Evelyn Brent
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (March 2013) |
Evelyn Brent | |
|---|---|
 Brent photographed in 1929 by Russell Ball | |
| Born | Mary Elizabeth Riggs October 20, 1895 Tampa, Florida, U.S. |
| Died | June 4, 1975 (aged 79) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Other names | Betty Riggs |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1915–1960 |
| Spouses | B. P. Fineman
(m. 1922; div. 1927)Harry D. Edwards
(m. 1928; div. 1947) |
Evelyn Brent (born Mary Elizabeth Riggs;[1] October 20, 1895[2][3][4] – June 4, 1975[5]) was an American film and stage actress.
Early life
[edit] |
Brent was born in Tampa, Florida and known as "Betty." When she was 10 years old, 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.
Career
[edit]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 production of the Robert W. Service poem "The Shooting of Dan McGrew".
After World War I, she traveled to Europe, where she visited France before settling in London, England. She had a role in The Ruined Lady, where her co-stars in the play were future Hollywood stars C. Aubrey Smith and Nigel Bruce.
She remained in England for four years, performing on stage and in films, 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, alongside Eleanor Boardman and Laura La Plante. Douglas Fairbanks Sr. signed her as his leading lady for a film that was eventually abandoned and his next films, The Thief of Bagdad and The Black Pirate, were unsuitable for her. When the press attempted to create a scandal that Fairbanks was cheating on his wife, Mary Pickford with her, Brent left his company to join Associated Authors.[6]
After a year-long contract that resulted mostly in minor westerns and melodramas, Evelyn signed with Film Booking Office (FBO), which immediately launched her as the "Queen of the Underworld" with a series of crook dramas including Silk Stocking Sal (directed by the master of macabre, Tod Browning), Midnight Molly, Alias Mary Flynn, Smooth as Satin, Lady Robinhood, and Queen o'Diamonds. The minor stardom that Evelyn received from these popular films brought her to the attention of Paramount Pictures, which signed her to a long-term contract.
Paramount launched her tenure at the company with the lead in the popular shopgirl comedy Love 'Em and Leave 'Em, where her screen impact overshadowed by the appearance of Louise Brooks as Brent's younger sister.
Josef Von Sternberg, an acquaintance from her time in British films and a fan of her FBO series of crook pictures, cast her as "Feathers" (over the objections of Paramount executives, who preferred Estelle Taylor for the role) in the gangster epic Underworld (1927).
Brent appeared in Von Sternberg's The Last Command (1928), an epic war drama starring Emil Jannings and William Powell. Von Sternberg worked with her for the third (and last) time in The Drag Net (1928), which reunited her with her Underworld co-star George Bancroft.
In-between and after her series of films with Von Sternberg, Paramount cast Brent in a string of pictures that sustained her popularity, including a sequel to 1926's hit Beau Geste called Beau Sabreur, the melodrama His Tiger Wife, and her last silent film The Mating Call for director James Cruze.
Brent was later cast as the female lead in Paramount's first all-talking picture Interference. She was then loaned out to Universal Pictures for the musical-drama Broadway, which ran for two years. Her Paramount contract had about a year left to run, and she appeared in Paramount on Parade.
Brent played major roles in several features, most notably The Silver Horde.
By the early part of the 1930s, she was working in secondary roles in a variety of films as well as touring with vaudeville 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.
