Gypsy Rose Lee (born Rose Louise Hovick, January 8, 1911 â€" April 26,
1970) was an American burlesque entertainer and vedette famous for her
striptease act. Also an actress, author, and playwright, her 1957
memoir was adapted into the 1959 stage musical Gypsy.Gypsy Rose Lee
was born in Seattle, Washington, on January 8, 1911;[note 1] however,
she always gave January 9 as her date of birth. She was known as
Louise to her family. Her sister, actress June Havoc, was born in
1912. Their mother, Rose Thompson Hovick, forged various birth
certificates for each of her daughtersâ€"older when needed to evade
varying state child labor laws, and younger for reduced or free train
fares. The girls were unsure until later in life what their years of
birth were.Their mother had married Norwegian-American John Olaf
Hovick, a newspaper-advertising salesman and a reporter at The Seattle
Times. They married on May 28, 1910, in Seattle. They divorced on
August 20, 1915. Rose Thompson married her second husband, Judson
Brennerman, a traveling salesman, on May 26, 1916, at a Unitarian
church in Seattle, with the Rev. J. D. A. Powers officiating.
1970) was an American burlesque entertainer and vedette famous for her
striptease act. Also an actress, author, and playwright, her 1957
memoir was adapted into the 1959 stage musical Gypsy.Gypsy Rose Lee
was born in Seattle, Washington, on January 8, 1911;[note 1] however,
she always gave January 9 as her date of birth. She was known as
Louise to her family. Her sister, actress June Havoc, was born in
1912. Their mother, Rose Thompson Hovick, forged various birth
certificates for each of her daughtersâ€"older when needed to evade
varying state child labor laws, and younger for reduced or free train
fares. The girls were unsure until later in life what their years of
birth were.Their mother had married Norwegian-American John Olaf
Hovick, a newspaper-advertising salesman and a reporter at The Seattle
Times. They married on May 28, 1910, in Seattle. They divorced on
August 20, 1915. Rose Thompson married her second husband, Judson
Brennerman, a traveling salesman, on May 26, 1916, at a Unitarian
church in Seattle, with the Rev. J. D. A. Powers officiating.
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