Sylvia Ashley

 Sylvia Ashley, born Edith Louisa Sylvia Hawkes (April 1, 1904 – June 29, 1977)

She was an English model, actress and socialite, best known for her marriages to British aristocrats and American movie stars. Using her middle name Sylvia, she worked as a lingerie model and became a Cochran Dancer, the British equivalent of a Ziegfeld Follies girl. After this brief career in the chorus line of musical comedy, she went on to appear in a number of West End plays. In 1924, she made her debut in Midnight Follies. She appeared in Primrose. In 1925, she acted in Tell me More at London's Winter Garden Theatre, and in The Whole Town's Talking. In 1941, Lady Ashley filed articles of incorporation to establish an organization known as the British Distressed Areas Fund. Organized along with her sister, Vera Bleck, Constance Bennett, and Virginia Fox Zanuck, as directors the Fund focused on soliciting financial support to provide food, clothing and medical aid for refugees of World War II. The headquarters of the organization was located in Los Angeles. Ashley was married five times, among them was a British Lord, a Baron, and two famous actors. She was the widow of Douglas Fairbanks Sr. (1936-1939, they married after his divorce from Mary Pickford), and was married to Clark Gable from 1949 until 1952. Ashley died of cancer at age 73 in Los Angeles. She is buried at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, not far from the Fairbanks Memorial.