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Alexander Kirkland

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Alexander Kirkland
Born
William Alexander Kirkland

(1901-09-15)September 15, 1901
DiedCirca 1986
Unknown
Occupation(s)Actor, screenwriter
Years active1929–1957
Spouse(s)Gypsy Rose Lee (1942–1944; divorced)
Phyllis Adams Jenkins (1944–1950; divorced)
Greta Jacqueline "Jackie" Baldridge (née Hunter; m. 1959-1972; her death)

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

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.[citation needed]

Broadway

Filmography

This filmography is believed to be complete.

References

  1. ^ New York Magazine profile, October 19, 1987
  2. ^ Profile, New York Magazine, September 14, 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 February 22, 2015.
  5. ^ "Thursday's Highlights" (PDF). Radio and Television Mirror. 14 (2): 48. June 1940. Retrieved March 1, 2015.
  6. ^ "Thursday's Highlights" (PDF). Radio and Television Mirror. 13 (5): 50. March 1940. Retrieved February 24, 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.