Gloria Stuart (1910-2010)

She was born on the 4th of July, 1910 in Santa Monica and a little over a century later she left this mortal coil right next door in West Los Angeles. But oh how this American blonde travelled in between.

She was engaged to The Invisible Man (1933) in a tiny village in Sussex. She made it out of The Old Dark House (1935) in Wales as a young ingenue, when the gothic mansion was set on fire. Her husband was jailed in the West Indies as The Prisoner of Shark Island (1936). She was cousin to rising radio star Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1938). She spun around the dance floor with Peter O'Toole in My Favorite Year (1982). And quite famously, she survived the Titanic (1997) which departed from England but never made it to its New York City destination.

And that's just a few of Gloria Stuart's best known screen journeys.

Off screen her life was also rich, though much of it was spent away from the public eye. She travelled extensively, was a founding member of the Screen Actors Guild, a printmaker and artist and was even skilled in the Japanese art of Bonsai.

Stuart was honored this past July by AMPAS for her centennial. Here's a couple of photos from the event.

 Left: Gloria drinks to... Gloria! Right: Gloria with actresses Anne Jeffries (Dick Tracy's original "Tess Trueheart" in the 40s films) and Ann Rutherford (Gone With the Wind)

Rest in peace Old Rose.
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