Gloria Holden; Played Femme Fatales in Films

Gloria Holden, a British-born stage actress and model who portrayed a series of femme fatales and other supporting roles in Hollywood films through the 1950s, has died in a Redlands hospital.

The Redlands Daily Facts reported last Monday that she had died March 22 after suffering a heart attack at her home.

The newspaper listed her age as 73 but two film anthologies said she was born in 1908.

Probably best known for her starring role in the 1936 horror film “Dracula’s Daughter,” she started in films that same year. She also was seen in “Wife Versus Secretary.”

She was Paul Muni’s wife in the highly praised 1937 Academy Award winning biography “The Life of Emile Zola,” which the New York Times once called “the finest historical film ever made.”

She also appeared with Spencer Tracy, Clark Gable and Myrna Loy in “Test Pilot” in 1938 and with Tyrone Power in “The Eddy Duchin Story” in 1956.

Her other pictures included “Dodge City,” “This Thing Called Love,” “The Corsican Brothers,” “Miss Annie Rooney,” “Sister Kenny,” “The Hucksters,” “A Kiss for Corliss” and “This Happy Feeling.”

She also made dozens of radio appearances and some television work.

She is survived by her husband and a brother, Lawrence Holden of Los Angeles.