Alexander Kirkland

{{Infobox person | image = Alexander Kirkland (1932 still).jpg | name = Alexander Kirkland | birth_name = William Alexander Kirkland | birth_date = {{Birth date|1901|9|15}} | birth_place = Mexico City, Mexico | death_date = {{circa}} 1986 | death_place = Alimodian, Iloilo, Philippines | spouse = {{plainlist| * {{marriage|Gypsy Rose Lee|1942|1944|end=divorced}} * {{marriage|Phyllis Adams Jenkins|1944|1950|end=divorced}} * {{marriage|Greta Jacqueline "Jackie" Baldridge|1959|1972|end=died}} }} | years_active = 1929–1957 | occupation = Actor, screenwriter }}

'''William Alexander Kirkland''' (September 15, 1901, Mexico City, Mexico – {{circa}} 1986)<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=ouMCAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22baldridge%22+%22alexander+kirkland%22&pg=PA16 ''New York Magazine'' profile], October 19, 1987</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=sOMCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA45 Profile], ''New York Magazine'', September 14, 1987.</ref> was a leading man in Hollywood during the early sound era as well as a stage actor who starred in productions of the Group Theatre in New York.

==Biography== Kirkland was born on September 15, 1901, in Mexico City, the son of Robert Gowland Kirkland and Charlotte Megan. He was the grandson of rear admiral William Alexander Kirkland and Consuela Gowland.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Consuela Gowland Kirkland - 17 Feb 1909, Wed • Page 3|journal=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle|date=1909|page=3|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/16479461/the_brooklyn_daily_eagle/|accessdate=12 January 2018}}</ref>

Kirkland attended the Taft School in Watertown, Connecticut and the University of Virginia.<ref name="Frankel" /> He later attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and while in Philadelphia, he began his acting career at the Hedgerow Theatre in Media, Pennsylvania.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Witham|first1=B.|title=A Sustainable Theatre: Jasper Deeter at Hedgerow|date=2013|publisher=Springer|page=38|isbn=9781137121851|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tjQ8_6glGvkC&pg=PT38|accessdate=12 January 2018}}</ref> His first play on Broadway was ''The Devil to Pay''.<ref name="Frankel" /> He starred as Marius in the 1930 Broadway production of ''Marseilles''.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-brooklyn-citizen-the-premiere-a-new/193368101/|title=The Premiere: A New Experiment|work=The Brooklyn Citizen|date= November 18, 1930|page= 12}}</ref>

He was also a freelance writer and contributed stories to popular national magazines. In the late 1920s, Kirkland moved to Hollywood and starred as leading man to Tallulah Bankhead in ''Tarnished Lady'' (1931).<ref>{{cite book|last1=Vermilye|first1=Jerry|title=The Films of the Thirties|date=1982|publisher=Citadel Press|page=56|isbn=9780806509716|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W69WFAr51dwC|accessdate=12 January 2018}}</ref> Other credits include ''Charlie Chan's Chance'' (1932),<ref>{{cite book|last1=Berlin|first1=Howard M.|title=Charlie Chan's Words of Wisdom|date=2001|publisher=Wildside Press LLC|page=20|isbn=9781587154690|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GVeY83bqv18C&pg=PA20|accessdate=12 January 2018}}</ref> ''Social Register'' (1934)<ref>{{cite book|title=Films in Review, Volume 16|date=1965|publisher=Then and There Media, LCC.|page=90|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zg4LAQAAMAAJ|accessdate=12 January 2018}}</ref> ''A Face in the Crowd'' (1957),<ref>{{cite book|last1=Eagan|first1=Daniel|title=America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry|date=2009|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA|page=528|isbn=9781441116475|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FcioAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA528|accessdate=12 January 2018}}</ref> ''A Passport to Hell'' and ''Devil's Lottery''.<ref name="New York Magazine" />

[[File:Kirkland-Barker-Men-in-White.jpg|thumb|left|Alexander Kirkland and Margaret Barker in the Group Theatre's Broadway production of ''Men in White'' (1933)]]

