Ruth Gilbert

Ruth Gilbert (May 8, 1912 – October 12, 1993 ) was an American actress, best known for her role as Alice in the first sound version of Alice in Wonderland in 1931, and as Max in The Milton Berle Show.

Career A graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Gilbert's role as Alice in the 1931 film Alice in Wonderland was her first major role. The film was made by Metropolitan Studios, an independent film company from Fort Lee, New Jersey. They made it for educational purposes in readiness for the 100th anniversary of Lewis Carroll's birth the following year

Gilbert's success in Alice in Wonderland gained her national recognition and this led to her first Broadway role in Girls in Uniform in 1932, a play inspired by the German film Mädchen in Uniform, which was in turn based upon the Christa Winsloe novel and play. Her role as Alice also got Gilbert noticed by Eugene O'Neill who cast her in the role of Muriel in the Theatre Guild production of Ah, Wilderness!, which also starred George M. Cohan. She was also a member of the Group Theatre for two years, and in 1946 O'Neill cast her as Pearl in his play The Iceman Cometh. The latter series was notable in that it was a prime time show in which each episode was only five minutes long.

Gilbert continued to work well into the 1950s. From 1953 to 1955, she played Max, the lovesick, scatterbrained secretary, in ten episodes of The Milton Berle Show.