Gertrude Lawrence Hammerstein II quoted from an essay on death written by poet and novelist Rabindranath Tagore. Lawrence was buried in the champagne-coloured gown worn for the "Shall We Dance?" number in the second act of "The King and I", and she was interred in the Aldrich family plot in Lakeview Cemetery in Upton, Massachusetts. She was the first person for whom the house lights were dimmed in all Broadway (Manhattan) theatres due to her death. In early 1953, Lawrence's name was included on a list of Columbia University professors who had died the previous year and were honoured with a memorial
Gertrude Hoffmann (actress) Gertrude Hoffmann (actress) Gertrude W. Hoffmann (born Eliza Gertrude Wesselhoeft, May 17, 1871 – February 13, 1968) was a German-born American character actress who began her Hollywood career as she was entering her later years. Hoffmann was born on May 17, 1871, at Heidelberg (German Empire), the daughter of Walter and Mary Sara Silver (née Fraser) Wesselhoeft. Her father was a German-born doctor who at the time of her birth had left his medical practice in Halifax, Nova Scotia, behind to volunteer his services after the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War. He returned to North America in the early 1873