Gladys Tennyson was a bathing beauty and actress who quit Hollywood to be a housewife
She was born Gladys Elizabeth Borum on November 2, 1894 in Texas. Her parents divorced when she was fifteen. Soon after she moved to California and married James Charles Tenison. In 1916 Gladys signed a contract with L-KO studios and made her film debut in Cold Hearts and Hot Flames. Over the next two years she starred in more than thirty films including Broadway Love, Caught In The Draft, and Marathon Maniacs. She divorced her husband and married director Chester Bennett on November 15, 1917. Their son, Chester Jr, was born the following years. Gladys decided to take a break from making movies to be a full-time mom. She filed for divorce from Chester in 1921 but they reconciled. In 1923 she returned to acting and became one of Mack Sennett's famous bathing beauties.
The beautiful brunette appeared in the Sennett comedies Yukon Jake and The Hollywood Kid. Then she landed a supporting role in the 1924 drama The Last Man On Earth. Her marriage to Chester ended in 1924. Gladys claimed he was involved with other women and that he refused to buy her clothes. On September 6, 1925 she married actor Earle Foxe. He legally adopted her son who changed his name to Chester Earle Foxe. Soon after she decided to retire from acting. Her final film was the 1925 comedy Breaking The Ice. She and Earle remained happily married until his death in December of 1973. Gladys died from natural causes on April 27, 1983 at the age of eighty-eight. She is buried in Chico Cemetery in Chico, California.
