Actress Louise Brooks (1927)

A flapper onboard ship (1929)

Flappers were a "new breed" of young Western women in the 1920s who wore short skirts, bobbed their hair, listened to jazz, and flaunted their disdain for what was then considered acceptable behavior. Flappers were seen as brash for wearing excessive makeup, drinking, treating sex in a casual manner, smoking, driving automobiles and otherwise flouting social and sexual norms.^[1]

Flappers had their origins in the period of Liberalism, social and political turbulence and increased transatlantic cultural exchange that followed the end of World War I, as well as the export of American jazz culture to Europe.

Etymology[link]

Violet Romer in a flapper dress c. 1915

The slang word flapper, describing a young woman, is sometimes supposed to refer to a young bird flapping its wings while learning to fly. However, it may derive from an earlier use in northern England to mean teenage girl, referring to one whose hair is not yet put up and whose plaited pigtail flapped on her back;^[2] or from an older word meaning prostitute.^[3] The slang word flap was used for a young prostitute as long ago as 1631.^[4] By the late 19th century the word flapper was emerging in England as popular slang both for a very young prostitute^[5] and in a more general—and less derogatory sense—of any lively mid-teenage girl.^[6]

The word appeared in print in the United Kingdom as early as 1903 and United States 1904, when novelist Desmond Coke used it in his college story of Oxford life, Sandford of Merton: "There's a stunning flapper".^[7] In 1907 English actor George Graves explained it to Americans as theatrical slang for acrobatic young female stage performers.^[8] By 1908, newspapers as serious as The Times used it, although with careful explanation: "A 'flapper', we may explain, is a young lady who has not yet been promoted to long frocks and the wearing of her hair 'up'".^[9] By November 1910, the word was popular enough for the author A. E. James to begin a series of stories in the London Magazine featuring the misadventures of a pretty fifteen-year-old girl and titled "Her Majesty the Flapper".^[10] By 1911, a newspaper review indicates the mischievous and flirtatious 'flapper' was an established stage-type.^[11]

Clara Bow in 1921, before she became a star

Some have suggested that the flapper concept as a stage of life particular to young women was imported to England from Germany, where it originated "as a sexual reaction against the over-fed, under-exercised monumental woman, and as a compromise between pederasty and normal sex".^[12] In Germany flappers were called "backfisch", which meant a young fish not yet big enough to be sold in the market.^[13][14] The concept of "backfisch" was known in England by the late 1880s, though it seems to have been understood to mean a more demure social type^[15] compared with the English flapper, who was typically rebellious and defiant of convention.

By 1912, the London theatrical impresario John Tiller, defining the word in an interview he gave to the New York Times, described a 'flapper' as belonging to a slightly older age group, a girl who has "just come out".^[16] Although the word was still largely understood as referring to high-spirited teenagers^[17] gradually in Britain it was being extended to describe any impetuous immature woman.^[18] Usage increased during World War I, perhaps due to the visible emergence of young women into the workforce to supply the place of absent men: a Times article on the problem of finding jobs for women made unemployed by the return of the male workforce is headed "The Flapper's Future".^[19]

By 1918, the word could also be used teasingly of a "pleasure-loving" older woman: a Dr. Whatley, accused of adultery with the wife of Major Sydney George Everitt of Knowle Hall, Knowle, was asked in court why he had begun a verse to her with the words "There once was a flapper named Mary."^[20]

By 1920, the term had taken on the full meaning of the flapper generation style and attitudes. In his lecture that year on Britain's surplus of young women caused by the loss of young men in war, Dr. R. Murray-Leslie criticized "the social butterfly type… the frivolous, scantily-clad, jazzing flapper, irresponsible and undisciplined, to whom a dance, a new hat, or a man with a car, were of more importance than the fate of nations."^[21]

As the adoption of the term in America coincided with a fashion among teenage girls in the early 1920s for wearing unbuckled galoshes^[22] a widespread false etymology held that they were called "flappers" because they flapped when they walked, as they wore their overshoes or galoshes unfastened, showing that they defied convention in a manner similar to the 21st century fad for untied shoelaces.^[23][24]

