Born as Genevieve Gauntier Liggett in Kansas City, Missouri, to James Wesley and Ada J. Gauntier Liggett, she was the middle child of three children. Her older brother was Richard Green Liggett (1880–1941) and her sister was Marguerite Gauntier Liggett (1891–1973), who married Swedish billionaire Axel Wenner-Gren. Gauntier attended the Kansas City School of Oratory while in Kansas City. In 1904, she began her stage career. Gauntier made her way to New York City where she began her career in live theater using the stage name "Gene Gauntier," and first appeared in films between acting jobs with stock company tours. She remembered in her 1928 autobiography "Blazing the Trail": “My funds were running low, and in a vague way I thought of the new opening for actors – moving pictures, but, like the rest of the legitimate profession, I looked on them with contempt and felt sure that my prestige would be lowered if I worked in them."