Evelyn Brent (born Mary Elizabeth Riggs; October 20, 1895 – June 4, 1975) was an American film and stage actress.

Early life

Brent was born in Tampa, Florida, and known as Betty. When she was age 10, her mother Eleanor (née. Warner) died, leaving her father Arthur to raise her alone. She moved to New York City as a teenager, and her good looks brought modeling jobs that led to an opportunity to become involved in movies. She originally studied to be a teacher. While attending a

normal school A normal school or normal college is an institution created to Teacher education, train teachers by educating them in the norms of pedagogy and curriculum. In the 19th century in the United States, instruction in normal schools was at the high s ...

in New York, she visited the World Film Studio in Fort Lee, New Jersey. Two days later, she was working there as an extra, earning $3 per day.

Career

She began her film career working under her own name at a New Jersey film studio, then made her major debut in the 1915

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...

production of the

Robert W. Service Robert William Service (January 16, 1874 – September 11, 1958) was a British-Canadian poet and writer, often called "the Bard of the Yukon". The middle name 'William' was in honour of a rich uncle. When that uncle neglected to provide for hi ...

poem ''The Shooting of Dan McGrew''. As Evelyn Brent, she continued to work in film, developing into a young woman with sultry looks. After World War I, she went to London for a vacation and met American playwright Oliver Cromwell, who urged her to accept an important role in ''The Ruined Lady''. The production was presented on the London stage. She remained in England for four years, performing on stage and in films produced by British companies, then she moved to Hollywood in 1922. Her career received a major boost the following year when she was chosen as one of the

WAMPAS Baby Stars The WAMPAS Baby Stars was a promotional campaign sponsored by the United States Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers, which honored 13 (15 in 1932) young actresses each year whom they believed to be on the threshold of movie stardom. ...

. Douglas Fairbanks Sr. signed her but failed to find a story for her; she left his company to join Associated Authors. EvelynBrent1

Brent made more than two dozen silent films, including three for director Josef von Sternberg. One of these was '' The Last Command'' (1928), an epic war drama featuring

William Powell William Horatio Powell (July 29, 1892 – March 5, 1984) was an American actor. A major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he was paired with Myrna Loy in 14 films, including the ''The Thin Man (film), Thin Man'' series based on the Nick and Nora Cha ...

for which

Emil Jannings Emil Jannings (born Theodor Friedrich Emil Janenz, 23 July 1884 – 2 January 1950) was a Swiss born German actor, popular in the 1920s in Hollywood. He was the first recipient of the Academy Award for Best Actor for his roles in '' The La ...

won the first

Academy Award for Best Actor The Academy Award for Best Actor is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in a leading role in a film released that year. The ...

. Brent played the film's

leading lady A leading actor, leading actress, or simply lead (), plays the role of the protagonist of a film, television show or play. The word ''lead'' may also refer to the largest role in the piece, and ''leading actor'' may refer to a person who typica ...

. Later that year, she starred opposite William Powell in her first sound movie. Brent played major roles in several features, most notably '' The Silver Horde'' and the

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

all-star revue ''

Paramount on Parade ''Paramount on Parade'' is a 1930 all-star American pre-Code revue released by Paramount Pictures, directed by several directors including Edmund Goulding, Dorothy Arzner, Ernst Lubitsch, Rowland V. Lee, A. Edward Sutherland, Lothar Mendes, O ...

'' (both 1930). By the early part of the 1930s, she was working in secondary roles in a variety of films as well as touring with

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

shows. In 1936, she played William Boyd's love interest/femme fatale in ''Hopalong Cassidy Returns''. However, by 1941, she was no longer in demand by major studios, and she found work at smaller, low-budget studios. She photographed attractively opposite leading men who were also at advanced ages and later stages in their careers: Neil Hamilton in

Producers Releasing Corporation Producers Releasing Corporation was the smallest and least prestigious of the Hollywood film studios of the 1940s. It was considered a prime example of what was called "Poverty Row": a low-rent stretch of Gower Street in Hollywood where shoest ...

's production ''Dangerous Lady'',

Lee Tracy William Lee Tracy (April 14, 1898 – October 18, 1968) was an American stage, film, and television actor. He is known foremost for his portrayals between the late 1920s and 1940s of fast-talking, wisecracking news reporters, press agents, lawye ...

in the same studio's '' The Payoff'', and Jack Holt in the serial '' Holt of the Secret Service''. In the early 1940s, she worked in action features for Paramount releases. Veteran director

William Beaudine William Washington Beaudine (January 15, 1892 – March 18, 1970) was an American film actor and director. He was one of Hollywood's most prolific directors, turning out films in remarkable numbers and in a wide variety of genres. Life and car ...

cast her in many productions as well, including ''

Emergency Landing An emergency landing is a premature landing made by an aircraft in response to an emergency involving an imminent or ongoing threat to the safety and operation of the aircraft, or involving a sudden need for a passenger or crew on board to term ...

'' (1941), ''Bowery Champs'' (1944), ''The Golden Eye'' (1948), and ''

Again Pioneers ''Again Pioneers'' (sometimes referred to as ''Again... Pioneers!'') is a 1950 American black-and-white short film, short Drama (film and television), drama film produced by Paul F. Heard for the Protestant Film Commission. Directed by William Be ...

'' (1950). After performing in more than 120 films, she retired from acting in 1950 and worked for a number of years as an actor's agent. She returned to acting in television's ''

Wagon Train ''Wagon Train'' is an American Western series that aired 8 seasons: first on the NBC television network (1957–1962), and then on ABC (1962–1965). ''Wagon Train'' debuted on September 18, 1957, and became number one in the Nielsen ratings ...

'' for one episode in 1960, "The Lita Foladaire Story", starring Ward Bond and

Diane Brewster Diane Brewster (March 11, 1931 – November 12, 1991) was an American television actress most noted for playing three distinctively different roles in television series of the 1950s and 1960s: confidence trickster Samantha Crawford in the Weste ...

. Brent played a housekeeper and her appearance had changed radically by that juncture.

Personal life and death

Evelyn Brent was married three times: to movie executive Bernard P. Fineman, to producer Harry D. Edwards, and finally to the vaudeville actor

Harry Fox Harry Fox (born Arthur Carringford; May 25, 1882 – July 20, 1959) was an American vaudeville dancer, actor, and comedian. Biography Fox is most notably famous for being related as name-source to the Fox Trot dance in New York. In "Dance Mad ...

. They were married until he died in 1959. Brent died of a heart attack in 1975 at age 79 in her Los Angeles home. She is interred in the

San Fernando Mission Cemetery The San Fernando Mission Cemetery is a Catholic cemetery located in the Mission Hills community of the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles. The property adjoins the San Fernando Mission and Bishop Alemany Catholic High School. ThSan Fernando Mi ...

in Mission Hills, California.

Legacy

In 1960, Brent was inducted into the

Hollywood Walk of Fame The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a historic landmark which consists of more than 2,700 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, Californ ...

with a motion pictures star for her contributions to the film industry. Her star is located at 6548 Hollywood Boulevard.

Filmography

Evelyn Brent from Stars of the Photoplay

References

Bibliography

* ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', ''Evelyn Brent, 75, Film Star of 1920s'', June 8, 1975, Page 55.

External links

* *
Photographs of Evelyn Brent
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Brent, Evelyn 1895 births 1975 deaths American film actresses American silent film actresses American stage actresses Vaudeville performers American television actresses Actresses from Tampa, Florida 20th-century American actresses Burials at San Fernando Mission Cemetery Paramount Pictures contract players WAMPAS Baby Stars