Editing Ruth Gordon (section)

==Early life and education==
[[File:Ruth-Gordon-at-Four.jpg|thumb|upright|right|Gordon at age four]]

Ruth Gordon Jones was born in [[Quincy, Massachusetts]], at 41 Winthrop Avenue. She later resided at 41 Marion Street (1901–1903), 14 Brook Street (1910), and 14 Elmwood Avenue (1903–1914). All three homes are in the [[Wollaston (Quincy, Massachusetts)|Wollaston]] section of town.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Scheible |first1=Sue |title=Following actress Ruth Gordon's footsteps through Quincy |url=https://www.patriotledger.com/news/20180401/following-actress-ruth-gordons-footsteps-through-quincy |website=PatriotLedger.com |access-date=2020-05-28 |archive-date=2020-08-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806204148/https://www.patriotledger.com/news/20180401/following-actress-ruth-gordons-footsteps-through-quincy |url-status=dead}}</ref>

She was the child of Annie Tapley (née Ziegler) and Clinton Jones. Her only sibling was an older half-sister Claire, from her father's first marriage.<ref>US Census 1900 and 1910, Massachusetts Marriage Records</ref> She was baptized an Episcopalian.<ref>{{cite book|title=My Side: The Autobiography of Ruth Gordon|author=Gordon, Ruth|date=1986|publisher=D.I. Fine|isbn=9780917657818|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VLmGAAAAIAAJ|access-date=2015-08-25}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Years Ago: A Play|author=Gordon, Ruth|date=1947|publisher=Viking Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bWhMAAAAMAAJ|access-date=2015-08-25}}</ref> Her first appearance in the public eye came as an infant when her photograph was used in advertising for her father's employer, [[Mellin's Food]] for Infants and Invalids.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Years Ago|magazine=Life|issn=0024-3019|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F0kEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA58|page=58|access-date=2015-08-25|date=1947-01-06}}</ref> Before graduating from [[Quincy High School (Massachusetts)|Quincy High School]], she wrote to several of her favorite actresses requesting autographed pictures. A personal reply from [[Hazel Dawn]] (whom she had seen in a stage production of [[The Pink Lady (musical)|''The Pink Lady'']]) inspired her to go into acting.<ref name="current">''Current Biography 1943''. pp.238–41.</ref> Although her father was skeptical of her chances of success in a difficult profession, he took his daughter to New York in 1914, where he enrolled her in the [[American Academy of Dramatic Arts]].