In the 1930s, he was associated with the Group Theatre (New York), founded by Harold Clurman, Cheryl Crawford and Lee Strasberg.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Dawson|first1=Gary Fisher|title=Documentary Theatre in the United States: An Historical Survey and Analysis of Its Content, Form, and Stagecraft|date=1999|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|page=70|isbn=9780313304491|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u7C6hvrsJpAC&pg=PA70|accessdate=12 January 2018}}</ref>

On radio, Kirkland played David Brewster in the soap opera ''Big Sister'' in the early 1940s,<ref name="rtm0240wdy">{{cite journal|title=What Do You Want to Know?|journal=Radio and Television Mirror|date=February 1940|volume=13|issue=4|page=56|url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Radio-Mirror/40/Mirror-1940-Feb.pdf|access-date=February 22, 2015}}</ref> Curt Lansing in ''John's Other Wife'',<ref name="rtm0540rh">{{cite journal|title=Thursday's Highlights|journal=Radio and Television Mirror|date=June 1940|volume=14|issue=2|page=48|url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Radio-Mirror/40/Mirror-1940-Jun.pdf|access-date=March 1, 2015}}</ref> and Russell Barrington in ''Society Girl'' in that same era.<ref name="rtm0340rh">{{cite journal|title=Thursday's Highlights|journal=Radio and Television Mirror|date=March 1940|volume=13|issue=5|page=50|url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Radio-Mirror/40/Mirror-1940-Mar.pdf|access-date=February 24, 2015}}</ref>

He toured as one of the Yale Puppeteers and then worked with the troupe at the Turnabout Theatre in Los Angeles, which operated from 1941 to 1956. His friend and theater colleague Forman Brown used him as the model for one of his characters in the early gay novel ''Better Angel'' (1933).<ref>{{cite book|last=Slide|first=Anthony|title=Lost Gay Novels: A Reference Guide to Fifty Works From the First Half of the Twentieth Century|year=2003|publisher=Harrington Park Press|location=Binghamton, NY|page=128|isbn=9781560234142|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6Dj1cA_vkV4C&pg=PA128}}</ref>

Kirkland was engaged to actress Margaret Barker, but a planned wedding in 1942 never came to fruition.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archives.nypl.org/the/21722|title=Margaret Barker papers|work=The New York Public Library Archives & Manuscripts|publisher=New York Public Library|first=Camille Croce|last= Dee|access-date=April 10, 2026}}</ref> He married entertainer Gypsy Rose Lee in 1942. Carl Van Doren introduced them.<ref name="Frankel">{{cite book|last1=Frankel|first1=Noralee|title=Stripping Gypsy: The Life of Gypsy Rose Lee|date=2010|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=121|isbn=9780199754335|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=riwpDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA121|accessdate=12 January 2018}}</ref> They separated after three months<ref>{{cite news|last=Morrisroe |first=Patricia |title='Too Much Money, Too Much Time': The Life and Death of Sandy Marsh|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sOMCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA45|accessdate=March 4, 2013|newspaper=New York Magazine|date=September 14, 1987}}</ref> and finally were divorced in 1944. Their son Eric later was recognized as the son of director Otto Preminger.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hirsch|first1=Foster|title=Otto Preminger: The Man Who Would Be King|date=2011|publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group|page=194|isbn=9780307489210|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cQOEiGn76iwC&pg=PT194|accessdate=12 January 2018}}</ref>

From 1944 to 1950, he was married to socialite, actress, and TV producer Phyllis Adams (1923-2004), and they had one daughter, Alexandra "Sandy" Marsh, who committed suicide falling from the Park Belvedere 28th floor in 1987.<ref name="Frankel" /> Adams later remarried in 1955 to art director George Jenkins.<ref name="New York Magazine">{{cite journal|title=14 Sep 1987|journal=New York Magazine|date=1987|page=44|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sOMCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA44|accessdate=12 January 2018}}</ref>

In the 1950s, Kirkland owned an art gallery in Palm Beach, Florida, and in 1945, he purchased Villa del Sarmiento, an oceanfront Palm Beach estate.<ref name="New York Magazine" />

In 1959, he married Greta Hunter-Thompson Baldridge, a former Ziegfeld Follies girl, widow of a co-heir of the National Steel Corporation. They lived in Palm Beach, Fairfield, Connecticut, and Cuernavaca, Mexico. Greta died in 1972 in Mexico City.

