Madge Evans (born Margherita Harrison Evans; July 1, 1909 – April 26, 1981) was an American stage, film, radio, and television actress.Obituary Variety, April 29, 1981. She began her career as a child performer and model.
Biography
Child model and stage actress Evans was born in Manhattan, and featured in print ads as the "Fairy Soap girl" when she was two years old. She made her professional debut at the age of six months, posing as an artist's model. As a youth, her playmates included Robert Warwick, Holbrook Blinn, and Henry Hull. When she was four years old, Evans was featured in a series of child plays produced by William A. Brady. She worked at the old movie studio in Long Island, New York. Her success was immediate, so much so that her mother lent her daughter's name to a hat company. Evans posed in a mother-and-child tableau with Anita Stewart, then 16, for an Anheuser-Busch Brewing Company calendar, and as the little mountain girl in Heidi of the Alps.
At the age of eight in 1917, Evans appeared in the Broadway production of Peter Ibbetson with John Barrymore, Constance Collier, and Laura Hope Crews. At 17, she returned to the stage and appeared as the ingenue in Daisy Mayme. Some of her better work in plays came in productions of Dread, The Marquis, and The Conquering Male. Her last appearance was in Philip Goes Forth produced by George Kelley. Evans' mother took her to England and Europe when she was 15.
Film career As a child, Evans debuted in The Sign of the Cross (1914). She appeared in dozens of films, including with Marguerite Clark in The Seven Sisters (1915). She was featured with Robert Warwick in Alias Jimmy Valentine (1915). At 14, she was the star of J. Stuart Blackton's rural melodrama On the Banks of the Wabash (1923). She co-starred with Richard Barthelmess in Classmates (1924).
She was working on stage when she signed with Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM) in 1927. As with theater, she continued to play ingenue parts, often as the fiancé of the leading man. She played the love interest to both Al Jolson and Frank Morgan in the 1933 film Hallelujah, I'm a Bum.
Working for MGM in the 1930s, she appeared in Dinner at Eight (1933), Broadway to Hollywood (1933), Hell Below (1933), and David Copperfield (1935). In 1933, she starred with James Cagney in the melodrama The Mayor of Hell. Other notable movies in which she appeared are Beauty for Sale (1933), Grand Canary (1934), What Every Woman Knows (1934), and Pennies From Heaven (1936).
In 1960, for Evans' contribution to the motion-picture industry, she was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 1752 Vine Street.Madge Evans - Hollywood Walk of Fame
Radio and television Later, Evans worked in radio and television in New York City. She performed on The Philco Television Playhouse (1949–1950), Studio One (1954), Matinee Theater (1955), and The Alcoa Hour (1956). She was also a panelist on the 1950s version of Masquerade Party.
Personal life Evans married playwright Sidney Kingsley, best known for his plays Dead End and Detective Story, in York Village, Maine, on July 25, 1939. The couple owned a estate in Oakland, New Jersey. Following her marriage to Kingsley, Evans left Hollywood and moved to this home in New Jersey.
Death Evans died at her home in Oakland, New Jersey, from cancer in 1981, aged 71.
