{{short description|American opera singer}}
thumb|Alice Gentle in 1918 on the telephone [[File:Song of the Flame 1930.JPG|thumb|300px|Gentle (second from left) in a scene from the 1930 film ''Song of the Flame''.]] '''Alice Gentle''' ({{nee}} '''True''', later '''Proebstel'''; June 30, 1877/1878 – February 28, 1958) was an American operatic mezzo-soprano.<ref name=obit/>
==Biography== Alice True was born in Chatsworth, Illinois, the youngest of three children, all daughters, born to John and Emma Catherine (Shroyer) True.<ref name=obit/> She appeared at the age of 2 in the 1880 United States Census for her family, indicating she was born in 1877 or 1878, although she would later shave years off her age, giving such years as 1885 and 1888.<ref name=1880census>{{cite news|url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MXVD-FK1?from=lynx1UIV8&treeref=9S3G-KSR|work=familysearch.org|title=1880 US Census}}</ref>
She began her career in 1908 as a member of the opera chorus in Oscar Hammerstein I's Manhattan Opera Company (MOC). Impressed with Gentle's talents, Hammerstein began casting her in secondary roles in MOC productions in 1909, beginning with the role of Mercédès in Georges Bizet's ''Carmen''. She sang roles with the MOC and with Hammerstein's Philadelphia Opera Company through 1910; including Emilia in ''Otello'', the First maid in ''Elektra'', Flora in ''La traviata'', Lola in ''Cavalleria rusticana'', Maddalena in ''Rigoletto'', Nicklausse in ''The Tales of Hoffmann'', and Siébel in ''Faust'' among others.<ref name="POC">Free Library of Philadelphia: ''Folder: Philadelphia Opera Company 1908-1910''</ref>
Gentle also performed in two Broadway musicals, ''The Opera Ball'' (1912) and ''All for the Ladies'' (1912-1913).<ref>{{cite book|pages=199–200|chapter=All for the Ladies|author=Dan Dietz|title=The Complete Book of 1910s Broadway Musicals|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|year=2021|isbn=9781538150283}}</ref>
In 1916, she portrayed Federico in Ambroise Thomas's ''Mignon'' at La Scala in Milan. She sang one season at the Metropolitan Opera, making her debut with the company in 1918 as Preziosilla in ''La forza del destino''. Later that year, she created the role of Frugola in the world premiere of Puccini's ''Il Tabarro''. Her only other role at the Met was Fatima in ''Oberon'' in 1919. In 1923, she toured the United States as Carmen with the San Carlo Opera Company. She appeared in three films during the early 1930s: ''Song of the Flame'' (1930), ''Golden Dawn'' (1930), and ''Flying Down to Rio'' (1933). In 1940, she made her final stage appearance at the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera as Mrs. Cripps in ''H.M.S. Pinafore''.<ref name=obit/>
She died on February 28, 1958, in Oakland, California.<ref name=obit>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1958/03/02/archives/alice-gentle-dies-exopera-star-69-mezzo-sang-with-la-scala-and-the.html|work=The New York Times|date=March 2, 1958|title=Alice Gentle Dies ... Mezzo Sang With La Scala and the Metropolitan. Started in Chorus}}</ref> She was survived by her son, actor Bruce MacFarlane ({{ne}} Bruce MacFarlane Gentle).
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{IMDb name|0313127}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gentle, Alice}} Category:1870s births Category:1958 deaths Category:American operatic mezzo-sopranos Category:People from Livingston County, Illinois Category:20th-century American singers Category:20th-century American women singers Category:Singers from Illinois Category:Classical musicians from Illinois Category:Year of birth uncertain