Gwili Andre

albatros1 ( 2007-12-14 )

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Gwili Andre (February 4, 1908 – February 5, 1959) was a Danish actress who had a brief career in Hollywood films. Born Gurli Andresen in Copenhagen, Denmark, Andre came to Hollywood in the early 1930s. She appeared in the RKO Studio films, Roar of the Dragon and Secrets of the French Police (both 1932) and began to attract attention for her striking good looks. Her next role in No Other Woman, was not the success the studio expected. Over the next few years she was relegated to supporting roles. Her final role was a minor part in The Falcon's Brother in 1942. She did not return to the screen, although she spent the rest of her life trying to orchestrate a comeback. As she faced further rejection, she found solace in alcohol. In 1959, on the day after her birthday, she committed suicide in a bizarre fashion. Alone in her apartment in Venice, California, Andre surrounded herself with reams of publicity photographs and press clippings, all of which represented the career she had expected but had not achieved. Setting the paper alight, she allowed herself to be consumed by the fire, sustaining injuries which caused her death. Andre is chiefly recalled as a cautionary example of the indifference of the Hollywood system and the anguish of a person emotionally unable to cope with initial success and promise followed by immediate and irreversible failure.