- After she was blacklisted in 1947, director Mervyn LeRoy, who had given her her first break in "Anthony Adverse," cast her in a supporting role as Barbara Stanwyck's mother in "East Side, West Side" in order to test industry reaction. The negative response to her appearance completed the blacklisting, and she didn't appear in another major Hollywood film film for 28 years.
- Was one of the main inspirations for the look of the Evil Queen/Witch in Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) and was ironically rejected {due to her looks as previously mentioned) as the evil witch in The Wizard of Oz (1939), a film that sought to capitalize on the popularity of the former and fairy tales like it.
- She was blacklisted with her husband in 1948.
- First actress to win an Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Anthony Adverse (1936)).
- After she was called back for retakes on the TV movie "The Cat Creature," she was surprised by Charlton Heston, who presented her with a gold Oscar statuette replacing the plaque she had won decades earlier for "Anthony Adverse.".
- Was considered for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939).
- Was going to play the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz (1939), but instead of making the witch similar to Snow White's beautiful but wicked queen, as was originally planned, it was decided the witch should be ugly. Gale then refused the role.
- Sondergaard's parents had emigrated from Denmark separately.
- Had two adopted children with husband Herbert J. Biberman: daughter Joan Kristina Campos (nee Biberman; December 31, 1940 - October 24, 1965), and son Daniel Hans Biberman (b. December 11, 1942).
- In 1936 she and Maria Ouspenskaya became the first two actresses (of more than 50) to receive an Oscar nomination for their film debut. She was nominated (and won) the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Anthony Adverse (1936).
- After entering the University of Minnesota she joined the School of Music and Dramatic Arts, as the school did not have a drama department.
- Soondergaard replaced Judith Anderson in the Theater Guild of New York's production of Eugene O'Neill's "Strange Interlude".
- Was in three Oscar Best Picture nominees: Anthony Adverse (1936), The Life of Emile Zola (1937) and The Letter (1940). The Life of Emile Zola won in this category.
- Her daughter died in October 1965.
- Was the 9th actress to receive an Academy Award; she won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Anthony Adverse (1936) at the 9th Academy Awards on March 4, 1937.
- Although she was born Edith, Sondergaard chose the name "Gale" as a stage name while an actress on the Chautauqua circuit.
- Joined the Chautauqua theatre circuit in 1920 as an ingenue and a year later became a member of the John Keller Shakespeare Company, touring Canada and America in productions of "Hamlet," "Julius Caesar," "The Merchant of Venice" and "Macbeth.".
- Despite popular belief, Sondergaard never signed a contract with Warners after winning an Oscar for "Anthony Adverse." She did sign a one-year contract with MGM in 1938 and a long-term deal with Universal, which produced 14 of her films between 1941 and 1947.
- Biography in "Actresses of a Certain Character: Forty Familiar Hollywood Faces from the Thirties to the Fifties" by Axel Nissen.
- Daughter of Hans (1867-1947) and Kristine (née Hansen) Sondergaard (1872-1934). Both were born in Denmark, immigrating to America in 1892.
- In high school plays, she studied at the Minneapolis School of Dramatic Arts.
- Older sister of Hester Sondergaard.
- Although unrelated, she bears an uncanny resemblance to Cornelia Otis Skinner.
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