Genevieve Tobin

Biography

The daughter of a stage entertainer, New York-born actress Genevieve Tobin started treading the boards as a child and appeared in the role of Little Eva in the silent short Uncle Tom's Cabin (1910). Her older brother George Tobin and younger sister Vivian Tobin also became stage and film actors. By her teens Genevieve was appearing as a sparkling blonde ingénue on 20s Broadway, steadily gaining notice with her chic looks and vivacious personality. Considered a medium-weight talent, she nevertheless tackled such roles as Cordelia in "King Lear" (1923) in addition to her usual frothy comedies and musicals such as "Polly Preferred" (1923). Following her New York performance in Cole Porter's musical "Fifty Million Frenchmen" in 1929 in which she introduced the song "You Do Something to Me," Genevieve started focusing squarely on films, particularly screwball farce, starting with a couple of glamorous leading lady roles in the early talkies A Lady Surrenders (1930) and Free Love (1930), one a heavy drama and the other a lighter comedy both co-starring Conrad Nagel. Genevieve moved into second leads as the 1930s flew by, however, often playing the arch or self-involved 'other woman' role. She appeared in fine form as the problematic third wheel in One Hour with You (1932) with Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald; Goodbye Again (1933) co-starring Warren William and Joan Blondell; Kiss and Make-Up (1934) with Cary Grant and Helen Mack; The Goose and the Gander (1935) with Kay Francis and George Brent; and, her last, No Time for Comedy (1940) which paired up James Stewart with Rosalind Russell, and was also directed by her husband (and former stage actor) William Keighley. Genevieve abandoned her career for high society after marrying Keighley and never looked back -- her marriage lasting 46 years until his death in 1984 at age 90+. Genevieve herself would live to become a nonagenarian, dying of natural causes in 1995 in Pasadena, California.