William Alexander Kirkland (September 15, 1901, Mexico City, Mexico – 1986) was a leading man in Hollywood during the early sound era as well as a stage actor who starred in productions of the Group Theatre in New York.

Biography

Kirkland was born on September 15, 1901, in Mexico City, the son of Robert Gowland Kirkland and Charlotte Megan. He was the grandson of rear admiral William Alexander Kirkland and Consuela Gowland. Kirkland attended the

Taft School The Taft School is a private, coeducational school located in Watertown, Connecticut, United States. It teaches students in 9th through 12th grades and post-graduates. About three-quarters of Taft's roughly 600 students live on the school's ...

Watertown, Connecticut Watertown is a New England town, town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 22,105 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. The ZIP codes for Watertown are 06795 (for most of the ...

and the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

. He later attended the

Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Maryl ...

, and while in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, he began his acting career at the

Hedgerow Theatre Hedgerow Theatre is a theatre company based in Rose Valley, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia, founded in 1923. It was "for many years the only true U. S. professional repertory theater." The building is a contributing structure in the Rose Valley H ...

Media, Pennsylvania Media is a borough in and the county seat of Delaware County, Pennsylvania. It is located about west of Philadelphia, the sixth most populous city in the nation with 1.6 million residents as 2020. It is part of the Delaware Valley metropolita ...

. His first play on Broadway was ''The Devil to Pay''. He was also a freelance writer and contributed stories to popular national magazines. In the late 1920s, Kirkland moved to Hollywood and starred as leading man to

Tallulah Bankhead Tallulah Brockman Bankhead (January 31, 1902 – December 12, 1968) was an American actress. Primarily an actress of the stage, Bankhead also appeared in several prominent films including an award-winning performance in Alfred Hitchcock's ''Lif ...

in ''

Tarnished Lady ''Tarnished Lady'' is a 1931 American pre-Code drama film directed by George Cukor and starring Tallulah Bankhead and Clive Brook. The screenplay by Donald Ogden Stewart is based on his short story, ''A Story of a New York Lady''. Plot Nancy C ...

'' (1931). Other credits include ''

Charlie Chan's Chance ''Charlie Chan's Chance'' is a 1932 American pre-Code murder mystery film, the third to star Warner Oland as detective Charlie Chan. It is based on the 1928 novel ''Behind That Curtain'' by Earl Derr Biggers, who also contributed to the film. Th ...

'' (1932), ''

Social Register The ''Social Register'' is a semi-annual publication in the United States that indexes the members of American high society. First published in the 1880s by newspaper columnist Louis Keller, it was later acquired by Malcolm Forbes. Since 2014, it ...

'' (1934) '' A Face in the Crowd'' (1957), '' A Passport to Hell'' and ''

Devil's Lottery ''Devil's Lottery'' is a 1932 American pre-Code drama film directed by Sam Taylor and written by Guy Bolton. The film stars Elissa Landi, Victor McLaglen, Alexander Kirkland, Ralph Morgan, Paul Cavanagh and Barbara Weeks. The film was releas ...

''.

In the 1930s, he was associated with the

Group Theatre (New York) The Group Theatre was a theater collective based in New York City and formed in 1931 by Harold Clurman, Cheryl Crawford and Lee Strasberg. It was intended as a base for the kind of theatre they and their colleagues believed in— a forceful, n ...

, founded by

Harold Clurman Harold Edgar Clurman (September 18, 1901 – September 9, 1980) was an American theatre director and drama critic. In 2003, he was named one of the most influential figures in U.S. theater by PBS.

Cheryl Crawford Cheryl Crawford (September 24, 1902 – October 7, 1986) was an American theatre producer and director. Biography Born in Akron, Ohio, Crawford majored in drama at Smith College. Following graduation in 1925, she moved to New York City and ...

and

Lee Strasberg Lee Strasberg (born Israel Strassberg; November 17, 1901 – February 17, 1982) was an American theatre director, actor and acting teacher. He co-founded, with theatre directors Harold Clurman and Cheryl Crawford, the Group Theatre in 1931 ...

. On radio, Kirkland played David Brewster in the soap opera ''

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'' in the early 1940s, Curt Lansing in ''

John's Other Wife ''John's Other Wife'' is an American old-time radio soap opera. It was broadcast on NBC-Red from September 14, 1936, until March 1940. In that month it moved to NBC-Blue, where it ran until March 20, 1942. Overview ''John's Other Wife'' center ...

'', and Russell Barrington in ''

Society Girl An "it girl" is an attractive young woman, who is perceived to have both sex appeal and a personality that is especially engaging. The expression ''it girl'' originated in British upper-class society around the turn of the 20th century. ...

'' in that same era. He toured as one of the Yale Puppeteers and then worked with the troupe at the

Turnabout Theatre The Turnabout Theatre was a company of marionette puppeteers who performed in Hollywood from 1941 through 1956. The company's shows began with marionette performances, and concluded with a revue. The name of the theater derives in part from the fa ...

in Los Angeles, which operated from 1941 to 1956. His friend and theater colleague

Forman Brown Forman Brown (January 8, 1901 – January 10, 1996) was one of the world's leaders in puppet theatre in his day, as well as an important early gay novelist. He was a member of the Yale Puppeteers and the driving force behind Turnabout Theatre. ...

used him as the model for one of his characters in the early gay novel ''

Better Angel ''Better Angel'' is a novel by Forman Brown first published in 1933 under the pseudonym Richard Meeker. It was republished as ''Torment'' in 1951. It is an early novel which describes a gay lifestyle without condemning it. Christopher Carey called ...