Evelyn Brent photographed attractively opposite leading men who were also at advanced ages and later stages in their careers: Jack Holt in the Columbia serial Holt of the Secret Service, Neil Hamilton in PRC's production Dangerous Lady, and Lee Tracy in the same studio's The Payoff. In the early 1940s, she worked in action features for Paramount, produced by Pine-Thomas Productions. Veteran director William Beaudine cast her in many productions as well, including Emergency Landing (1941), Bowery Champs (1944), The Golden Eye (1948), and Again Pioneers (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 for one episode in 1960, "The Lita Foladaire Story", starring Ward Bond and Diane Brewster. Brent played a housekeeper and her appearance had changed radically.[7]
Personal life and death
[edit]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. They were married until he died in 1959.[8]
Brent died of a heart attack in 1975[9] at age 79 in her Los Angeles home. She is interred in the San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Mission Hills, California.[citation needed]
Legacy
[edit]In 1960, Brent was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame with a motion pictures star for her contributions to the film industry. Her star is located at 6548 Hollywood Boulevard.[10]
Filmography
[edit]
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Silent features
[edit]| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1914 | A Gentleman from Mississippi | Hope Langdon | Lost film |
| 1915 | The Heart of a Painted Woman | Lost film | |
| The Shooting of Dan McGrew | Nell (adult) | Lost film Credited as Betty Riggs | |
| When Love Laughs | Bessie | Lost film Short film | |
| 1916 | The Lure of Heart's Desire | Little Snowbird | Lost film |
| The Iron Will | Lost film Short film Uncredited | ||
| The Soul Market | Vivian Austin | Lost film | |
| Playing with Fire | Lucille Vane | Lost film | |
| The Spell of the Yukon | Dorothy Temple | Lost film | |
| The Weakness of Strength | Bessie Alden | Lost film | |
| The Iron Woman | Nannie Maitland | Lost film | |
| 1917 | The Millionaire's Double | Constance Brent | Lost film |
| To the Death | Rosa | Lost film | |
| Who's Your Neighbor? | Betty Hamlin | Lost film | |
| Raffles, the Amateur Cracksman | Ethel - Lord Amersteth's Daughter | ||
| 1918 | Daybreak | Det. Alma Peterson | Lost film |
| 1919 | Border River | Marie Dubuque | Short film |
| Help! Help! Police! | Marian Trevor | Lost film | |
| Fool's Gold | Nancy Smith | ||
| The Other Man's Wife | Becky Simon | Lost film | |
| The Glorious Lady | Lady Eileen | ||
| 1920 | The Shuttle of Life | Miriam Grey | Lost film |
| The Law Divine | Daphne Grey | Lost film | |
| 1921 | Demos | Emma Vine | Lost film |
| The Door That Has No Key | Violet Melton | Lost film | |
| Sybil | Sybil Gerard | Lost film | |
| Sonia | Sonia Dainton | Lost film | |
| Laughter and Tears | Pierette | ||
| 1922 | Trapped by the Mormons | Nora Prescott | |
| The Spanish Jade | Mañuela | Lost film | |
| Married to a Mormon | Beryl Fane | Lost film | |
| The Experiment | Doris Fielding | Lost film | |
| Pages of Life | Mitzi / Dolores | Lost film | |
| 1923 | Held to Answer | Bessie Burbeck | Lost film |
| 1924 | Loving Lies | Ellen Craig | Lost film |
| The Shadow of the Desert | Lolaire | Lost film | |
| Arizona Express | Lola Nichols | ||
| The Plunderer | The Lily | Lost film | |
| The Lone Chance | Margaret West | Lost film | |
| The Desert Outlaw | May Halloway | ||
| The Cyclone Rider | Weeping Wanda | ||
| The Dangerous Flirt | Sheila Fairfax | Lost film | |
| My Husband's Wives | Marie Wynn | Lost film | |
| Silk Stocking Sal | 'Stormy' Martin | Lost film | |
| 1925 | Midnight Molly | Margaret Warren / Midnight Molly | |
| Forbidden Cargo | Polly O'Day | Lost film | |
| Alias Mary Flynn | Mary Flynn | Lost film | |
| Smooth as Satin | Gertie Jones | Lost film | |
| Lady Robinhood | Señorita Catalina / La Ortiga | Lost film Trailer survives | |
| Three Wise Crooks | Molly | Lost film | |
| Broadway Lady | Rosalie Ryan | ||
| 1926 | Queen o'Diamonds | Jeanette Durant / Jerry Lyon | Lost film |
| Secret Orders | Janet Graaham | Lost film | |
| The Impostor | Judith Gilbert | Lost film | |
| The Jade Cup | Peggy Allen | Lost film | |
| Flame of the Argentine | Inez Remírez | Lost film | |
| Love 'Em and Leave 'Em | Mame Walsh | ||
| 1927 | Love's Greatest Mistake | Jane | Lost film |
| Blind Alleys | Sally Ray | Lost film | |
