Genevieve Tobin(1899-1995)
- Actress
- Soundtrack
The daughter of a stage entertainer, New York-born actress Genevieve
Tobin started treading the boards as a child and appeared in the role
of Little Eva in the silent short
Uncle Tom's Cabin (1910).
Her older brother George Tobin and
younger sister Vivian Tobin also became
stage and film actors. By her teens Genevieve was appearing as a
sparkling blonde ingénue on 20s Broadway, steadily gaining notice with
her chic looks and vivacious personality. Considered a medium-weight
talent, she nevertheless tackled such roles as Cordelia in "King Lear"
(1923) in addition to her usual frothy comedies and musicals such as
"Polly Preferred" (1923). Following her New York performance in
Cole Porter's musical "Fifty Million
Frenchmen" in 1929 in which she introduced the song "You Do Something
to Me," Genevieve started focusing squarely on films, particularly
screwball farce, starting with a couple of glamorous leading lady roles
in the early talkies
A Lady Surrenders (1930) and
Free Love (1930), one a heavy drama and
the other a lighter comedy both co-starring
Conrad Nagel. Genevieve moved into second
leads as the 1930s flew by, however, often playing the arch or
self-involved 'other woman' role. She appeared in fine form as the
problematic third wheel in
Une heure près de toi (1932) with
Maurice Chevalier and
Jeanette MacDonald;
Goodbye Again (1933) co-starring
Warren William and
Joan Blondell;
Kiss and Make-Up (1934)
with Cary Grant and
Helen Mack;
The Goose and the Gander (1935)
with Kay Francis and
George Brent; and, her last,
Finie la comédie (1940)
which paired up James Stewart with
Rosalind Russell, and was also directed
by her husband (and former stage actor)
William Keighley. Genevieve abandoned
her career for high society after marrying Keighley and never looked
back -- her marriage lasting 46 years until his death in 1984 at age
90+. Genevieve herself would live to become a nonagenarian, dying of
natural causes in 1995 in Pasadena, California.
