Genevieve Townsend Explained

Genevieve Townsend
Birth Date:	December 4, 1897
Birth Place:	Freeport, Illinois United States
Death Place:	Switzerland
Othername:	Genevieve Schmich, Genevieve Smeek
Occupation:	Film actor stage actor
Yearsactive:	1925 - 1927

Genevieve Schmich (December 4, 1897 – May 1, 1927), known professionally as Genevieve Smeek and Genevieve Townsend, was an American stage and film actress.^[1] She was born in Freeport, Illinois and attended Mount Holyoke College, where she majored in English and English Literature.^[2] After graduating in 1920, she moved to Britain, where she joined Frank Benson's theatre company. During the mid-1920s she had several lead roles in British silent films. She died in Switzerland, of tuberculosis, at the age of 29 in 1927.^[3]

In 1928, Mount Holyoke College established the Genevieve Schmich Award in her honor.^[4]

Selected filmography

• The Secret Kingdom (1925)
• A Girl of London (1925)
• The Qualified Adventurer (1925)
• The Chinese Bungalow (1926)

References

1. https://web.archive.org/web/20090122073121/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/individual/15366 BFI.org
2. https://compass.fivecolleges.edu/islandora/object/mtholyoke:47844 Llamarada, 1920
3. https://www.ancestry.com/sharing/18381623?mark=7b22746f6b656e223a2273455162684c7a7a4575676b66694b484c2f2f7763504c344c5a4f35755a50784e53562b744478632b30773d222c22746f6b656e5f76657273696f6e223a225632227d Ancestry.com, "Reports of Deaths of American Citizens Abroad, 1835-1974"
4. https://aspace.fivecolleges.edu/repositories/2/resources/481 Mount Holyoke and Hampshire College Archives, Genevieve Schmich Award records

Sources

Trewin, J. C. (1960). Benson and the Bensonians. London: Barrie and Rockliff.