On June 23, 2007, on a beautiful Saturday afternoon in Los Angeles, friends, family, and animal activists all came together to celebrate the life of an angel. Gretchen Wyler, a singing and dancing star of Broadway in the 50s, 60s, and 70s who went on to become an animal activist extraordinaire, was remembered by a packed Hollywood audience at the lovely Paramount Theater on the Paramount lot.
Gretchen passed away on May 27, 2007, from complications due to breast cancer that had metastasized into her bones and pelvic region, one of the most painful and horrific cancers to fight. Up until the very end of her life Gretchen championed the plight of our most beloved and helpless friends, the animals who touch our lives.
During the two-hours plus program many Hollywood stars and friends and family members fondly remembered Gretchen's life well-lived.
Gretchen was known worldwide for her amazingly long legs, tousled blonde good looks, and her effervescent personality. She was a brilliant dancer and star and after a long and successful career on Broadway she moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in Hollywood. Sadly she did not recceive the same spotlight she had on Broadway, but Gretchen was featured as a guest on many television programs, and she appears in Rick McKay's 2004 award-winning feature documentary, "Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There," which can be caught running on PBS. Her Hollywood career took a down-turn as 
women of a certain age are usually hard to cast in this youth-obsessed business. Not one to mull over missed opportunities, Gretchen created her own.
Born in February 1932 in the small Oklahoma town of Bartlesville, Gretchen knew from an early age that she had a big life ahead of her. She was a star in school and a performer from the start, recalls her sister Peggy, remembering that at only age 15 Gretchen took over teaching the only ballet dance class in town when the instructor left. Beautiful archival 
footage from home movies shows Gretchen dancing like a angel-nymph in the same bucolic garden setting throughout her teen years. At 17 she left home to move to New York City where she soon became an understudy on Broadway and got her big break when the lead actress in Silk Stockings got ill in pre-Broadway tryouts. She was so good the producers had her open as the lead when the show bowed on Broadway.
A leader and a woman of many firsts, Gretchen began her life-long interest in animal protection in December 1966 after she first visited the local pound in Warwick, NY. A few years later she founded the first animal shelter in that city and soon went on to join the Board of Directors for the Fund for Animals. She soon decided to not eat or wear animals and became a vegetarian, she also began to initiate street protests and legislation in 
support of animal protection. One year later, in 1972, Gretchen became the first woman to sit on the Board of the NYC ASPCA. You can read more about her history in the Humane Movement in detail on her website.
Gretchen was a star in the animal rights movement and after winning many awards she founded the Ark Trust (which is now part of the HSUS Hollywood office) which presents the annual animal rights Genesis Awards. Genesis began as her way to increase the public's attention to animal rights by paying tribute to the major news and entertainment media for producing outstanding works which raise public awareness of animal rights issues with the idea that "cruelty can't stand the spotlight." This annual awards show takes place every March in Beverly Hills, California and is taped to air as a television special. Look for a Genesis Awards show airing again this summer, most likely on Animal Planet.
Gretchen was one of the guiding forces behind the fight to free two female elephants in the Los Angeles Zoo, Ruby and Gita, two elephants who had never walked on grass. She had planned a big celebratory bus trip to follow the caravan taking Ruby to a sanctuary, but was too ill to follow through on those plans. She was grateful to live long enough to watch Ruby depart LA on TV from her bed. Sadly Gita had already passed away due to the very reasons Gretchen fought hard to free both elephants. If you live in Los Angeles you will know the story of these two female pachyderms who were lifelong companions in a cramped cell that was much too small for even one elephant. Inadequate living conditions (lack of proper exercise and standing on hard concrete 
surfaces) kept the 48-year-old Gita in pain for many decades and was ultimately the reason her life was shortened. Gita began suffering foot infections in her early teens, a condition unheard of in elephants living in the wild. Gretchen was overjoyed to see Ruby survive to walk on grass at her new home at the PAWS Sanctuary (Performing Animal Welfare Society) where she now lives with a pack of other rescued elephants.
The memorial featured many Hollywood stars 
and regular people active in the animals rights movement as well as two featurettes about Gretchen's life. Seen in the star-packed audience or on stage paying tribute to Gretchen were Earl Holliman (a long-time supporter and Genesis Awards Presenter), Loretta Swit, Melanie Griffith and her mom Tippi Hedron (a presenter at the very first Genesis Awards and founder of the Shambala Animal Preserve; read her lovelyfarewell letter to Gretchen), Janis Page, Wendi Malick (looking elegent as she led off the memorial), Valerie Harper (who looked young enough to be in high school), Bonnie Franklin (who still looks like your BF in high school), Ann Marie (who needed the help of a walker, but came anyway), Emily Deschanel (looking business-like and professional), Julie Newmar (looking tall and still divine), Wayne Pacelle (President and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States or HSUS), Steve Valentine (warm and engaging), Kevin Nealon, Jorja Fox, and Sid Ceaser's daughter Karen.
