Eve Arden
Eve Arden
Little Eunice Quedens' first brush with the performing arts came at age seven, when she won a WCTU medal for her recital of the pro-temperance poem "No Kicka My Dog." After graduating from high school, she became a professional actress on the California stock company circuit. Still using her given name, she played a blonde seductress in the 1929 Columbia talkie Song of Love then joined a touring repertory theater. After another brief film appearance in 1933's Dancing Lady, she was urged by a producer to change her name for professional purposes. Allegedly inspired by a container of Elizabeth Arden cold cream, Eunice Quedens reinvented herself as Eve Arden. Several successful appearances in the annual Ziegfeld Follies followed, and in 1937 Arden returned to films as a young character actress. From Stage Door (1937) onward, she was effectively typecast as the all-knowing witheringly sarcastic "best friend" who seldom got the leading man but always got the best lines. Her film roles in the 1940s ranged from such typical assignments as sophisticated magazine editor "Stonewall" Jackson in Cover Girl (1944) to such hilariously atypical performances as athletic Russian sniper Natalia Moskoroff in The Doughgirls (1944). In 1945, she earned an Oscar nomination for her portrayal of Joan Crawford's sardonic but sympathetic business partner in Mildred Pierce. In July of 1948, she launched the popular radio situation comedy Our Miss Brooks, earning a place in the hearts of schoolteachers (and sitcom fans) everywhere with her award-winning portrayal of long-suffering but ebullient high school teacher Connie Brooks. Our Miss Brooks was transferred to television in 1952, running five successful seasons. Less successful was the 1957 TVer The Eve Arden Show, in which the star played authoress Liza Hammond. This failure was neutralized by her subsequent stage tours in such plays as Auntie Mame and Hello, Dolly! and her well-received film appearances in Anatomy of a Murder (1959) and Dark at the Top of the Stairs (1960). In 1967, she returned to TV to co-star with Kaye Ballard on the chucklesome The Mothers-in-Law which lasted two years. And in 1978, she became a favorite of a new generation with her performance as Principal McGee in the phenomenally successful film version of Broadway's Grease. In 1985, Eve Arden came out with her autobiography, The Three Phases of Eve. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Filmography of Eve Arden:
- Night and Day with Cary Grant , Alexis Smith , Herman Bing , Monty Woolley , Jane Wyman , Dorothy Malone , Mary Martin , Alan Sr. Hale , Clarence Muse , Sig Rumann , Ginny Simms , Henry Stephenson , Bobby Watson , Donald Woods , Creighton Hale , Boyd Irwin , Colin Kenny , Frank Marlowe , Robert McKenzie , George Meader , Bert Moorhouse , Jack Richardson , Cyril Ring , Harry Seymour , Philip vanZandt , Crane Whitley , Eric Wilton , Richard Erdman , Michael Lally
- A Letter of Introduction with Adolphe Menjou , Andrea Leeds , Edgar Bergen , George Murphy , Rita Johnson , Ann Sheridan , Don "Red" Barry , William "Wild Bill" Elliott , Dorothy Granger , Armand Kaliz , Alphonse Martell , Charlie the Dummy McCarthy , Esther Ralston , Kane Richmond , Rolfe Sedan , Charles Sherlock , Claire Whitney , Dick Winslow
- Eternally Yours with Loretta Young , David Niven , Billie Burke , Hugh Herbert , C. Aubrey Smith , Broderick Crawford , Virginia Field , Raymond Walburn , ZaSu Pitts , Ralph Graves , Leyland Hodgson , Billy Wayne , Edwin Stanley , Franklin Parker , Mary Field , Granville Bates , Tay Garnett , Hillary Brooke , Hillary Brooke , Al Hill , Frank Jaquet
- Ziegfeld Girl with James Stewart , Judy Garland , Hedy Lamarr , Lana Turner , Jackie Cooper , Ian Hunter , Charles Winninger , Edward Everett Horton , Paul Kelly , Dan Dailey , Al Shean , Felix Bressart , Mae Busch , Josephine Whittell , Roscoe Ates , James Flavin , Bess Flowers , Reed Hadley , Al Hill , Armand Kaliz , Elliott Sullivan , Ray Teal , Jean Wallace
- Stage Door with Katharine Hepburn , Ginger Rogers , Adolphe Menjou , Gail Patrick , Andrea Leeds , Lucille Ball , Franklin Pangborn , Grady Sutton , Ann Miller , Huntly Gordon , Jack Carson , Frances Gifford , Ben Jr. Hendricks , Al Hill , Philip Morris , Bob Perry , Larry Steers , Josephine Whittell
- Dancing Lady with Joan Crawford , Clark Gable , Franchot Tone , May Robson , Fred Astaire , Robert Benchley , Ted Healy , Grant Mitchell , Nelson Eddy , Moe Howard , Larry Fine , Sterling Holloway , Pat Somerset , Charles Sullivan , Larry Steers , C. Montague Shaw , William "Wild Bill" Elliott , Frank S. Hagney , Lynn Bari , Cecil Cunningham
Eve Arden Trivia