Evolution of the image[link]

Actress Alice Joyce, 1926

The first appearance of the word and image^[25] in the United States came from the popular 1920 Frances Marion film, The Flapper, starring Olive Thomas.^[26] Thomas starred in a similar role in 1917, though it was not until The Flapper that the term was used. In her final movies, she was seen as the flapper image.^[27] Other actresses, such as Clara Bow, Louise Brooks, Colleen Moore and Joan Crawford would soon build their careers on the same image, achieving great popularity.^[26]

In the United States, popular contempt for Prohibition was a factor in the rise of the flapper. With legal saloons and cabarets closed, back alley speakeasies became prolific and popular. This discrepancy between the law-abiding, religion-based temperance movement and the actual ubiquitous consumption of alcohol led to widespread disdain for authority. Flapper independence may also have origins in the Gibson girls of the 1890s. Although that pre-war look does not resemble the flapper style, their independence may have led to the flapper wise-cracking tenacity 30 years later.

Writers in the United States such as F. Scott Fitzgerald and Anita Loos and illustrators such as Russell Patterson, John Held, Jr., Ethel Hays and Faith Burrows popularized the flapper look and lifestyle through their works, and flappers came to be seen as attractive, reckless, and independent. Among those who criticized the flapper craze was writer-critic Dorothy Parker, who penned "Flappers: A Hate Song" to poke fun at the fad. The secretary of labor denounced the "flippancy of the cigarette smoking, cocktail-drinking flapper."^[28] A Harvard psychologist reported that flappers had "the lowest degree of intelligence" and constituted "a hopeless problem for educators."^[28]

A related but alternative use of the word "flapper" in the late 1920s was as a media catch word that referred to adult women voters and how they might vote differently than men their age. While the term "flapper" had multiple uses, flappers as a social group were distinct from other 1920s fads.

Behavior[link]

Billie Dove on the cover of The Flapper magazine ("Not for Old Fogies"), November 1922

Cover of the Saturday Evening Post, February 4, 1922, entitled Flapper by Ellen B.T. Pyle

Flappers' behavior was considered outlandish at the time and redefined women's roles. The image of flappers were young women who went by night to jazz clubs where they danced provocatively, smoked cigarettes through long holders, and dated freely, perhaps indiscriminately. They rode bicycles, drove cars, and openly drank alcohol, a defiant act in the American period of Prohibition.^[29]Petting became more common than in the Victorian era. Petting Parties, where petting ("making out" or foreplay) was the main attraction, became popular.^[30]

Flappers also began working outside the home and challenging women's traditional societal roles. They advocated voting and women's rights. With time, came the development of dance styles then considered shocking, such as the Charleston, the Shimmy, the Bunny Hug, and the Black Bottom.

They were also considered a significant challenge to traditional Victorian gender roles, devotion to plain-living and hard work, religion and more. Increasingly, women discarded old, rigid ideas about roles and embraced consumerism and personal choice, and were often described in terms of representing a "culture war" of old versus new. In this manner, flappers were an artifact of larger social changes — women were able to vote in the United States in 1920, and religious society had been rocked by the Scopes trial.^[31]

For all the concern about women stepping out of their traditional roles, however, some say many flappers weren't necessarily particularly engaged in politics. In fact, older suffragettes, who fought for the right for women to vote, viewed flappers as vapid and in some ways unworthy of the enfranchisement they had worked so hard to win. Others argued, though, that flappers' laissez-faire attitude was simply a natural progression of feminine liberation, the right having already been won. Dorothy Dunbar Bromley, a noted liberal writer at the time, summed up this dichotomy by describing flappers as "truly modern", "New Style" feminists who "admit that a full life calls for marriage and children" and also "are moved by an inescapable inner compulsion to be individuals in their own right."^[32]

Slang[link]

Flappers were associated with the use of a number of slang words, including "junk", "necker", "heavy necker" and "necking parties",^[33] although these words existed before the 1920s.^[34] Flappers also used the word "jazz", though not specifically in the sense of a form of music, but more generally of anything exciting or fun. Their language sometimes reflected their feelings about dating, marriage and drinking habits: "I have to see a man about a dog" at this period often meant going to buy whiskey; and a "handcuff" or "manacle" was an engagement or wedding ring. Also reflective of their preoccupations were phrases to express approval, such as "That's so Jake",^[35] "That's the bee's knees," and the popular "the cat's meow" or "cat's pyjamas".

