Editing Ruth Gordon (section)

=== Silent films ===
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In 1915, Gordon appeared as an extra in silent films that were shot in [[Fort Lee, New Jersey]], including as a dancer in ''[[The Whirl of Life]]'', a film based on the lives of [[Vernon and Irene Castle]].{{Citation needed |date=January 2021}} The same year, she made her Broadway debut in a revival of ''[[Peter Pan, or the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up]]'' in the role of Nibs (one of the [[Lost Boys (Peter Pan)|Lost Boys]]), appearing onstage with [[Maude Adams]] and earning a favorable mention from powerful critic [[Alexander Woollcott]]. He described her favorably as "ever so gay", and he became her friend and mentor.<ref name="current"/>

In 1918, Gordon played opposite actor Gregory Kelly in the [[Seventeen (play)|Broadway adaptation]] of [[Booth Tarkington]]'s ''[[Seventeen (Tarkington novel)|Seventeen]]''. The pair continued to perform together in North American tours of [[Frank Craven]]'s ''The First Year'' and Tarkington's ''Clarence'' and ''Tweedles''. Then in 1921, Gordon and Kelly were wed.

In December 1920, Gordon checked into a Chicago hospital to have her legs broken and straightened to treat her lifelong [[Genu varum|bow-leggedness]].<ref>The Pittsburgh Press, December 24, 1920: [https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19201224&id=CAMbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=qUkEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2239,3070545 "Actress, to continue her career, has bowed legs broken and straightened"]</ref> After a three-month recovery,  she moved to Indianapolis, where they started a repertory company.

Kelly died of heart disease in 1927 at the age of 35. Gordon at the time had been enjoying a comeback, appearing on Broadway as Bobby in [[Maxwell Anderson]]'s ''Saturday's Children'', performing in a serious role after being typecast for years as a "beautiful, but dumb" character.<ref name="current"/>

In 1929, Gordon was starring in the hit play ''Serena Blandish'' when she became pregnant by the show's producer, [[Jed Harris]]. Their son, Jones Harris, was born in Paris that year and Gordon brought him back to New York. Although they never married, Gordon and Harris provided their son with a normal upbringing, and his parentage became public knowledge as social conventions changed.<ref>{{cite news |last=Wada |first=Karen |date=August 29, 1985 |title=Ruth Gordon Dies; Stage, Film Career Spanned 7 Decades|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-08-29-mn-23770-story.html |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |access-date=2015-12-29}}</ref> In 1932, the family was living discreetly in a small, elegant New York City brownstone.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lanchester |first=Elsa |author-link=Elsa Lanchester |date=1983 |title=Elsa Lanchester Herself |location=New York |publisher=St. Martin's Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/elsalanchesterhe00lanc/page/102 102] |isbn=0-312-24376-6 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/elsalanchesterhe00lanc/page/102}}</ref>
[[File:Ruth-Gordon-Seventeen-1918-2.jpg|thumb|Gordon as Lola Pratt, holding her dog Flopit in the Broadway production ''Seventeen'', 1918]] Their son later married the actress and heiress [[Heidi Vanderbilt]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/10/28/archives/miss-vanderbilt-becomes-bride-of-jones-harris.html | title=Miss Vanderbilt Becomes Bride of Jones Harris (Published 1971) | website=[[The New York Times]] | date=28 October 1971 }}</ref>