'' (1933). He married entertainer

Gypsy Rose Lee Gypsy Rose Lee (born Rose Louise Hovick, January 8, 1911 – April 26, 1970) was an American burlesque entertainer, stripper and vedette famous for her striptease act. Also an actress, author, and playwright, her 1957 memoir was adapted into ...

in 1942.

Carl Van Doren Carl Clinton Van Doren (September 10, 1885 – July 18, 1950) was an American critic and biographer. He was the brother of critic and teacher Mark Van Doren and the uncle of Charles Van Doren. He won the 1939 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autob ...

introduced them. They separated after three months and finally were divorced in 1944. Their son Eric later was recognized as the son of director

Otto Preminger Otto Ludwig Preminger ( , ; 5 December 1905 – 23 April 1986) was an Austrian-American theatre and film director, film producer, and actor. He directed more than 35 feature films in a five-decade career after leaving the theatre. He first gai ...

. From 1944 to 1950, he was married to socialite, actress, and TV producer Phyllis Adams (1923-2004), and they had one daughter, Alexandra "Sandy" Marsh, who committed suicide falling from the Park Belvedere 28th floor in 1987. Adams later remarried in 1955 to art director George Jenkins. In the 1950s, Kirkland owned an art gallery in

Palm Beach, Florida Palm Beach is an incorporated town in Palm Beach County, Florida. Located on a barrier island in east-central Palm Beach County, the town is separated from several nearby cities including West Palm Beach and Lake Worth Beach by the Intracoas ...

, and in 1945, he purchased Villa del Sarmiento, an oceanfront Palm Beach estate. In 1959, he married Greta Hunter-Thompson Baldridge, a former

Ziegfeld Follies The ''Ziegfeld Follies'' was a series of elaborate theatrical revue productions on Broadway in New York City from 1907 to 1931, with renewals in 1934 and 1936. They became a radio program in 1932 and 1936 as ''The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air ...

girl, widow of a co-heir of the

National Steel Corporation The National Steel Corporation (1929–2003) was a major American steel producer. It was founded in 1929 through a merger arranged by Weirton Steel with some properties of the Great Lakes Steel Corporation and M.A. Hanna Company with headquart ...

. They lived in Palm Beach,

Fairfield, Connecticut Fairfield is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. It borders the city of Bridgeport and towns of Trumbull, Easton, Weston, and Westport along the Gold Coast of Connecticut. Located within the New York metropolitan area ...

, and

Cuernavaca, Mexico Cuernavaca (; nci-IPA, Cuauhnāhuac, kʷawˈnaːwak "near the woods", ) is the capital and largest city of the state of Morelos in Mexico. The city is located around a 90-minute drive south of Mexico City using the Federal Highway 95D. The na ...

. Greta died in 1972 in Mexico City. After the death of his third wife, Kirkland was connected to British actress

Margot Grahame Margot Grahame (born Margaret Clark; 20 February 1911 – 1 January 1982) was an English actress most noted for starring in '' The Informer'' (1935) and ''The Three Musketeers'' (1935). She started acting in 1930 and made her last screen app ...

. At the time of his death, Kirkland was living in Cuernavaca, and his daughter said he had wasted all of his money.

Broadway credits

* ''

Wings Over Europe ''Wings Over Europe'' is a PC combat flight simulator game set during the Cold War era where the USSR has attacked NATO forces in West Germany. The US release of the game is called ''Wings Over Europe: Cold War Gone Hot'', however, the tag lin ...

'' (1928) * '' Men in White'' (1933) * ''

Gold Eagle Guy ''Gold Eagle Guy'' is a 1934 Broadway five scene drama written by Melvin Levy, produced by the Group Theatre with D. A. Doran, Jr., staged by Lee Strasberg, choreography by Helen Tamiris with scenic design by Donald Oenslager and costume desig ...

'' (1934) * ''

Till the Day I Die ''Till the Day I Die'' is a play by Clifford Odets performed on Broadway in 1935. Description The play is a seven-scene drama written by Clifford Odets. It was originally written as a piece to accompany ''Waiting for Lefty''. Productions It w ...

'' (1935) * ''Weep for the Virgins'' (1935) * ''The Case of Clyde Griffiths'' (1936) * ''Many Mansions'' (1937)

Filmography

This filmography is believed to be complete.

References

External links

* *
Alexander Kirkland profile
hollywoodheyday.blogspot.com, August 2009; accessed July 26, 2015.
Profile
broadway.cas.sc.edu; accessed July 26, 2015. {{DEFAULTSORT:Kirkland, Alexander 1901 births 1980s deaths American male film actors 20th-century American male actors Year of death uncertain Place of death unknown Date of death unknown American expatriates in Mexico