Actress Norma Talmadge

Appearance[link]

In addition to their irreverent behavior, flappers were known for their style, which largely emerged as a result of French fashions,^[36] especially those pioneered by Coco Chanel, the effect on dress of the rapid spread of American jazz, and the popularization of dancing that accompanied it.^[37] Called garçonne in French ("boy" with a feminine suffix), flapper style made girls look young and boyish: short hair, flattened breasts, and straight waists accentuated it. By at least 1913, the association between slim adolescence and a certain characteristic look became fixed in the public's mind. Lilian Nordica, commenting on New York fashions that year, referred to

a thin little flapper of a girl donning a skirt in which she can hardly take a step, extinguishing all but her little white teeth with a dumpy bucket of a hat, and tripping down Fifth Avenue.^[38]

At this early date, it seems that the style associated with a flapper already included the boyish physique^[39] and close-fitting hat, but a hobble skirt rather than one with a high hemline.^[36]

Although the appearance typically associated now with flappers (straight waists, short hair and a hemline above the knee) did not fully emerge until about 1926,^[40] there was an early association in the public mind between unconventional appearance, outrageous behaviour, and the word "flapper". A report in The Times of a 1915 Christmas entertainment for troops stationed in France described a soldier in drag burlesquing feminine flirtatiousness while wearing "short skirts, a hat of Parisian type^[41] and flapper-like hair".^[42]

Despite the scandal flappers generated, their look became fashionable in a toned-down form among respectable older women. Significantly, the flappers removed the corset from female fashion, raised skirt and gown hemlines, and popularized short hair for women. Among actresses closely identified with the style were Olive Borden, Olive Thomas, Dorothy Mackaill, Alice White, Bebe Daniels, Billie Dove, Helen Kane, Joan Crawford, Leatrice Joy, Norma Shearer, Laura La Plante, Norma Talmadge, Clara Bow, Louise Brooks, and Colleen Moore.

"Where there's smoke there's fire" by Russell Patterson, showing a fashionably dressed flapper in the 1920s.

Apparel[link]

Flapper dresses were straight and loose, leaving the arms bare (sometimes no straps at all) and dropping the waistline to the hips. Silk or rayon stockings were held up by garters. Skirts rose to just below the knee by 1927, allowing flashes of leg to be seen when a girl danced or walked through a breeze, although the way they danced made any long loose skirt flap up to show their legs. It is a common misconception that flappers rouged their knees.^{[citation needed]} Popular dress styles included the Robe de style. High heels also came into vogue at the time, reaching 2–3 inches (5–8 cm) high.^[36]

Lingerie[link]

Flappers did away with corsets and pantaloons in favor of "step-in" panties. Without the old restrictive corsets, flappers wore simple bust bodices to make their chest hold still when dancing. They also wore new, softer and suppler corsets that reached to their hips, smoothing the whole frame, giving women a straight up and down appearance, as opposed to the old corsets which slenderized the waist and accented the hips and bust.^[36]

The lack of curves of a corset promoted a boyish look. Adding an even more boyish look, the Symington Side Lacer was invented and became a popular essential as an every-day bra. This type of bra was made to pull in the back to flatten the chest.^[36] Other women envied flappers for their flat chests and bought the Symington Side Lacer to enhance the same look; large breasts were commonly regarded as a trait of unsophistication. Hence, flat chests became appealing to women, although flappers were the most common to wear such bras.

Hair and accessories[link]

French actress Polaire in 1899

Boyish cuts were in vogue, especially the Bob cut, Eton crop, and Shingle bob. Finger Waving was used as a means of styling. Hats were still required wear and popular styles included the Newsboy cap and Cloche hat.

