Gabrielle Rossillon
Obituary
Gabrielle Floré Rossillon aka “Gay Gayle” in Motion Pictures and “Gaby” by her close friends
and family, passed away at the age of 93 on November 18, 2020 at 2:15am in Hollywood, CA
from complications of colon cancer. She is survived by her daughter Hedy, granddaughter
Kimberly and her older sister José.
Born in Namur, Belgium, to Louis Rossillon and Antoinette Geenis, with her only sibling,
together enjoyed a large family of many aunts, uncles and cousins. In 1945, she married Bertis
E. Johnson, a Corporal in the U.S. Army stationed in Belgium during WWII. With new daughter
Wanda Hedy, both arrived in America on a war-bride boat via the Atlantic ocean in 1946 and
settled in East St. Louis, Illinois.
As a natural beauty and model, Gabrielle dreamed of life as an actress and made her way to
Hollywood, CA with little Hedy in tow. In 1949 she became a member of the Screen Actors
Guild and was well on her way to stardom. She had the distinct pleasure of working in the
Motion Picture Television industry and appeared on the silver screen with the likes of Bob Hope,
Jerry Lewis, Tony Curtis, Clint Eastwood, Lloyd Bridges, Warren Beatty and James Garner (just
to name a few). She enjoyed a robust acting career during the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s and retired
in the early 90s. After, her time was spent in quietude where she enjoyed a gorgeous view of
Los Angeles from her balcony in West Hollywood and enjoyed regular visits by local fauna who
enjoyed the contents of her pantry from her generous hands. In her later years, Gabrielle’s
devotion to G-D was unwavering and often spoke of her anticipation of meeting him and being
reunited with the people and animals she’d loved and lost. Her body was laid to eternal rest at
Mount Sinai Cemetery in Hollywood Hills, California.
In Gabrielle’s honor, donations to Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles would most certainly
have pleased her. Thank you.
To donate online, copy and paste this link into your web browserhttps://
support.jfsla.org/site/Donation2?df_id=1480&mfc_pref=T&1480.donation=form1
To donate by mail-
Jewish Family Service Los Angeles
3580 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 700
Los Angeles, CA 90010