Trivia

Kenneth Anger's book "Hollywood Babylon" sensationalized the tragic February 1959 death of the actress, although his "theory" is not based on fact. He claims it was a bizarre suicide triggered by years of alcoholism and failed attempts to revive her stalled career. Anger claims that, alone in her apartment in Venice, CA, she gathered together reams of publicity stills and promotional material from her early career and set them on fire, allowing herself to be consumed by the flames. In truth, a fire broke out in her bedroom while she was asleep. She was found on the bathroom floor, having died of smoke inhalation. The scrapbook referred to of her modeling and film career managed to escape the wrath of the flames.

Lived her final years at a beachfront apartment in Venice, CA, in obscurity. Her neighbors never knew about her Hollywood past.

Turned to alcohol in her later years after her career was over. Lost custody of her only child in the mid-'50s, Peter, because of it.

Her last film was La Relève du Faucon (1942). She played a murder victim.

Became a successful blonde, blue-eyed model just out of her teens in Denmark. She later continued modeling in New York, making the pages of "Vogue" and "Harper's Bazaar", among others. At one time she was ranked as one of the most photographed girls in the country and considered America's #1 model in 1935. Gave up her modeling career in 1944 after giving birth to son Peter.

At the peak of her modeling career in the 1930s, she made $25,000 a year, and was on the popular list of super-models that included Betty Wyman, Anita Colby and Janice Jarrett.

Discovered for RKO Pictures by David O. Selznick while attending a Broadway premiere.

Her father was an artist. She had two sisters. Was married twice. Had one son, Peter Cross, by her second marriage.

According to Laura Wagner's article in "Films of the Golden Age", Summer 2014, Issue 77, 22-year-old Gwili Andre vacationed at Palm Beach, FL, with an aunt in 1929. She met a man while there, they married and the couple moved to New York City. She became a U.S. citizen in 1931.

Upon her death, she was cremated at Forest Lawn in Glendale, CA, and her ashes were sent to burial at Søndermark Cemetery in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Her placid charm, broken English and sultry looks had her dubbed "The Second Garbo.".

Dropped by RKO in 1933, after only a couple of years, she was up for a lead role in Le capitaine déteste la mer (1934) but lost it before it started filming.