Jewelry usually consisted of art deco pieces, especially many layers of beaded necklaces. Pins, rings, and brooches came into style. Horn-rimmed glasses were also popular.

Cosmetics[link]

As far back as the 1890s, French actress Polaire pioneered a look which included short, dishevelled hair, emphatic mouth and huge eyes heavily outlined in mascara.^[43] The evolving flapper look required "heavy makeup" in comparison to what had previously been acceptable outside of professional usage in the theatre. With the invention of the metal lipstick container as well as compact mirrors bee stung lips came into vogue. Dark eyes, especially Kohl-rimmed, were the style. Blush came into vogue now that it was no longer a messy application process.

Originally, pale skin was considered most attractive. However, tanned skin became increasingly popular after Coco Chanel donned a tan after spending too much time in the sun on holiday – it suggested a life of leisure, without the onerous need to work. Women wanted to look fit, sporty, and, above all, healthy.

Semiotics of the flapper[link]

Liberated from restrictive dress, from laces that interfered with breathing, and from hoops that needed managing suggested liberation of another sort. The new found freedom to breathe and walk encouraged movement out of the house, and the flapper took full advantage.^[44] The flapper was an extreme manifestation of changes in the lifestyles of American women made visible through dress.^[45]

Changes in fashion were signs of deeper changes in the American feminine ideal.^[46] The short skirt and bobbed hair were likely to be used as a symbol of emancipation.^[47] Signs of the moral revolution consisted of: premarital sex, birth control, drinking, and contempt for older values. Before the war, a lady did not set foot in a saloon; after the war she entered a speakeasy as thoughtlessly as she would go into a railroad station. Women had taken to swearing and smoking, using contraceptives and raising their skirts above the knee and rolling her hose below it. Women were now competing with men in the business world and obtaining financial independence and, therefore, other kinds of independence from men.^[45]

The New Woman was pushing the boundaries of gender identity, representing sexual and economic freedom. She cut her hair short and took to loose-fitting clothing and low cut dresses. No longer restrained by a tight waist and long trailing skirts and the need for a man's help at every turn, the modern woman of the 1920s was an independent thinker, who no longer followed the ordinances of those before her.^[44] The flapper epitomized the prevailing conceptions of women and her role during the Roaring 1920s. The flappers' ideal was motion with characteristics being intensity, energy, and volatility. She refused the traditional moral code. Modesty, chastity, morality, and traditional concepts of male and female were seemingly becoming invisible. The flapper was making an appeal to authority and was being attached to the impending "demoralization" of the country.^[45]

The Victorian American conception of sexuality and other roles of men and women in society and to one another were being challenged. Modern clothing was lighter and more flexible, better suiting the modern woman. Rather than keeping herself busy with the need to appear decorous and reputable, the flapper wanted to be well suited to engage in active sport. Women were now becoming more assertive and less willing to keep the home fires burning. The flappers' costume was seen as sexual and arose deeper questions of the behavior and values it symbolized.^[45]

End of the flapper era[link]

Despite its popularity, the flapper lifestyle and look could not survive the Wall Street Crash and the following Great Depression. The high-spirited attitude and hedonism simply could not find a place amid the economic hardships of the 1930s.

See also[link]

• Betty Boop
• Modern girl
• New Woman
• United Kingdom general election, 1929, "the flapper election"

References[link]

Notes

Bibliography

• Chadwick, Whitney. The Modern Woman Revisited: Paris Between the Wars. 2003. ISBN 978-0-8135-3292-9
• Fass, Paula S. The Damned and the Beautiful: American Youth in the 1920s. 2007. ISBN 978-0-19-502492-0
• Gourley, Kathleen. Flappers and the New American Woman: Perceptions of Women from 1918 Through the 1920s (Images and or of Women in the Twentieth Century). 2007. ISBN 978-0-8225-6060-9
• Hudovernik, Robert. Jazz Age Beauties: The Lost Collection of Ziegfeld Photographer Alfred Cheney Johnston. 2006. ISBN 978-0-7893-1381-2
• Latham, Angela J. Posing a Threat: Flappers, Chorus Girls, and other Brazen Performers of the American 1920s. 2000. ISBN 978-0-8195-6401-6
• Lauber, Ellie. Fashions of the Roaring '20s. 2000. ISBN 978-0-7643-0017-2
• Zeitz, Joshua. Flapper: A Madcap Story of Sex, Style, Celebrity, and the Women Who Made America Modern. 2007. ISBN 978-1-4000-8054-0

