June Marlowe

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June Marlowe (November 6, 1903 - March 10, 1984), was an American actress, most notable for appearing in six Our Gang short subjects as the lovely schoolteacher 'Miss Crabtree'.

Marlowe was born Gisela Goetten, of German heritage, in St. Cloud, Minnesota. She was a prolific actress in silent films during the 1920s, appearing in films opposite John Barrymore and Rin Tin Tin. Her career did well, until the addition of sound to film. Marlowe didn't make an easy transfer over to talking pictures, and by 1930 was starting to drift away from acting.

By chance, she happened to meet Our Gang director Robert F. McGowan one day in a Los Angeles, California department store. He was searching for an actress to portray the schoolteacher in the series, and after producer Hal Roach suggested that Marlowe, a brunette, wear a blond wig to match Jackie Cooper's hair, she got the part.

The three Our Gang films which pair Marlowe with Jackie Cooper's character, Teacher's Pet (1930), School's Out (1930), and Love Business (1931), are among the three most famous films in the series. She also has a small role in 1931's Little Daddy. Besides her work in Our Gang, Marlowe also appeared in fellow Roach stars Laurel and Hardy's first feature film, Pardon Us.

After Cooper left Our Gang in 1931 to appear in MGM features, Marlowe's Miss Crabtree character was used in only two more shorts, 1931's Shiver My Timbers and 1932's Readin' and Writin.

In 1933, Marlowe married Hollywood businessman Rodney Sprigg, and she retired from motion pictures to become a housewife. In her later years, she suffered from Parkinson's disease, dying from complications caused by it on March 10, 1984, aged 80.

Marlowe was originally buried at the San Fernando Mission Cemetery, but was later interred in the new Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles in 2002.

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