Gloria Stuart

An elegant if underutilized leading lady of 1930s Hollywood, Gloria Stuart was best remembered for two classic horror films she made amid a great deal of routine studio product. She had brief experience on the stage before being courted by several major studios, and made her debut in 1932. Stuart soon became an in-demand female lead in all manner of genres, from dramas and light comedies to musicals and costume adventures. However, her most enduring films were two horror efforts for "Frankenstein" (1931) director James Whale - 1932's "The Old Dark House" and "The Invisible Man" (1933). Stuart abandoned acting in the late 1940s to pursue a successful career in art, but made sporadic returns in the mid-1970s. In 1997, some 60 years after her film debut, she earned her greatest critical praise and an Oscar nomination as the elderly Rose in James Cameron's epic, "Titanic." Stuart credited her late-inning stardom to patience, but clearly, her enduring talent and screen presence could claim equal responsibility.