This story repeated from forbes, She made 80 films in just five years, but silent movie star Myrtle Gonzalez faded into oblivion… until now.
Today’s Google Doodle celebrates the pioneer Mexican American actress on the anniversary of the 1914 release of The Level, one of her most well-known films.
Gonzalez was born in Los Angeles, California, on September 28, 1891. Her father was from a family of Mexican-descendant Californios (Spanish and Mexican settlers in California prior to becoming a U.S. state) and her mother was the daughter of immigrants from Ireland.
Before her start in the nascent movie industry, Gonzalez was a child soprano who sang in local church choirs and performed in theaters throughout the city, according to author and scholar Rosa-Linda Fregoso, who wrote about the silent movie star in her book meXicana encounters: The Making of Social Identities on the Borderlands.
Gonzalez participated in local plays before joining the silent motion picture studio Vitagraph Company of America, where she made her film debut in The Yellow Streak (1913). She also starred in 1914’s The Kiss. The Internet Archive actually has a clip of the film, if you want to see her in action, Continue reading visit forbes.