Gretchen Hartman


Gretchen Hartman was an American stage and film actress. She is credited on 67 movies, nearly all silent, but is perhaps better known as the wife of actor Alan Hale Sr., and mother of actor Alan Hale Jr..

Personal

Hartman was born Grace Barrett in Chicago, the daughter of actress Agnes A. Hartman. She was the sister of actress Ruth Hartman, and the aunt of actor Carlyle Blackwell, Jr. In 1914, she married actor Rufus Edward Mackahan, who used the stage name of Alan Hale, Sr., and the couple had three children, one of them the actor Alan Hale Jr. Hartman died on January 27, 1979, at the age of 81, and is buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California, next to her husband.

Career

Hartman starred in Broadway plays as a child, starting her career at age nine. She started working in the theater under the name Greta Arbin before making her film debut. Her major roles were in: The Law and the Man, Uncle Tom's Cabin, Mary Jane's Pa, and Sweethearts. She created the role of Mary Jane in Mary Jane's Pa.
She started her film career with roles in short films beginning in 1911, when she starred as Rosalie in the film For the Flag of France. A popular figure in the silent film era, her best known films are Colomba, from the novel by Prosper Mérimée, The Purple Lady, with her husband, Victor Hugo's Les Miserábles, The Bandbox, Bride 13, His Brothers Keeper, and While Justice Waits.
In 1915, she made a version of the popular novel East Lynne by Mrs. Henry Wood.
In 1917–18 she acted in three films for Fox studios under the name Sonia Markova returning to the name Gretchen Hartman soon after. Besides Sonia Markova, she also used the stage name Greta Hartman.
In the 1920s her career was in decline, and she retired with the advent of sound films. In 1952 she made an uncredited appearance in the film Room for One More.

Filmography