Image Credit: Everett CollectionWhen James Cameron’s box-office phenomenon, Titanic, came out in late 1997, there were plenty of juicy subplots to savor: the rise of Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet as worldwide box office stars, the film’s 11 Oscar wins, its meteoric rocket-shot to the the highest-grossing film of all time. But perhaps the sweetest story was the unlikely comeback of 88-year-old actress Gloria Stuart — a Depression-era starlet who returned to the silver screen as the elderly incarnation of Winslet’s Rose Calvert, whose reminiscences of the ill-fated voyage bookend the Oscar-winning film. Stuart, who passed away at her West Los Angeles home yesterday at age 100, earned a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for her sentimental (and long-delayed) return performance. But even if she never had her late-in-life Titanic triumph, her career would be well worth remembering.

Stuart got her start in Hollywood in the early ’30s and Tinseltown wasted no time putting the blond California beauty to work. Between 1932 and 1946 she appeared in 46 films. She may have been busy, but she wasn’t happy. Later in life, she looked back on that period in the spotlight less than favorably, telling EW in 1998, “I hated practically everything I did. Not only hated, resented. I didn’t think I was being used properly.” Stuart was right about being typecast, but she was also being too hard on her resume. After all, anyone who’s seen 1932′s wonderfully atmospheric The Old Dark House knows Stuart was a talent. Directed by horror legend James Whale, who also had a bit of a reputation renaissance when the biopic Gods and Monsters hit theaters in 1998, The Old Dark House is exactly what its title promises — an eerie haunted house story about an odd collection of travelers who find themselves having to spend a dark and stormy night in a creepy mansion with a deranged family and Boris Karloff. Even Stuart had to admit that she liked that one. “It’s my favorite because of the cast, the dialogue, and because Whale was a master of setting moods,” she told EW. She was right. It’s on DVD if you want to check it out…and you should. READ FULL STORY »