{{short description|Australian actress}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2020}} {{Use Australian English|date=September 2011}} {{Infobox person | name = Gwen Gaze | image = I Cover the War 1937.JPG | caption = Lobby card from ''I Cover the War'' (1937) with John Wayne and Gwen Gaze | birth_date = 6 September 1915 | birth_place = Melbourne, Victoria, Australia | death_date = {{death date|df=yes|2010|8|29}} (aged 94) | death_place = Seattle, Washington, U.S. | years_active = 1937–1943 | birth_name = Alta Gwendolyn Gaze | other_names = Gwen Steinhart (married name) | occupation = Actress | spouse = Martin Straith<ref>[https://vimeo.com/15586259 Gwen Gaze: Her Life In Her Words], vimeo.com; accessed 13 June 2017.</ref> (1944-1948, his death)<br />Arden C. Steinhart (1969-1994, his death) | children = Peter, Carol }}

'''Alta Gwendolyn Gaze''' (6 September 1915<ref>Date of birth from Social Security Death Index for Gwen Steinhart; SS# 568-07-6663</ref> &ndash; 29 August 2010)<ref name="legacy.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituariesseattletimes/obituary.aspx?n=gwen-gaze-steinhart&pid=145442096|title=Gwen Gaze Obituary|access-date=20 September 2010|work=legacy.com}}</ref> was an American-based film actress (1937–1943), born in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Gaze was a graduate of Pasadena Junior College in California and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, England.<ref name=opa/> She acted in several productions while she was in England.<ref name="ei">{{cite news |title=Two Girls Given Contracts by Studios |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21828733/the_edwardsville_intelligencer/ |work=The Edwardsville Intelligencer |date=19 April 1937 |location=Illinois, Edwardsville |page=2|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = 13 July 2018}} {{Open access}}</ref> After relocating to the United States,<ref name="opa" /> she acted in Little Theatre productions.<ref name="ei" /> She also appeared in ''The Women'' on stage in New York.<ref name="opa">{{cite book |last1=Lentz |first1=Harris M. III |title=Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2010 |date=2011 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=9780786486496 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UX_GCwAAQBAJ&q=%22Gwen+Gaze%22+actress&pg=PA151 |pages=151–152 |access-date=13 July 2018 |language=en}}</ref>

Gaze was signed by Universal Pictures, making her film debut opposite John Wayne in ''I Cover the War'' (1937)''.<ref>{{cite news |title=The Pageant of The Film World |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21825840/the_los_angeles_times/ |work=The Los Angeles Times |date=12 April 1937 |location=California, Los Angeles |page=34|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = 13 July 2018}} {{Open access}}</ref> '' She worked in two Hopalong Cassidy films in 1938, playing opposite William Boyd. Her first Hoppy film, ''Partners of the Plains'', offered one of her strongest characters as domineering English girl, Lorna Drake.{{citation needed|date=June 2017}} She is perhaps best remembered as the ingenue in the 1938 serial ''The Secret of Treasure Island'' opposite action star Don Terry.

In the early 1940s, Gaze worked in radio in New York and Hollywood before moving to Vancouver, British Columbia, where she was a member of the staff at CKWX radio.<ref name="fga">{{cite journal |last1=Wagner |first1=Laura |title=Gwen Gaze |journal=Films of the Golden Age |date=Winter 2017–2018 |issue=91 |page=52}}</ref>

In 1944, Gaze married Martin Straith, temporarily ending her career. They had two children. After he died in 1948, she resumed working on radio in Vancouver and performed on stage and on television. In 1969, Gaze married architect Arden C. Steinhart, and they moved to Seattle. He died in 1994.<ref name="fga" />

Gaze died in Seattle, Washington in 2010.

==Partial filmography== * ''I Cover the War'' (1937) * ''Partners of the Plains'' (1938) * ''The Secret of Treasure Island'' (1938, serial) * ''Bar 20 Justice'' (1938) * ''West of Pinto Basin'' (1940) * ''Underground Rustlers'' (1941) * ''Wrangler's Roost'' (1941) * ''House of Errors'' (1942) * ''Two Fisted Justice'' (1943)

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *{{IMDb name|id=0311082|name=Gwen Gaze}} *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nd07OSf63Mc ''Underground Rustlers'' from YouTube]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaze, Gwen}} Category:1915 births Category:2010 deaths Category:Actresses from Melbourne Category:Australian film actresses Category:Australian expatriate actresses in the United States Category:20th-century Australian actresses Category:21st-century Australian actresses