| Underworld | 'Feathers' McCoy | ||
| Women's Wares | Dolly Morton | ||
| 1928 | Beau Sabreur | Mary Vanbrugh | Lost film |
| The Last Command | Natalie Dabrova | ||
| The Showdown | Sibyl Shelton | ||
| A Night of Mystery | Gilberte Boismartel | Lost film | |
| His Tiger Lady | Tiger Lady | Lost film | |
| The Drag Net | The Magpie | Lost film | |
| The Mating Call | Rose Henderson |
Sound features
[edit]| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1928 | Interference | Deborah Kane | |
| 1929 | Broadway | Pearl | Released as both silent and talking versions; Talking version is incomplete |
| Fast Company | Evelyn Corey | An incomplete copy is held at the UCLA Film and Television Archive | |
| Woman Trap | Kitty Evans | ||
| Why Bring That Up? | Betty | ||
| Darkened Rooms | Ellen | ||
| 1930 | Slightly Scarlet | Lucy Stavrin | |
| Framed | Rose Manning | ||
| Paramount on Parade | Episode 'Origin of the Apache' | ||
| The Silver Horde | Cherry Malotte | ||
| Madonna of the Streets | May | ||
| 1931 | Traveling Husbands | Ruby Smith | |
| The Pagan Lady | Dorothy 'Dot' Hunter | ||
| The Mad Parade | Monica Dale | ||
| 1932 | High Pressure | Francine Dale | |
| Attorney for the Defense | Val Lorraine | ||
| The Crusader | Tess Brandon | ||
| 1933 | The World Gone Mad | Carlotta Lamont | |
| 1935 | Symphony of Living | Paula Greig Rupert | |
| Home on the Range | Georgia | ||
| Without Children | Shirley Ross Cole | ||
| The Nitwits | Mrs. Alice Lake | ||
| Speed Limited | Natalie | ||
| 1936 | Song of the Trail | Myra | |
| It Couldn't Have Happened - But It Did | Beverly Drake | ||
| The President's Mystery | Ilka Blake | ||
| Hopalong Cassidy Returns | Lilli Marsh | ||
| 1937 | Jungle Jim | Shanghai Lil, one of four main characters | Serial |
| King of Gamblers | Cora | ||
| The Last Train from Madrid | Soldier | uncredited | |
| Night Club Scandal | Julia Reed | ||
| Sudden Bill Dorn | Diana Viargas | ||
| Daughter of Shanghai | Olga Derey | ||
| 1938 | Tip-Off Girls | Rena Terry | |
| Mr. Wong, Detective | Olga aka Countess Dubois | ||
| The Law West of Tombstone | Clara 'Clary' Martinez | ||
| 1939 | Panama Lady | Lenore | |
| Daughter of the Tong | The Illustrious One | ||
| The Mad Empress | Empress Eugenie | ||
| 1941 | Emergency Landing | Maude Lambert | |
| Forced Landing | Doctor Vidalek's Housekeeper | ||
| Wide Open Town | Belle Langtry | ||
| Dangerous Lady | Hester Engle | ||
| Ellery Queen and the Murder Ring | Nurse holding microscope | uncredited | |
| Holt of the Secret Service | Kay Drew | ||
| 1942 | Westward Ho | Mrs. Healey | |
| Wrecking Crew | Martha Poska | ||
| The Payoff | Alma Dorn | ||
| Silent Witness | Mrs. Roos / Anna Barnes | ||
| 1943 | Spy Train | Frieda Molte | |
| The Seventh Victim | Natalie Cortez | ||
| 1944 | Bowery Champs | Gypsy Carmen | |
| 1947 | Raiders of the South | Belle Chambers | |
| Robin Hood of Monterey | Maria Belmonte Sanchez | ||
| 1948 | Stage Struck | Miss Lloyd | |
| The Golden Eye | Sister Teresa | ||
| 1949 | Life of St. Paul Series | Jailer's Wife | |
| 1950 | Again Pioneers | Alice Keeler |
References
[edit]- ^ Room, Adrian (2010). Dictionary of Pseudonyms: 13,000 Assumed Names and Their Origins, 5th ed. McFarland. p. 75. ISBN 9780786457632. Retrieved April 27, 2017.
- ^ Passport application. "Ancestry.com". Ancestry.com.
- ^ 1929 passenger list for Evelyn edwards. "Ancestry.com". Ancestry.com.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Kear, Lynn; King, James (October 21, 2009). Books.Google.gr. McFarland. ISBN 9780786454686.
- ^ Kear, Lynn (2009). Evelyn Brent: The Life and Films of Hollywood's Lady Crook. p. 7. ISBN 978-0-7864-4363-5.
- ^ "EVELYN BRENT, 75, FILM STAR OF 1920'S". The New York Times. June 8, 1975. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 25, 2025.
- ^ "Evelyn Brent". latimes.com. Retrieved May 25, 2025.
- ^ Kear, Lynn; King, James (October 21, 2009). Evelyn Brent: the life and films of Hollywood's Lady Crook. McFarland. ISBN 9780786454686. Retrieved September 1, 2011.
- ^ Ellenberger, Allan R. (2001). Celebrities in Los Angeles Cemeteries: A Directory. McFarland. p. 195. ISBN 9780786450190. Retrieved April 27, 2017.
- ^ "Hollywood Walk of Fame - Evelyn Brent". walkoffame.com/. Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. Retrieved November 30, 2017.
Bibliography
[edit]- The New York Times, "Evelyn Brent, 75, Film Star of 1920s", June 8, 1975, Page 55.
External links
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