Genevieve Dolores Gerber (April 3, 1894 – January 2, 1974) was an American

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...

actress who appeared in more than 120 films between 1912 and 1930.

Early life and career

She was born in Argenta, Illinois, to S. Nelson Gerber (1870–1902) and Juanetta Jean Pullman. Her parents separated when she was young and her mother moved her to

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. She was raised by nuns from the College of the Immaculate Heart. After the death of her father, Gerber's impoverished mother gave guardianship of her daughter to an attorney. Neva Gerber - Jul 3 1915 RL

After her graduation from high school, Gerber became an actress and appeared in several one-reelers. Her film debut came in ''The Flower Girl's Romance'' (1912). Beginning in 1917, she starred in multiple

serial film A serial film, film serial (or just serial), movie serial, or chapter play, is a film, motion picture form popular during the first half of the 20th century, consisting of a series of short subjects exhibited in consecutive order at one theater ...

s, and she is considered one of the top ten "serial queens" of the

period. She teamed with director and actor

Ben F. Wilson Ben F. Wilson (also credited as Benjamin Wilson; July 7, 1876 – August 25, 1930), was an American stage and film actor, director, producer and screenwriter of the silent era.The Voice from the Sky ''The Voice from the Sky'' is a 1930 American science fiction film serial directed by Ben F. Wilson and starring Wally Wales and Neva Gerber. The film was considered to be a lost film, but was recently rediscovered. It is the first serial film to ...

'', also directed by Wilson. However, her career stalled in 1930 after Wilson died from heart disease. Gerber retired from acting shortly thereafter.

Personal life and death

Gerber's first marriage was to actor Arthur Nelson Millett on July 22, 1913. They separated the following year. In 1915, she became engaged to director

William Desmond Taylor William Desmond Taylor (born William Cunningham Deane-Tanner, 26 April 1872 – 1 February 1922) was an Anglo-Irish-American film director and actor. A popular figure in the growing Hollywood motion picture colony of the 1910s and early 1920s, ...

. Gerber and Taylor did not marry, because she was not yet divorced from Millett, and she and Taylor broke it off in 1919. (Taylor was subsequently murdered in 1922, a famous unsolved case). Gerber's divorce from Millett was eventually finalized in 1920. In 1923, Gerber married contractor Edward Dana Nolan, who died in 1926 of alcoholism. She went on to marry David Booth in 1934. After Booth's death, she married a fourth and final time, to contractor William Munchoff; he died in 1960. On January 2, 1974, Gerber died of a

cerebral thrombosis A thrombus (plural thrombi), colloquially called a blood clot, is the final product of the blood coagulation step in hemostasis. There are two components to a thrombus: aggregated platelets and red blood cells that form a plug, and a mesh of c ...

Palm Springs, California Palm Springs (Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Riverside County by land a ...

. She was buried in a

pauper's grave A potter's field, paupers' grave or common grave is a place for the burial of unknown, unclaimed or indigent people. "Potter's field" is of Biblical origin, referring to Akeldama (meaning ''field of blood'' in Aramaic), stated to have been p ...

Desert Memorial Park Desert Memorial Park is a cemetery in Cathedral City, California, United States, near Palm Springs. Opening in 1956 and receiving its first interment in 1957,The Palm Springs Cemetery District itself was covers 504 square miles, including Palm Spr ...

Cathedral City, California Cathedral City, colloquially known as "Cat City", is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. Situated between Palm Springs and Rancho Mirage, the city has the second larg ...

Selected filmography

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gerber, Neva 1894 births 1974 deaths 20th-century American actresses Actresses from Illinois American film actresses American silent film actresses Burials at Desert Memorial Park Neurological disease deaths in California Deaths from cerebral thrombosis Film serial actresses People from Macon County, Illinois Vaudeville performers Western (genre) film actresses