Filmography Film Year Film Role Notes 1914 Shore Acres Mildred1915 Alias Jimmy Valentine Child locked in vault Uncredited The Seven Sisters Clara Lost film The Master Hand Jean as a child Lost film Zaza Child Uncredited Lost film The Little Church Around the Corner Child1916 The Devil's Toy Betty Sudden Riches Little Emily Husband and Wife Bessie The Revolt Nannie Stevens The Hidden Scar Dot Incomplete film Seventeen Jane Baxter Lost film The New South Georgia Gwynne as a child1917 The Web of Desire Marjorie Lost film Maternity Constance The Beloved Adventuress Francine at age 7 Lost filmThe Volunteer Herself The Little Duchess Geraldine Carmichael The Burglar Editha The Corner Grocer Mary Brian at age 8 Adventures of Carol Carol Montgomery The Little Patriot Undetermined role Uncredited1918 Woman and Wife Uncredited Incomplete film The Gates of Gladness Beth Leeds Wanted: A Mother Eileen Homer True Blue Girl child Uncredited Vengeance Young Nan as a girl Stolen Orders Ruth Le Page as a child Lost film The Golden Wall Madge Lathroop Neighbors Clarissa Leigh Heredity Nedda Trevor as a child The Power and the Glory Deanie Consadine The Love Net Patty Barnes1919 The Love Defender Dolly Meredith Three Green Eyes Child Home Wanted Madge Dow 1920 Heidi Heidi 1923 On the Banks of the Wabash Lisbeth 1924 Classmates Sylvia Lost film 1930 Envy Helen Short film1931 Son of India Janice Darsey First film for MGM Sporting Blood Miss 'Missy' Ruby Guilty Hands Barbara 'Babs' Grant Heartbreak Countess Vima Walden West of Broadway Anne1932 Lovers Courageous Mary Blayne The Greeks Had a Word for Them Polaire Are You Listening? Laura O'Neil Huddle Rosalie Stone Fast Life Shirley1933 Hallelujah, I'm a Bum June Marcher Hell Below Joan Standish Made on Broadway Claire Bidwell The Nuisance Dorothy Mason The Mayor of Hell Dorothy Griffith Dinner at Eight Paula Jordan Broadway to Hollywood Anne Ainsley Beauty for Sale Letty Lawson Day of Reckoning Dorothy Day1934 Fugitive Lovers Letty Morris The Show-Off Amy Fisher Piper Stand Up and Cheer! Mary Adams Grand Canary Lady Mary Fielding Paris Interlude Julia 'Julie' Bell Death on the Diamond Frances Clark What Every Woman Knows Lady Sybil Tenterden1935 Helldorado Glenda Wynant David Copperfield Agnes Wickfield Age of Indiscretion Maxine Bennett Calm Yourself Rosalind Rockwell Men Without Names Helen Sherwood The Tunnel Ruth McAllan1936 Exclusive Story Ann Devlin Moonlight Murder Antonia 'Toni' Adams Piccadilly Jim Ann Chester Pennies from Heaven Susan Sprague1937 Espionage Patricia Booth The Thirteenth Chair Nell O'Neill1938 Sinners in Paradise Anne Wesson Army Girl Julie Armstrong
Television Year Title Role Episode 1949-50 The Philco Television Playhouse Elinor Dashwood / Elizabeth Bennet Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility 1951 Pulitzer Prize Playhouse The niece Alison's House Cameo Theatre Deception 1952 Mrs. Thanksgiving TV movie 1953 Lux Video Theatre Sylvia This is Jimmy Merrill Armstrong Circle Theatre Mrs. Douglass Judgement Medallion Theatre The Trouble Train The Motorola Television Hour At Ease 1954 Justice The Desperate One Studio One Ann Fear Is No Stranger, The Magic Monday 1955 Matinee Theatre Coming of Age 1956 The Alcoa Hour Agnes Spencer The Girl in Chapter One 1958 The Investigator Season 1 Episode 6
References
Bibliography Los Angeles Times, Marriages In Hollywood Exceed Divorces In 1939, January 2, 1940, Page A1. Los Angeles Times, Child Film Star, Ingenue Madge Evans Dies at 71, April 27, 1981, Page A1. Oakland, California Tribune, Two Wise Young Maidens, January 10, 1937, Page 80. San Mateo Times, A Defence of Youth, January 18, 1936, Page 15. Syracuse Herald, Madge Evans, Joan Marsh, and Jackie Coogan head Sextet Surviving, Sunday Morning, July 19, 1931, Section 3, Page 11. Zanesville, Ohio Signal, Madge Evans Has Role With James Cagney, July 16, 1933, Page 12.
Further reading Dye, David. Child and Youth Actors: Filmography of Their Entire Careers, 1914-1985. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 1988, pp. 70–71.
External links
Pictures at SilentLadies.com Photos at Virtual-History.com