Janis Paige delivered one of the most inspiring and humorous remembrances, she called Gretchen "... a force of nature. Thousands of animals will be saved by the work she did and inspired in others." Paige said: "Gretchen was my mother. I was scared to death of my mother and I was scared to death of Gretchen by what she inspired." Other celebs read letters from people who weren't able to attend the memorial from Kay Ballard, Brigitte Bardot, Dixie Carter, Doris Day, and Lynn Redgrave.
The celebs were warm and welcoming in a crowd without paparazzi. At the reception after the memorial everyone stood around reminiscing about Gretchen and the Genesis Awards she created eating vegan pate and sipping non-alcoholic drinks. Steve Valentine (Dr. Nigel Townsend on the recently cancelled Crossing Jordan) reminisced about how committed to animal rights Gretchen was and how she had inspired him. As people left the auditorium CD's of recordings of Gretchen's songs and DVD's of memories of her life were handed out to all.
Just before she died Gretchen said "I still have so much left I want to do." Gretchen Wyler was fond of quotes that inspired her, but her own quote says it all:
"Animals should have the right to
... run if they have legs
...swim if they have fins
...and fly if they have wings."
Gretchen Wyler lived a life that mattered, she used her life to inspire and help others.
Gretchen Wyler earned her wings, and she flew high.
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A Selection of Gretchen's favorite quotes featured in her Memorial Playbill:
"The reward of a thing well done is to have done it." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
"I am powered by my outrage" -- Mike Farrell
"I love those who yearn for the impossible." -- Christopher Marlowe (from Faust)
" A doer doesn't dwell on victory or defeat, a doer just does." -- Anonymous
"You can't control what happens, but you can control your reaction to it." -- Anonymous
Man, unlike animals, has never learned that the sole purpose of life is to enjoy it." -- Samuel Butler
"Nothing great in the world has been accomplished without passion." -- Hegel
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Watch a 28 minute youtube video of Gretchen Wyler talking about the Genesis Awards.
Read the last interview Gretchen gave before her death.
Read Wayne Pacelle's HSUS blog: A Humane Nation
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In lieu of flowers, Gretchen requested that donations be sent to:
The Hollywood Office of The Humane Society of the U.S.
5551 Balboa Blvd., Encino, CA 91316
Please include a note with the check or on your check that your donation is
"In Memory of Gretchen Wyler".
You can also call (818) 501-2275 to make a donation over the phone with a credit card.
All donations are 100% tax-deductible.
For information on "The Gretchen Wyler Legacy Fund,"
contact Eve Anderson at 800-808-7858
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© 2007 by Digital Dogs
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Comments: 17
Thank you DD for letting us know about this wonderful person!
Here's what they do to the sharks: they run out long lines that can catch hundreds of sharks, they lift them on baord a ship, cut off their fins while they are alive and toss them back in the ocean to drown slowly as they sink helplessly to the bottom. If that doesn't trun your stomach then perhaps you should consider a career as a serial killer. They don't use the meat of the shark to feed the hungry, they just toss them in alive like garbage to drown. What do you think millions of dead shark bodies are going to end up as on the bottom of the ocean? Just typing about this right now is making me ill.
Animal welfare translates directly to human welfare. If you can't care about a helpless animal, then how can you care for the plight of a helpless human?
Then I read about the sharks and I think I may need some Ativan.
One name that LEAPED off the screen was Julie Newmar. Boy was she a hottie. Totally stupifying. How is she doing?
Regarding these greedily vicious "fishermen", I perceive a crying need for a small band of fully armed-and-dangerous GREENPEACE-like vigilantes in defense of our fellow creatures.
Your comment is very disturbing and smacks of deja vous as to the devastating effects of the Oriental appetite on the animal world'
Thanks very much for this information....
I learned much more about Gretchen Wyler from this article than from any known depository of information on the Net, Wikipedia included. You covered much ground here, which will result in a tidal wave of support for the late Ms. Wyler's various animal-conscious charities.
WwW.SparkleTags.Com
I just wanted to say I am finally going through what is now under 5,600 pieces of gather new mail that is in my inbox on here. So with that in mind I have finally come to a piece of mail that was addressed to me in regards this article submission you have created to share with the gather community. Thank you for taking the time and sharing your piece with us here at gather. :o)
And I hope you have a Happy New Year... in 2009 :o)