Mildred Shay

Mildred Helen Shay (September 26, 1911 – October 15, 2005) was an American film actress of the 1930s whose affairs, marriages and glamorous social life became a popular subject for gossip columnists. At five-feet tall, Shay was dubbed the "Pocket Venus" by Hollywood gossip columnists. Early life Shay was born in Cedarhurst, New York, the eldest daughter of a wealthy lawyer, Joseph A. Shay, and his wife, Lillian. She attended New York schools and a Swiss finishing school in France until age 14, when her father moved her and her younger sister, Adeline, to London. The family also lived in a house in Florence and a French chateau in Nice. When Shay was 19 years old, the family moved to Hollywood because of her father's work on behalf of various movie studios. She lived with her mother and sister at the Garden of Allah apartments which was populated by film stars. The family's friends and neighbors included Laurence Olivier, Harpo Marx, Gary Cooper and Ginger Rogers whom Shay said was her spa and skinny-dipping partner. Career When Shay decided she wanted to be an actress, her father contacted the heads of Fox and Paramount movies studio for their help. Quickly, she was given her first screen test with Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and then studied acting with Clark Gable's wife, Josephine Dillon. Her first screen roles were small uncredited parts in such films as The Age of Consent (1932), A Bill of Divorcement (1932) starring John Barrymore and Billie Burke, and Roman Scandals (1933) with Eddie Cantor. Shay also dubbed the voice of Greta Garbo in Grand Hotel.