Gloria Stuart (July 4, 1910 – September 26, 2010) was an American film actress whose career spanned over 70 years. She made her feature film debut in Street of Women (1932), before signing a contract with Universal Pictures. She appeared in numerous Pre-code era films for the studio, including the horror comedy The Old Dark House (1932), and the drama Laughter in Hell (1933). She starred as Flora Cranley in The Invisible Man (1933), which garnered her widespread fame, and later starred in two films opposite Shirley Temple: Poor Little Rich Girl (1936), and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1938), both for 20th Century Fox. She subsequently co-starred in The Three Musketeers (1939) opposite Don Ameche.
Dissatisfied with her career in film, Stuart shifted her focus to stage acting. Between 1940 and 1942, Stuart appeared in numerous summer stock plays in New England, including a 1940 production of Our Town in which she starred alongside its playwright and director, Thornton Wilder. By the mid-1940s, Stuart was dedicating her time to the pursuit of various visual arts, including painting, printmaking, serigraphy, Bonsai, and découpage. She gradually returned to acting in the 1970s after a decades-long career as an artist, appearing in minor roles in such films as Richard Benjamin's My Favorite Year (1982) and Wildcats (1986).
Stuart was cast as 101-year-old Rose Calvert in James Cameron's drama Titanic (1997), which earned her international notoriety, as well as numerous accolades, including an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress; which as of 2021, she remains the oldest nominee for the category. Her final film performance was a minor part in Wim Wenders' Land of Plenty (2004), before her death in 2010 at age 100.
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1932 | Street of Women | Doris "Dodo" Baldwin | ||
| 1932 | Ellen Steffens | [1] | ||
| 1932 | Margaret Waverton | |||
| 1932 | Air Mail | Ruth Barnes | ||
| 1933 | Laughter in Hell | Lorraine | ||
| 1933 | Sweepings | Phoebe | ||
| 1933 | Private Jones | Mary Gregg | ||
| 1933 | Lucy Bernsdorf | |||
| 1933 | Mary Dolan | |||
| 1933 | It's Great to Be Alive | Dorothy Wilton | ||
| 1933 | Irene von Helldorf | |||
| 1933 | Flora Cranley | |||
| 1933 | Roman Scandals | Princess Sylvia | ||
| 1934 | Beloved | Lucy Tarrant Hausmann | ||
| 1934 | I Like It That Way | Anne Rogers/Dolly Lavern | ||
| 1934 | I'll Tell the World | Jane Hamilton | ||
| 1934 | Alice Trask | |||
| 1934 | Here Comes the Navy | Dorothy | ||
| 1934 | Gift of Gab | Barbara Kelton | ||
| 1935 | Maybe It's Love | Bobby Halevy | ||
| 1935 | Gold Diggers of 1935 | Ann Prentiss | ||
| 1935 | Laddie | Pamela Pryor | ||
| 1935 | Professional Soldier | Countess Sonia | ||
| 1936 | Mrs. Peggy Mudd | |||
| 1936 | Ellen Godfrey | |||
| 1936 | Poor Little Rich Girl | Margaret Allen | ||
| 1936 | 36 Hours to Kill | Anne Marvis | ||
| 1936 | Joan Langford | |||
| 1936 | Wanted! Jane Turner | Doris Martin | ||
| 1937 | Girl Overboard | Mary Chesbrooke | ||
| 1937 | Linda Ryan | |||
| 1937 | Life Begins in College | Janet O'Hara | ||
| 1938 | Change of Heart | Carol Murdock | ||
| 1938 | Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm | Gwen Warren | ||
| 1938 | Island in the Sky | Julie Hayes | ||
| 1938 | Keep Smiling | Carol Walters | ||
| 1938 | Time Out for Murder | Margie Ross | ||
| 1938 | Ann Adams Hayward | |||
| 1939 | Queen Anne | |||
| 1939 | Winner Take All | Julie Harrison | ||
| 1939 | It Could Happen to You | Doris Winslow | ||
| 1943 | Here Comes Elmer | Glenda Forbes | ||
| 1944 | Alice Walker | |||
| 1944 | Enemy of Women | Bertha | ||
| 1946 | She Wrote the Book | Phyllis Fowler | ||
| 1975 | Store customer | |||
| 1975 | Adventures of the Queen | Female passenger | Television film | |
| 1976 | Flood! | Mrs. Parker | Television film | |
| 1977 | In the Glitter Palace | Mrs. Bowman | Television film | |
| 1979 | Rose Hooper | Television film | ||
| 1979 | Television film | |||
| 1979 | Roberta | Television film | ||
| 1980 | Fun and Games | Terri | Television film | |
| 1981 | Mrs. Fowler | Television film | ||
| 1981 | Merlene of the Movies | Evangeline Eaton | Television film | |
| 1982 | My Favorite Year | Mrs. Horn | ||
| 1984 | Mass Appeal | Mrs. Curry | ||
| 1985 | There Were Times, Dear | Television film | ||
| 1986 | Wildcats | Mrs. Connoly | ||
| 1988 | Shootdown | Gertrude | Television film | |
| 1989 | She Knows Too Much | Kiki Watwood | Television film | |
| 1997 | Titanic | Rose Dawson Calvert | ||
| 1999 | Eleanor | [2] | ||
| 1999 | Helen Bishop | Voice role | [3] | |
| 2000 | Jessica | [4] | ||
| 2000 | My Mother, the Spy | Grandma | Television film | |
| 2001 | Eliza Hoops | Television film | ||
| 2004 | Land of Plenty | Old lady | [5] | |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1975 | The Waltons | Saleswoman | 1 episode | |
| 1980 | Enos | Lilly | 1 episode | |
| 1983 | Manimal | Bag Lady | 1 episode | |
| 1987 | Murder, She Wrote | Edna Jarvis | Episode: "The Days Dwindle Down" | |
| 2001 | The Invisible Man | Madeline Fawkes | 1 episode | |
| 2001 | Touched by an Angel | Grams | 1 episode | |
| 2002–2003 | General Hospital | Catherine | 2 episodes | |
| 2003 | Miracles | Rosanna Wye | 1 episode | |
| Year | Title | Role | Venue | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1931 | The Seagull | Masha | The Playbox, Pasadena, California | [7] |
| 1940 | Accent on Youth | Linda Brown | Guilford Theatre, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | [8] |
| 1940 | The Animal Kingdom | Daisy Sage | Town Hall Playhouse, Westborough, Massachusetts | [9] |
| 1940 | Our Town | Emily Webb | University of Massachusetts Amherst | [10] |
| 1940–1942 | Night of January 16th | Karen Andre | Regional New England tour[11] | |
| 1941 | Arms and the Man | Raina Petkoff | Drama Festival, Ann Arbor, Michigan | |
| 1941 | Mr. and Mrs. North | Pamela North | County Theater, Suffern, New York | [12] |
| 1942 | The Dark Tower | Patsy Dowling | Cambridge Summer Theatre, Cambridge, Massachusetts | [13] |
| 1942 | Sailor Beware! | Billie Jackson | Flatbush Theater, Brooklyn, New York City | [14] |