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Flappers

• 1920s Flapper: Young Women in a Modern World
• Slang of the 1920s
• Flappers and fashion
• Evolution of the flapper fashion

Gloria Stuart
Stuart in 1937
Born	Gloria Frances Stewart (1910-07-04)July 4, 1910 Santa Monica, California
Died	September 26, 2010(2010-09-26) (aged 100) Los Angeles, California
Cause of death	respiratory failure
Education	Santa Monica High School
Alma mater	University of California, Berkeley
Occupation	Actress and Artist
Years active	1932–1946 1975–2004
Spouse	Blair Gordon Newell (m.1930–1934; divorced) Arthur Sheekman (m.1934–1978; his death)
Children	Sylvia Vaughn Sheekman, Mrs. Thompson born (1935-06-19) June 19, 1935 (age 77)

Gloria Frances Stuart (July 4, 1910 – September 26, 2010) was an American actress, activist, painter, bonsai artist, and fine art printer and printmaker. Over a Hollywood career which spanned, with a long break in the middle, from 1932 until 2004, she appeared on stage, television, and film, for which she was best-known. She appeared as Claude Rains' sweetheart in The Invisible Man, and as the elderly Rose Dawson Calvert in an Academy Award-nominated role in the film Titanic. She was the oldest person to be nominated for a competitive Oscar, at the age of 87, for that role.

Early life and career[link]

Here with James Cagney from the 1934 film Here Comes the Navy filmed on the USS Arizona.

Stuart was born Gloria Frances Stewart in Santa Monica, California, a third-generation Californian. Her mother, Alice Vaughan Deidrick Stewart, was born in Angels Camp, California. Her father, Frank Stewart, was an attorney representing many Tongs in San Francisco. Gloria's brother, Frank, came 11 months later. A second brother, Thomas, died in infancy. When Gloria was nine years old, her father, who had been appointed a judge and was about to take the bench, was hit by a car and died. Her mother got a job in the Ocean Park, California, Post Office to support her children. Alice Stewart remarried, to Fred J. Finch, a native of Kentucky, who owned a local funeral parlor and held oil leases in Texas. A half-sister, Patsy — Patricia Marie Finch — was born in 1924. Gloria's younger brother Frank took the surname Finch, later becoming a sportswriter for the Los Angeles Times.

She later changed the spelling of her surname when she began her career, reportedly because "Stuart" would fit better on a marquee.^[1]

She attended Santa Monica High School, graduating in 1927, then immediately ran off to Berkeley to attend the University of California, Berkeley. At Berkeley, she majored in drama and philosophy but dropped out in her junior year to marry Blair Gordon Newell, a San Francisco sculptor working under Ralph Stackpole on the facade of the San Francisco Stock Exchange building. The Newells lived a bohemian life in Carmel and were part of a circle of artists including Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, and Robinson Jeffers. She acted at the Carmel Playhouse and worked on the Carmel newspaper. Returning to Los Angeles, she appeared at the Pasadena Playhouse and was immediately signed to a contract by Universal Studios in 1932. She became a favorite of director James Whale, appearing in his The Old Dark House (1932), The Kiss Before the Mirror (1933) and The Invisible Man (1933).

Gloria Stuart produced numerous serigraphs; this limited edition of 20 is called "A Beautiful Summer Wind".

