Background
Her mother died in 1918, and McElroy and her siblings were put up for adoption.
Her mother died in 1918, and McElroy and her siblings were put up for adoption.
Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts as Katherine Gertrude McElroy, and raised in Hartford, Connecticut. After adoption by a wealthy family, she and her step-siblings were tutored by author Dillwyn Parrish. Although he was eighteen years her senior, the two fell in love, and at the age of fifteen she married Parrish, under the name Gertrude McElroy.
Parrish was severely injured in an accident in the Southwestern United States and, once she was physically able, they completed the remainder of the journey via train.
In 1933 she made her film debut in Roman Scandals, starring Eddie Cantor and Gloria Stuart. Parrish became a "WAMPAS Baby Star", touring the country to promote motion pictures through the Shriners sponsorship.
In 1934 she appeared in secondary roles in six more films. Her husband fell in love with Mary Fisher at a point when the marriage was already in difficulty.
By the time both couples divorced, Parrish had already fallen in love with journalist and screenwriter John Weld (1905-2003).
Her husband John Weld died in 2003 in Dana Point, California, aged 98, after 66 years of marriage. Parrish died three years later, aged 93.