Mary Carlisle, Depression-era actress, dies at 104
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Mary Carlisle, an angel-faced blond actress who often played spunky but innocent ingénues in scores of Depression-era films, died on Wednesday in the Woodland Hills section of Los Angeles. She was 104.
The death was confirmed by her son, James Blakeley III.
From 1932 to 1939, when she was in her late teens and early 20s, Ms. Carlisle made 50 movies, including three musicals opposite Bing Crosby: “College Humor” (1933), “Double or Nothing” (1937) and “Doctor Rhythm” (1938). Even in pre-Code films (those made before censorship ruled Hollywood studios) like “Should Ladies Behave” (1933), she was more curious than sinful.
She was born Gwendolyn Witter in Boston on Feb. 3, 1914, the daughter of Arthur William Witter and Leona Ella (Wotton) Witter. In later years she refused to confirm her age; some sources give her birth year as 1912.
After her father died, when she was 4 (or 6, or any other number of ages, depending on which 1930s interview you read), she and her mother moved to Los Angeles, where an uncle worked as a film ed- itor. Gwendolyn later took her stage name from her maternal grandmother, Mary Ella Carlisle.
She was discovered, at 14 or so, having lunch at the Universal Studios commissary with her mother. She was noticed by the studio executive Carl Laemmle Jr., who insisted that she be given a screen test. After a couple more years of formal education and at least 10 uncredited movie roles (party guest, autograph seeker and – in “Grand Hotel” – giggly newlywed), Ms. Carlisle made her official movie debut in “This Reckless Age” (1932), about a family with ungrateful college students.
From 1922 to 1934, the Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers named more than a dozen promising young actresses Wampas Baby Stars as an annual publicity stunt. Their number included Clara Bow, Joan Crawford, Mary Astor and Loretta Young. Ms. Carlisle, chosen alongside Ginger Rogers and Gloria Stuart in 1932, was the last surviving Baby Star.