Estelle Rolle Evans (October 1, 1906 – July 20, 1985) was a

Bahamian American Bahamian Americans are an ethnic group of Caribbean Americans of Bahamian ancestry. There are an estimated 56,797 people of Bahamian ancestry living in the US as of 2019. Bahamian Immigration Bahamians began visiting the Florida Keys in the ...

actress during the 20th century. Some of her most famous appearances were in the movies '' The Quiet One'' (1948), ''

To Kill a Mockingbird ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' is a novel by the American author Harper Lee. It was published in 1960 and was instantly successful. In the United States, it is widely read in high schools and middle schools. ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' has become ...

'' (1962), and ''

The Learning Tree ''The Learning Tree'' is a 1969 American coming-of-age drama film written and directed by Gordon Parks. It depicts the life of Newt Winger, a teenager growing up in Cherokee Flats, Kansas, in the 1920s, and chronicles his journey into manhood m ...

'' (1969). Evans was the sister of actresses

Rosanna Carter Rosanna Rolle Carter (September 20, 1918 – December 30, 2016) was a Bahamian American television, stage and film actress, who was born in Nassau, Bahamas, to two Bahamian parents, and the sister of Esther Rolle and Estelle Evans, one of 18 ...

and

Esther Rolle Esther Elizabeth Rolle (November 8, 1920 – November 17, 1998) was an American actress. She is best known for her role as Florida Evans, on the CBS television sitcom '' Maude,'' for two seasons (1972–1974), and its spin-off series '' G ...

Personal life and death

Evans was born Estelle Rolle on October 1, 1906, in

Nassau Nassau may refer to: Places Bahamas *Nassau, Bahamas, capital city of the Bahamas, on the island of New Providence Canada *Nassau District, renamed Home District, regional division in Upper Canada from 1788 to 1792 *Nassau Street (Winnipeg), ...

New Providence New Providence is the most populous island in the Bahamas, containing more than 70% of the total population. It is the location of the national capital city of Nassau, whose boundaries are coincident with the island; it had a population of 246 ...

The Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...

, to parents Jonathan and Elizabeth Iris Rolle (née Dames). She was the oldest of eighteen children. Her sisters include actresses

and

. Evans was married once, to Walter Evans. The two had three daughters: Eliza, Ella and Estella Evans. Evans played Calpurnia in the 1962 film version of ''

'' and acted in several other major movies and television shows. For her work in ''

'', she received the

NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture This article lists the winners and nominees for the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture. The award has also been called Outstanding Lead Actress in a Motion Picture. Out of 12 films which featured African-Americans in le ...

. Evans died on July 20, 1985, in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, and was buried in

Westview Community Cemetery Westview Community Cemetery is a historic African-American cemetery in Pompano Beach, Florida. It was created in 1952 during segregation when African-Americans could not be buried together with whites in Florida. the land for the cemetery was do ...

Pompano Beach, Florida Pompano Beach ( ) is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. It is located along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, just north of Fort Lauderdale. The nearby Hillsboro Inlet forms part of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. As of the 2020 ...

. She was 78 years old.

Filmography

References

External links

* *
Estelle Evans and the Learning Tree: How Bahamas-Born Actress Got Star Role in Parks' Film
1906 births 1982 deaths American film actresses American stage actresses American television actresses Bahamian emigrants to the United States People from Nassau, Bahamas {{US-screen-actor-1900s-stub