Gertrude Cameron

Gertrude Cameron was born in New York and was a granddaughter of Col. W.D. Cameron and a niece of Judge W.M.K. Olcott. Her initial involvement with Thanhouser was described in an article in The Chicago Herald, August 2, 1914: “That delightful actress, Gertrude Cameron, seems to be striding ahead every minute. The other day she was engaged by the Famous Players to take a principal role in one of their productions, a scene of which was being taken in New Rochelle, New York. Charles J. Hite, president of the Thanhouser Company, happened to see Miss Cameron and at once began negotiating with her, with the result that a couple of days later he had signed up this beautiful actress in the leading role in a big four-reel feature drama, which was pulled out of the scenario department especially for her benefit. This is the second attempt Mr. Hite had made to get the Julia Marlowe of the movies,’ as she is familiarly called, to become a Thanhouserite, and as a result of this last attempt both he and Miss Cameron are wearing satisfied smiles.”

Despite this auspicious beginning, Miss Cameron remained at the Thanhouser studio for only a brief time. On May 17, 1915 Gertrude Cameron, age 19, married Herbert H. Van Loan, aboard the U.S.S. New York, in New York Harbor. Earlier, Van Loan formed the Authors’ Syndicate, an agency specializing in publicity for film players. At the time of his marriage he was a publicity agent for Universal.