American actress. Her parents were Carrie Elizabeth (née Jones; 1865-1952) and David Franklin Morningstar (1859-1938), who married in 1889. They had five children, two of whom passed before 1900; in addition to Gertrude, the other two who survived were Alva Orendorff Morningstar (1890-1918), who was killed in action in World War I, and Zola Jane (Morningstar) Weiss (1894-1952), who acted in films under the name of Jane Starr.
On 18 October 1916, she married railroad fireman James Clarence Hite (1882-1919) in Galesburg, Illinois. He widowed her less than three years later on 25 June 1919 (luetic infection/luetic heart). Gertrude was in Los Angeles by the time of the 1920 U.S. Census that January; she is residing with her sister Zola and her husband Richard Weiss, with both Zola and Gertrude working as actresses in motion pictures.
Later that year, on 4 December 1920, Gertrude married Roach assistant director/actor Dave Smith; both were working in the Snub Pollard company at the time. They had one son, Richard Clayton Smith, who sadly died at one month old in 1930. Gertrude and Dave remained together for over 32 years until Dave's passing in 1953. All three are buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, California.
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