Stuart was an activist and became a founding member of the Screen Actors Guild, but her career with Universal was disappointing. She moved to 20th Century Fox, and by the end of the decade had appeared in more than forty films, including Busby Berkeley's Gold Diggers of 1935 and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. She appeared alongside such stars as Lionel Atwill, Lionel Barrymore, Freddie Bartholomew, Warner Baxter, James Cagney, Eddie Cantor, Melvyn Douglas, Ruth Etting, Boris Karloff, Paul Lukas, Raymond Massey, Pat O'Brien, Al Pearce, Dick Powell, Claude Rains, the Ritz Brothers, Shirley Temple and Lee Tracy.

Personal life[link]

In 1934, Stuart and Newell divorced amicably and she married screenwriter Arthur Sheekman, one of the writers on Roman Scandals. Sheekman was Groucho Marx's best friend and was collaborating (sometimes without credit) on Marx Brothers films. Later, Sheekman ghostwrote several of Marx's books; Marx called him "The Fastest Wit in the West". The Sheekmans' daughter, Sylvia Vaughn Sheekman, was born in 1935. Four years later, Stuart convinced her husband they should travel around the world. When they reached France, they tried to volunteer for the French Resistance, but were turned down, so they caught the last ship sailing to New York.^{[citation needed]}

They decided to stay in New York and work in the theater. In the next few years, Sheekman wrote several plays (two with George S. Kaufman) and Stuart got roles mostly in summer stock, including Emily to Thornton Wilder's Stage Manager in Our Town. When Sheekman's third play flopped, they returned to Hollywood, and he was hired by Paramount Pictures. Stuart took singing lessons and toured the country entertaining the troops in hospitals and selling war bonds. In 1946, she opened a small business, Décor, Ltd, where she sold lamps, tables, chests and other objets d'art of decoupage she created.

Sheekman wrote 17 screenplays during the next 16 years. In 1954, with their daughter studying at UC Berkeley, Gloria and Arthur Sheekman joined friends who were living abroad, settling in Rapallo on the Italian Riviera. Inspired by the success of the primitive paintings of Grandma Moses, Stuart took up oil painting. Her first one-woman show at the Hammer Galleries in New York all but sold out.^{[citation needed]} After 43 years of happy marriage, husband Arthur Sheekman succumbed to the effects of Alzheimers Disease, and died on January 12, 1978, just weeks before his 77th birthday. According to the widow's autobiography, "I Just Kept Hoping," Sheekman was cremated and his ashes were buried beneath a tree at their home in Brentwood, California.

Stuart was also active in political and social causes, Stuart helped form the Hollywood Anti-Nazi League in 1936, the same year she and writer Dorothy Parker helped organize the League to Support the Spanish War Orphans. She also became a member of the Hollywood Democratic Committee and was on the executive board of the California State Democratic Committee.^[2] For several decades she was a member of The Wesley United Methodist Church in Los Angeles, California.^[3]

Bonsai called "French black oak forest" was planted by Gloria Stuart in 1982 after returning from France where she picked the acorns while touring the royal forest surrounding the palace at Fontainebleau, near Paris.

Stuart was a friend of the author Christopher Isherwood and his longtime companion, the portraitist Don Bachardy, who made several portraits of Stuart. She discusses her relationship to the pair, and particularly her views on Bachardy's art, in video interviews included among the supplementary outtakes on the DVD release of the documentary film Chris and Don: A Love Story.

Return to acting – 1970s to 2000s[link]

In 1975, after 29 years away from acting, with her husband, Arthur, in a nursing home suffering from Alzheimer's, Gloria got herself an agent and hoped for work. In 1978, Arthur died. Over the next few years she appeared in small parts in television. Then in 1982 came an offer for what was to be one of her favorite scenes in all her films: playing a silver-haired dowager taking a solitary turn around a dance floor with Peter O'Toole in My Favorite Year.

