Ross Alexander

A stage actor from age 16, arrow-narrow American leading man Ross Alexander hit Broadway at 18, appearing opposite Blanche Yurka in Enter Madame. He made his first film, The Wiser Sex, in 1932. Two years later he was signed to a long-term Warner Bros. contract, playing second leads in such films as Flirtation Walk (1934) and A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935) and winning top billing in programmers like Here Comes Carter (1936). Four months to the day after his marriage to second-wife, actress Anne Nagel, Ross Alexander shot himself to death; authorities believed that he was still despondent over the 1935 suicide of his first wife, stage actress Aleta Freile.

~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide