Gladys Atkins

(b. **/**/1893 - d. **/**/****). Actress. Gladys Atkins’s only film role (in South Africa) was that of the servant girl Sihamba in Swallow (Leander De Cordova/1922), who sacrifices her life for her mistress, played by Joan Morgan. An issue of S.A.Pictorial of the time pointed out that “Sihamba is the only native part in the picture not played by an actual native”. IMDb lists a Gladys Atkins as having appeared in two Mack Sennett shorts in 1919-20, but we can’t be certain that this was her. The New York Clipper of 13 December 1916 reported that a Gladys Atkins was one of a number of individuals sailing for South Africa from Tilbury, seemingly a member of the burlesque touring company headed by Billie Barlow. (FO)