Nicola Riccobini, a puppet master in New York's Italian quarter, is an energetic and domineering man in the family, in contrast to his dreamy, poetic cousin Bruno.

Puppets

1926

Mr. Wu poster
5.8

When Mandarin Wu's unmarried daughter becomes pregnant by a young Englishman, he seeks vengeance.

Mr. Wu

1927

No artwork available
7.0

Young college student Del Roberts is enjoying his studies when his father suddenly suffers financial ruin and goes completely bankrupt. Facing the reality of having to drop out, Del discovers an upcoming golf tournament with a cash prize substantial enough to cover his remaining tuition. To prepare for the intense competition, Del seeks the help of real-life legendary golf professional Walter Hagen, who plays himself in the film and guides the young student.

Green Grass Widows

1928

Torrent poster
6.7

A young girl and her father are kicked out of their house by a cruel noblewoman, and the girl's heart is broken when her sweetheart, the noblewoman's son, won't go to Paris with them. After becoming an opera star in Paris, the girl returns to her homeland and finds her romance with the nobleman rekindled.

Torrent

1926

Sonny Boy poster
7.0

Sonny Boy's parents are in the midst of a bitter divorce when the boy's mother talks her sister into kidnapping him because she is terrified that her husband will take the boy out of the country after the divorce.

Sonny Boy

1929

The Loaded Door poster
8.0

Bert Lyons returns to the Grainger spread from the "outside world" to find his former employer dead and the ranch in the possession of Calvert, a narcotics smuggler, and Blackie Lopez, a rustler who has his eyes on Molly Grainger, Lyons' sweetheart.

The Loaded Door

1922

The Big Adventure poster
10.0

Patches, a kind-hearted orphan of the slums, finds life unbearable under the cruel abuse of his stepfather, Old Whiskers, for whose support he is forced to steal. Stowing away in a freight car with his dog, he escapes to a neighboring town where he is given a home by Mrs. Lane, sister of the town judge.

The Big Adventure

1921

1925 Studio Tour poster
6.3

A tour of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studio in 1925 shows the people who make the movies there, and gives viewers a glimpse at how movies are made.

1925 Studio Tour

1925

Bringing Up Father poster
5.0

The wealthy Jiggs is tired of being left out of the swanky parties thrown by his social-climbing wife Maggie and their daughter. He decides to teach them a "lesson" by faking his own suicide, but things don't quite turn out the way he planned.

Bringing Up Father

1928

Life's Greatest Game poster
10.0

Jack Donovan, a pitcher for the Chicago Cubs, refuses to throw a game for gambler Mike Moran. Moran retaliates by breaking up Donovan's family. Believing that his wife and son died in the sinking of an ocean liner, Donovan stays in baseball and, 20 years later, becomes manager of the New York Giants. What he doesn't know is that his family isn't dead and his son, Jack Jr., is now grown and looking for revenge against his father for what he believes was his abandonment of them.

Life's Greatest Game

1924

Hit of the Show poster
10.0

For fifteen years, vaudeville comedian "Twisty" has struggled for his big break, holding onto nothing but faith—and a small ivory elephant charm he believes brings him luck. One day, he’s summoned to the office of big-time producer Greening, certain that his moment has finally come.

Hit of the Show

1928

The Lone Wolf's Daughter poster
10.0

Michael Lanyard, a reformed cracks-man, adopts Adrienne, the daughter of an old friend, and goes to Southampton to attend a party celebrating her engagement to Bobby Crenshaw, the son of a wealthy society couple. The Count and Countess Polinac, international jewel thieves, also attend the party, and Count Polinac forces Lanyard to open the safe containing the jewelry of the guests by threatening to expose Lanyard's criminal past. Lanyard forestalls the count, however, and protects the valuables. The count and countess are arrested, and Michael's secret is kept safe.

The Lone Wolf's Daughter

1929

George Washington, Jr. poster
10.0

A senator is trying to get his niece to marry a foreign count. The senator's teenage son finds out that the count is not only a phony but an international criminal. The boy sets out to break up the impending marriage and save his father from ruin and his cousin from marrying a man she doesn't love.

George Washington, Jr.

1924