Mary Carlisle

Mary Carlisle (born February 3, 1914) is a retired American actress, singer and dancer. Born in Los Angeles, California, she starred in several B movie-grade Hollywood films in the 1930s, having been one of fifteen girls selected as "WAMPAS Baby Stars" in 1932. She became a centenarian in 2014.

Life and career

Mary Carlisle was born as Gwendolyn L. Witter on February 3, 1914 in Los Angeles, California. Her mother was Leona Ella Witter (née Wotton) . Being born into a religious family, she was educated in a convent in Boston. Her father died when she was four years old. Leona Witter later remarried, to industrialist Henry J. Kaiser. Carlisle and her mother then relocated to Los Angeles, where her uncle lived. He gave her the opportunity to appear in the Jackie Coogan vehicle Long Live the King in 1923. She was uncredited.

Carlisle was discovered by studio executive Carl Laemmle, Jr. at the age of 14 when she was eating lunch with her mother at the Universal Studios commissionary. Carlisle, a petite 5 feet tall, with ash blonde hair, dimples and big round blue eyes, was praised for her angelic looks, and Laemmle offered her a screen test. Though she passed the test and started doing extra work at Universal, she was stopped by a welfare officer who noted that she was underaged and had to finish school first.