Alexander Kirkland

Alexander Kirkland
Born William Alexander Kirkland
September 15, 1901
Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico
Died U.S.
Occupation actor, screenwriter
Years active 1929–1957
Spouse(s) Greta T. Baldridge
Gypsy Rose Lee (1942–1944)
Phyllis Adams Jenkins (1944–1950)

William Alexander Kirkland (September 15, 1901 – 1986)[1][2] was a leading man in Hollywood during the early sound era, as well as a notable actor in Pittsburgh theatre. He was born in Mexico City, Mexico.

He attended the Taft School in Watertown, Connecticut and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. He toured as one of the Yale Puppeteers and then worked with the troupe at the Turnabout Theatre in Los Angeles, which operated from 1941 to 1956. His friend and theater colleague Forman Brown used him as the model for one of his characters in the early gay romance novel Better Angel (1933).[3]

On radio, Kirkland played David Brewster in the soap opera Big Sister in the early 1940s,[4] Curt Lansing in John's Other Wife,[5] and Russell Barrington in Society Girl in that same era.[6]

He married entertainer Gypsy Rose Lee in 1942. They separated after three months[7] and finally were divorced in 1944. From 1944 to 1950, he was married to socialite, actress, and TV producer Phyllis Adams Jenkins (1923-2004).

Little is known about his later years, but there have been no sources indicating his death, save from a source on IMDB, claiming his death sometime in the 1980s.

Broadway

Filmography

This filmography is believed to be complete.

References

  1. New York Magazine 19 October 1987
  2. New York Magazine 14 September 1987
  3. Slide, Anthony (2003). Lost Gay Novels: A Reference Guide to Fifty Works From the First Half of the Twentieth Century. Binghamton, NY: Harrington Park Press. p. 128.
  4. "What Do You Want to Know?" (PDF). Radio and Television Mirror 13 (4): 56. February 1940. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
  5. "Thursday's Highlights" (PDF). Radio and Television Mirror 14 (2): 48. June 1940. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  6. "Thursday's Highlights" (PDF). Radio and Television Mirror 13 (5): 50. March 1940. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  7. Morrisroe, Patricia (September 14, 1987). "'Too Much Money, Too Much Time': The Life and Death of Sandy Marsh". New York Magazine. Retrieved March 4, 2013.

External links