Shirley Warde

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Shirley Warde (January 23, 1901 – October 1991) was an American actress and playwright. She acted in theater from the 1910s to the 1930s, appeared in films in the 1930s and 1940s, and wrote theater and radio scripts for much of her life.

Born and raised in New York City, she studied at the Ethical Culture School and started acting as a child. She dreamed of producing and directing plays and carried ideas with her wherever she went. She debuted on stage at fourteen and soon had major roles, including lead parts in Smooth as Silk and a famous performance in Yellow in 1926.

Warde also wrote stories and plays. She published short stories in magazines and worked on scripts for productions in New York. In 1934 she left acting to focus on radio, becoming a successful producer and director at CBS. She later joined the Writers’ War Board to create radio plays for World War II.

In her personal life, Warde enjoyed horseback riding and lived near Central Park. She married Reginald Warde, but they divorced in 1925. In 1927 she inherited a horse farm in Wyoming with hundreds of horses, and she collaborated with the mayor of New York City to share horses with the public.

A member of the Bahá’í Faith, she grew devoted to the religion and later moved to Belize in the 1960s as a Bahá’í missionary, where she stayed to write and stage local plays.

Shirley Warde died in October 1991 in Belize City, Belize, at the age of 90. She had one child. Her notable works include Smooth as Silk (actress), Deep Yellow (actress), and Trick for Trick (writer).