Minna Gombell

Minna Gombell, born Minna Marie Gombel on May 28, 1892 in Baltimore, Maryland, was the daughter of William Gombel, a German‑born physician who emigrated to the United States in 1880, and Emma M. Debring Gombel, a Baltimore native of German descent. Her early exposure to a cultured, bilingual household fostered a love for the performing arts, leading her to pursue a career on stage soon after completing her schooling. Beginning in 1912, she adopted the stage name Winifred Lee and toured with stock theater troupes across Albany, Atlanta, Cleveland, New Orleans, and Los Angeles, honing her craft in a variety of dramatic roles. On Broadway she earned critical acclaim with credits such as The Indestructible Wife (1917), My Lady's Garter (1915), and Ballyhoo (1926), showcasing her versatility from comedy to serious drama. In the late 1920s the Fox Film Corporation signed her, and she made a cinematic debut in Doctors' Wives (1931) under the pseudonym Nancy Gardner, a name assigned by the studio; she later returned to the screen using her real name. Over the next three decades she appeared in approximately fifty Hollywood productions, including classic titles like The Thin Man, High Sierra, Boom Town, The Merry Widow, Block‑Heads, The First Year, The Best Years of Our Lives, and Doomed Caravan, often portraying memorable supporting characters. Between film projects she also mentored younger actresses, sharing the techniques that had sustained her own long career. Gombell’s personal life was marked by three documented marriages: to Howard C. Rumsey (1916‑1921), aviator Ferdinand Eggena (1922‑1924), and millionaire banker Joseph W. Sefton Jr. (1933‑1954), each ending in divorce. She passed away on April 14, 1973 in Santa Monica, California, and was interred at Loudon Park Cemetery in her native Baltimore, leaving behind a legacy as a dedicated stage and screen performer whose work spanned the silent era to the golden age of Hollywood.