Nov. 23 (UPI) -- Google is celebrating Myrtle Gonzalez, one of the first Latina actresses to break into Hollywood, with a Doodle on Wednesday.
The Mexican American actress starred in 80 silent films from 1913 to 1917. One of her most popular films, The Level, was released on this day in 1914.
Born on Sept. 28, 1891 in Los Angeles, Gonzalez grew up singing in church, charity events and in local plays. She joined a silent motion picture studio called Vitagraph Company of America and acted in her first film, The Yellow Streak, when movies started to be produced in Los Angeles instead of New York. She moved to Universal Studios a few years later and acted in The Secret of the Swamp and The Girl of Lost Lake.
Throughout her career, she played a lot of characters who lived in the wilderness and had to deal with harsh weather. Today's Doodle, illustrated by artist Ana Ramirez Gonzalez, shows the actress wearing a rust-colored coat while standing in snow in front of green mountains. This was inspired by a movie where the actress once filmed in three feet of snow.
"Gonzalez was proud of her Hispanic heritage, and throughout her career, she played strong women who persevered through adversity with strength and dignity," Google said.
Google recently celebrated the life of scientist Marie Tharp, who was the first woman to map the ocean floor in her work with the Lamont Geological Observatory in New York.
