Olga Grey

{{short description|American actress}} {{distinguish|Olga Gray}} {{Infobox person | image = Olga Grey 1916.jpg | caption = From ''The Photo-Play Journal'', 1916. | name = Olga Grey | birth_name = Anushka Zacsek | birth_date = November 10, 1896 | birth_place = New York City, New York, U.S. | death_date = April 25, 1973 (aged 76) | death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S. | other_names = Olga Gray | occupation = Actress | years_active = 1915 - 1920 }}

'''Olga Grey''' (born '''Anushka Zacsek'''<ref name="p" /><ref>{{cite book |last1=Slide |first1=Anthony |title=Silent Players: A Biographical and Autobiographical Study of 100 Silent Film Actors and Actresses |date=2010 |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |isbn=9780813127088 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=plpL_xdI6NoC&q=%22Olga+Grey%22+vamp&pg=PT298 |access-date=15 March 2019 |language=en}}</ref> or '''Anna Zacsek''', November 10, 1896 – April 25, 1973<ref>[http://ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi?lastname=Zacsek&firstname=&nt=exact Social Security Death Index, listed as Anna Zacsek] Accessed April 25, 2009</ref>) was an American silent film actress, sometimes billed with the alternate spelling of her last name, '''Olga Gray'''.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/PersonDetails/119022 | title=Olga Gray | publisher=American Film Institute | access-date=September 22, 2018}}</ref>

She was born in New York City<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yCurDwAAQBAJ&q=Olga+Grey+1896&pg=PT102|title=Silents of the Vamps: Bad Girls You Don't Know - But Should|date=|website=|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|last1=Redmond|first1=Jennifer Ann}}</ref><ref>{{citation |title=1940 United States Federal Census |url=https://www.ancestryinstitution.com/discoveryui-content/view/69212863:2442 |access-date=2023-09-28}}</ref> to Hungarian immigrants. Her father wanted her to become a violinist, so she studied music while harboring dreams of being an actress. She appeared in some amateur productions before joining a Little Theatre in Los Angeles. Her success there paved the way for her work in films.<ref name="p">{{cite journal |title=A Vamp With a Goulash Name |journal=Photoplay Magazine |date=February 1917 |volume=XI |issue=3 |page=73 |url=https://archive.org/stream/photoplayvolume11112chic#page/79/mode/1up |access-date=15 March 2019}}</ref>

By her late teens, she was pursuing an acting career in Hollywood. She began working as an extra.<ref name="p" /> Her first film appearance was in the 1915 film ''His Lesson'', in which she had the lead role. She would have twelve film roles that year, including a role (as the actress Laura Keene) in the now classic and controversial film ''The Birth of a Nation'', starring Lillian Gish, Mae Marsh, and directed by D. W. Griffith.

In 1916 she appeared in seven films, including the role of "Lady Agnes" in ''Macbeth''. She would have another eleven roles between 1917 and 1920, with a steady decline of quality roles.

In 1920 she married film actor Arnold Gregg (real name: Arnold Ray Samberg).<ref>{{cite news |title=Film favorite bares secret marriage |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=LAH19210413.2.16 |work=The Los Angeles Herald |date=April 13, 1921 |page=1}}</ref> She later became an attorney under her original name, Anna Zacsek, passing the California bar in 1932.<ref>{{cite news |title=Retired actress passes bar exam |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SPNP19321210.2.102 |work=San Pedro News Pilot |agency=AP |date=December 10, 1932 |page=4}}</ref> In 1942 she was one of the defense attorneys in the "Sleepy Lagoon" trials, defending gang members Henry Leyvas, Victor Segobia, and Edward Grandpré.<ref name="msl">{{cite book |last1=Pagán |first1=Eduardo Obregón |title=Murder at the Sleepy Lagoon: Zoot Suits, Race, and Riot in Wartime L.A. |date=2004 |publisher=Univ of North Carolina Press |isbn=9780807862094 |pages=77–87 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3W-rk4EaeYEC&q=%22Anna+Zacsek%22&pg=PA77 |access-date=15 March 2019 |language=en}}</ref> She was the only woman attorney in the courtroom for these trials.<ref>Catherine Sue Ramirez, ''The Woman in the Zoot Suit: Gender, Nationalism, and the Cultural Politics of Memory'' (Duke University Press 2008): 99-100.</ref>

Anna Zacsek was residing in Los Angeles at the time of her death on April 25, 1973, aged 76.

==Filmography== {| class="wikitable" |- ! Year ! Title ! Role ! Notes |- |1915|| ''The Birth of a Nation'' || Laura Keene || Uncredited |- |1915|| ''The Absentee'' || Ruth Farwell / Justice || '''Lost''' film |- |1915|| ''The Failure'' || Rose || '''Lost''' film |- |1915|| ''Double Trouble'' || Madame Leclaire || |- |1916|| ''Macbeth'' || Lady Agnes || '''Lost''' film |- |1916|| ''A Wild Girl of the Sierras'' || Moll || '''Lost''' film |- |1916|| ''Pillars of Society'' || Madame Linda Dorf || '''Lost''' film |- |1916|| ''Intolerance'' || Adultress || |- |1917|| ''The Little Liar'' || Fanny || '''Lost''' film |- |1917|| ''Jim Bludso'' || Gabrielle || '''Lost''' film |- |1917|| ''Love's Law'' || Jealousy || '''Lost''' film |- |1917|| ''The Girl at Home'' || Diana Parish || |- |1917|| ''The Ghost House'' || Alice Atwell || '''Lost''' film |- |1917|| ''The Woman God Forgot'' || Aztec woman || |- |1917|| ''Fanatics'' || Lola Monroe || '''Lost''' film |- |1919|| ''When a Man Rides Alone'' || Beatriz de Taos || '''Lost''' film |- |1919|| ''The Modern Husband'' || Cleo || '''Lost''' film |- |1919|| ''The Mayor of Filbert'' || Miss Greta Schwartz || '''Lost''' film |- |1919|| ''Trixie from Broadway'' || Gertie Brown || '''Lost''' film |- |1920|| ''The Third Eye'' || Zaida Savoy || Serial <br /> '''Lost''' film |}

==References== {{Reflist|1}}

==External links== {{commons category}} *{{IMDb name|0340651}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grey, Olga}} Category:1896 births Category:1973 deaths Category:American film actresses Category:American silent film actresses Category:Actresses from Budapest Category:Actresses from Los Angeles Category:20th-century American actresses Category:20th-century American lawyers