After the death of his third wife, Kirkland was connected to British actress Margot Grahame.<ref>{{cite journal|title=09 Nov 1974, Sat • Page 26|journal=The News-Item|date=1974|page=26|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/16480337/the_newsitem/|accessdate=12 January 2018}}</ref>

At the time of his death, Kirkland was living in Cuernavaca, and his daughter said he had wasted all of his money. He died in Alimodian, Iloilo, Philippines. <ref name="New York Magazine" />

== In Literature == Forman Brown, early gay novelist and member of the Yale Puppeteers, stated that the character of Tony in his novel ''Better Angel'' was based on Kirkland and presumably his own experiences with him.

==Broadway credits== * ''Wings Over Europe'' (1928) * ''Men in White'' (1933)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/men-in-white-11758 |title=Men in White |publisher=Internet Broadway Database |accessdate=2017-07-12}}</ref> * ''Gold Eagle Guy'' (1934)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/gold-eagle-guy-9388 |title=Gold Eagle Guy |publisher=Internet Broadway Database |accessdate=2017-07-12}}</ref> * ''Till the Day I Die'' (1935)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/till-the-day-i-die-9727 |title=Till the Day I Die |publisher=Internet Broadway Database |accessdate=2017-07-12}}</ref> * ''Weep for the Virgins'' (1935)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/weep-for-the-virgins-12036 |title=Weep for the Virgins |publisher=Internet Broadway Database |accessdate=2017-07-12}}</ref> * ''The Case of Clyde Griffiths'' (1936)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/case-of-clyde-griffiths-12106 |title=The Case of Clyde Griffiths |publisher=Internet Broadway Database |accessdate=2017-07-09}}</ref> * ''Many Mansions'' (1937)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://erpapers.columbian.gwu.edu/browse-my-day-columns|title=Browse My Day Columns {{!}} Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project {{!}} The George Washington University|website=erpapers.columbian.gwu.edu|access-date=2016-12-07}}</ref>

==Filmography== This filmography is believed to be complete. {| class="wikitable sortable" |- ! Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |- |Rowspan=2|1931 | ''Tarnished Lady'' | DeWitt Taylor | |- | ''Surrender'' | Major Dietrich Reichendorf | |- |rowspan=5|1932 | ''Charlie Chan's Chance'' | John R. Douglas | |- | ''Devil's Lottery'' | Stephen Alden | |- | ''Almost Married'' | Louis Capristi / Charles Pringle | |- | ''Strange Interlude'' | Sam Evans | |- | ''A Passport to Hell'' | Lt. Erich von Sydow | |- |Rowspan=3|1933 | ''Humanity'' | Bill MacDonald | |- | ''Black Beauty'' | Henry Cameron | |- | ''Bondage'' | Dr. Nelson | |- | 1934 | ''The Social Register'' | Charlie Breene | |- | 1947 | ''13 Rue Madeleine'' | Briefing Officer | Uncredited |- | 1957 | ''A Face in the Crowd'' | Jim Collier | |}

==References== {{Reflist|30em}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Slide |first=Anthony |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6Dj1cA_vkV4C&pg=PA128 |title=Lost Gay Novels: A Reference Guide to Fifty Works from the First Half of the Twentieth Century |date=2003 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-1-56023-414-2 |language=en}}</ref>

==External links== * {{IBDB name|48217}} * {{IMDb name|456628}} * [http://hollywoodheyday.blogspot.com/2009/08/whos-who-this-week-in-pictures.html Alexander Kirkland profile], hollywoodheyday.blogspot.com, August 2009; accessed July 26, 2015. * [http://broadway.cas.sc.edu/content/alexander-kirkland Profile], broadway.cas.sc.edu; accessed July 26, 2015.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirkland, Alexander}} Category:1901 births Category:1980s deaths Category:American male film actors Category:20th-century American male actors Category:Year of death uncertain Category:Place of death missing Category:Date of death missing Category:American expatriates in Mexico