Biography

Gertrude Berkeley ( 24 June 1864 – 15 June 1946) was an American actress of stage and screen. She began her career performing in repertory theatre in the 1880s, and performed widely in touring road companies and stock theatre during the latter half of the 19th century into the early twentieth century. She appeared with some regularity on Broadway from 1906 through 1917; performing in plays by Louis K. Anspacher, J. M. Barrie, Rachel Crothers, and Henrik Ibsen. As a stage actress she is best remembered for creating the role of Mrs. March in the original Broadway and national touring productions of Marian de Forest's Little Women; a play adapted from the novel by Louisa May Alcott. She made several silent films with the Fox Film Corporation from 1915 to 1921; often portraying motherly figures or comic older women. She was the mother of film director and musical choreographer Busby Berkeley.