Curiosidades

Dark-haired silent screen leading lady of Danish descent, married to actor Rapley Holmes. On stage in Denmark from the age of fourteen. Entered films with Thanhouser in 1913.

Leading lady of Danish descent and the daughter of noted Chicagoan Dr. Max Henius who reportedly began her stage career in Copenhagen, Denmark at the age of 14. With Thanhouser Films from 1913, where she played Maid Marian to William Russell's Robin Hood, Holmes was the acknowledged prima donna at Essanay in Chicago when the very young Gloria Swanson arrived there in 1914. Yet according to Swanson, despite her status with the company, Holmes' still sewed and mended her own costumes. Mainly seen in romantic melodramas, Gerda Holmes was married 1) to Canadian stage and film actor Rapley Holmes (q.v.) and 2) Carlo Edwards. The latter was stage director at the Metropolitan in NYC and the union led to the former film actress embarking on a successful career in grand opera under her original name of Gerda Henius. She made her debut at La Scala in Milan in The Valkyrie in 1926 and, three years later, appeared at The Royal Theatre in Copenhagen in Tosca and Carmen. She later became president of the Wahl-Henius Institute, an industrial laboratory in Chicago co-founded by her father.