{{Short description|Danish model and actress (1907–1959)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}} {{Infobox person | name = Gwili Andre | image = Gwili Andre Argentinean Magazine AD.jpg | image_size = | caption = Andre in 1932 | birth_name = Gurli Ingeborg Elna Andresen | birth_date = {{Birth date|1907|02|04|df=yes}} | birth_place = Copenhagen, Denmark | death_date = {{Death date and age|1959|02|05|1907|02|04|df=yes}} | death_place = Venice, California, U.S. | other_names = Gwili Mlotkowski<br>Gwili A. Cross | occupation = Model, actress | years_active = 1932–1942 | spouse = {{plainlist| * {{marriage|Stanisŀaw Mlotkowski|1929|1935|reason=divorced}} * {{marriage|William Dallas Cross, Jr.|1940|1948|reason=divorced}} }} | children = 1 }}
'''Gwili Andre''' (born '''Gurli Ingeborg Elna Andresen'''; 4 February 1907 – 5 February 1959) was a Danish model and actress who had a brief career in Hollywood films.<ref name=fga>{{cite journal|last1=Wagner|first1=Laura|title=Gwili Andre: An Ideal Model|journal=Films of the Golden Age|date=Summer 2014|issue=77|pages=63–64}}</ref>
==Early years== Born in Frederiksberg, Andre had two sisters. Her parents were Carl Axel Andresen and Emma Marie Ellen Sørensen Bruun, married in 1904. Her parents divorced, and her father remarried in 1917.<ref name=fga/>
== Career == Andre came to Hollywood in the early 1930s with the intention of establishing herself as a film star after working for several years as a model in Europe and New York. She was reportedly spotted by David O. Selznick at the premiere of a Broadway show. Selznick was taken by her beauty, and he arranged for a screen test.<ref name="wollstein">{{cite book|last=Wollstein|first=Hans J.|title=Strangers in Hollywood: The History of Scandinavian Actors in American Films From 1910 To World War II|year=1994|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=0-810-82938-X|pages=18–20}}</ref>
She was signed to RKO Studio, and in 1932 appeared in ''Roar of the Dragon''<ref>{{cite book |last1=Richards |first1=Jeffrey |title=China and the Chinese in Popular Film: From Fu Manchu to Charlie Chan |date=2016 |publisher=I.B.Tauris |isbn=9781786720641 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OgPCDQAAQBAJ&q=%22Gwili+Andre%22&pg=PT142 |accessdate=18 April 2019 |language=en}}</ref> and ''Secrets of the French Police''.<ref name=rko>{{cite book |last1=Pitts |first1=Michael R. |title=RKO Radio Pictures Horror, Science Fiction and Fantasy Films, 1929-1956 |date=2015 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=9780786460472 |page=267 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=op6vBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA267 |accessdate=18 April 2019 |language=en}}</ref> While her striking looks were likened to that of Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich,{{r|rko|page1=268}} her acting garnered poor reviews. One newspaper columnist called her a "stiff, colorless and completely talentless performer." Despite the poor reviews of her acting, RKO began using her glamorous looks to promote her career.<ref name=glamour>{{cite web|url=http://www.glamourgirlsofthesilverscreen.com/show/564/Gwili+Andre/index.html|title=The Private Life and Times of Gwili Andre|publisher=glamourgirlsofthesilverscreen.com|accessdate=1 June 2010}}</ref> A widespread publicity campaign ensured that her name and face became well known to the American public, but her next role in ''No Other Woman'' (1933), opposite Irene Dunne, was not the success the studio expected. Over the next few years, she was relegated to supporting roles which included a role in the Joan Crawford picture ''A Woman's Face'' (1941).<ref>{{Cite news|last=T.s|date=1941-05-16|title=At the Capitol|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1941/05/16/archives/at-the-capitol.html|access-date=2020-06-09|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
==Personal life== Andre was married twice. She was married to prize-winning chess master and realtor Stanisław (Stasch) Mlotkowski in 1929. They separated in 1930 and divorced in 1935.<ref>{{cite news|title=Reno Divorce Lists for '35 Show Gains Over Year Ago|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4040706/oakland_tribune/|work=Oakland Tribune|date=23 April 1935|location=California, Oakland|page=18|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = 14 January 2016}} {{Open access}}</ref> Andre then married engineer William Dallas Cross Jr. in 1943.<ref name="wollstein"/> They had a son, Peter Lance Cross, in February 1944. They divorced in 1948.<ref name=glamour/>
==Later years and death== By the early 1940s, Andre's film career had come to a standstill. Her final role was a minor part in ''The Falcon's Brother'', one of the popular Falcon series, in 1942. She did not return to the screen, but she spent the rest of her life trying to orchestrate a comeback. Andre returned to her native Denmark with her son after her divorce from William Cross Jr. but returned to New York City in 1954. She eventually moved back to California.
On 5 February 1959, Andre died in a fire that started in her apartment in Venice, California<ref>{{cite news|title=Once a Top Model|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4040729/the_kansas_city_times/|work=The Kansas City Times|date=7 February 1959|location=Missouri, Kansas City|page=20|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = 14 January 2016}} {{Open access}}</ref> where she lived alone. The cause of the fire never was determined.<ref name=glamour/> Upon her death, she was cremated at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California, with funeral services conducted at the Little Church of the Flowers,<ref>{{Cite news|date=1959-02-09|title=Obituary for Gwili A. Cross|pages=84|work=Los Angeles Times|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/43191501/obituary-for-gwili-a-cross/|access-date=2020-06-09}}</ref> and her ashes sent for burial at Søndermark Cemetery in Copenhagen, Denmark.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FOHgDAAAQBAJ&q=Gwili+Andre+burial+site&pg=PA22|title=Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed.|first=Scott|last=Wilson|date=19 August 2016|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9781476625997|via=Google Books}}</ref>
==Filmography== {| class="wikitable sortable" |- ! Year ! Title ! Role ! Director |- | rowspan=2| 1932 | ''Roar of the Dragon'' | Natascha | Wesley Ruggles |- | ''Secrets of the French Police'' | Eugenie Dorain | A. Edward Sutherland |- | 1933 | ''No Other Woman'' | Margot Van Deering | J. Walter Ruben |- | rowspan=2| 1937 | ''Meet the Boyfriend'' | Vilma Vlare | Ralph Staub |- | ''The Girl Said No'' | Gretchen Holman | Andrew L. Stone |- | 1941 | ''A Woman's Face'' | Gusta | George Cukor |- | 1942 | ''The Falcon's Brother'' | Diane Medford | Stanley Logan |- |}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{commons category|Gwili Andre}} *{{IMDb name|0028145}} *[http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art32008.asp Gwili Andre Article at Bellaonline.com] *{{Tcmdb name}} *[http://ao.salldata.dk/vis1.php?bsid=149693&side=249 County of Copenhagen, Sokkelund, Frederiksberg, 1904-1909 birth record] Gwili # 33, bottom of the page.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Andre, Gwili}} Category:1907 births Category:1959 deaths Category:20th-century Danish actresses Category:Accidental deaths in California Category:Danish emigrants to the United States Category:Danish expatriate actors in the United States Category:Danish female models Category:Danish film actresses Category:Deaths from fire in the United States Category:Actresses from Copenhagen