During this period, Stuart took up the Japanese art of bonsai, becoming the first Anglo member of the California Bonsai Society. And she began to travel again, going with friends or on her own to Europe, India, Africa, the Balkans. Five years after husband's death, Stuart became reacquainted with California printer Ward Ritchie (Ward Ritchie Press), whom she had known during her college years. Both widowed, they fell in love. She was fascinated by his antique hand press and asked him to teach her how to run it. She bought her own hand press and established "Imprenta Glorias", and began creating artists' books (books hand-made, labor intensive, usually with a very limited run). Stuart wrote the text, designed the book, set the type, printed the pages, and finished pages with water colors or silk screen or decoupage. Books from Imprenta Glorias are in the Metropolitan Museum, Library of Congress, Huntington Library, J. Paul Getty Museum, Morgan Library, Victoria and Albert Museum, Bibliothèque nationale de France, and numerous private and university collections. No longer able to work with small type and a large heavy press, she gave her press and sets of rare type to Mills College. Stuart and Ritchie kept company (each in their own house) until his death from cancer in 1996.

Not long after Ritchie's death, Stuart landed the character of 100-year-old Rose, at the heart of James Cameron's Titanic. Stuart was nominated for an Academy Award, Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award. She remains the oldest person ever to have been nominated for an Oscar. Suzy Amis credited Stuart for bringing her together on the set with her eventual husband, director James Cameron.^[4]

Stuart published her autobiography, I Just Kept Hoping, in 1999, and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2000. Her last appearance on film was a role in Wim Wenders's Land of Plenty in 2004, and afterward she gave numerous filmed and audio interviews. Stuart continued to work at her artist's books, finishing a miniature about a time when she was in Berkeley, called I Dated J. Robert Oppenheimer.

Other work[link]

When Stuart was 99 years old, she was interviewed by writer and actor Mark Gatiss about her role in theThe Old Dark House by James Whale, and about her co-star Boris Karloff, for his 2010 BBC documentary series A History of Horror.^[5][6]

Death[link]

Stuart was diagnosed with lung cancer at age 95; however, she still lived to see her 100th birthday. Stuart died less than three months later in her sleep of respiratory failure on September 26, 2010, at age 100.^[2]She was cremated.

Documentary of her life[link]

A new documentary is currently in production called "The Secret Life of Old Rose" which explores Stuart's long acting career as well as her career as an artist, fine art printer and printmaker, and bonsai master. The link to support the documentary is: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1696760991/secret-life-of-old-rose-the-art-of-gloria-stuart The documentary is produced and directed by Benjamin Stuart Thompson, Gloria Stuart's grandson.

Awards and honors[link]

On June 19, 2010, Stuart was honored by the Screen Actors Guild for her years of service. She was presented the Ralph Morgan Award by Titanic co-star Frances Fisher and in response Stuart replied, "I'm very, very grateful. I've had a wonderful life of giving and sharing."^[7]

On July 4, 2010, Stuart celebrated her 100th birthday at the ACE Gallery in Beverly Hills with a party hosted by the director of Titanic, James Cameron and his wife, Suzy Amis. Frances Fisher, and Shirley MacLaine were among the guests.^[8]

On July 22, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences honored her career with a program featuring film clips and a conversation between Stuart and film historian Leonard Maltin.^[9]

Stuart later said that she relates with her comeback character of the 100-year-old Rose saying: "I think that's the important thing, if you're full of love, admiration, appreciation of the beautiful things there are in this life, you have it made, really. And I have it made."^[10]

Filmography[link]

Television[link]

See also[link]

Biography portal

• List of oldest and youngest Academy Award winners and nominees

References[link]

Wikinews has related news: Titanic actress Gloria Stuart dies at age 100

Sources[link]

• Stuart, Gloria; Thompson, Sylvia (1999-09-08). Gloria Stuart: I Just Kept Hoping. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company. ISBN 0-316-81571-3. 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Gloria Stuart

• Gloria Stuart at the Internet Movie Database
• Gloria Stuart at the TCM Movie Database
• Gloria Stuart at AllRovi
• Gloria Stuart at Find a Grave
• Works by Gloria Stuart on Open Library at the Internet Archive
• Gloria Stuart of 'Titanic' fame dies at age 100
• Gloria Stuart's Death Announcement (YouTube)
• Gloria Stuart Before Titanic - slideshow by Life magazine