Edith Evanson

Biography

Edith Evanson (born Edith Carlson in Tacoma, Washington, 1896; died in Riverside, California, 1980) was an American character actress who worked in film, theatre and television during Hollywood's Golden Age. Most of her screen work came in supporting parts, often as maids, busybodies, landladies and middle-aged secretaries.

Before acting she worked as a court reporter in Bellingham. Her first screen role was an uncredited part in The Man Who Wouldn't Talk (1940). Through the 1940s she appeared in films such as Citizen Kane and Woman of the Year, sharing the screen with stars including Greer Garson, Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn. When television arrived in the late 1940s she moved into anthology and genre series. She also worked steadily on stage in the Los Angeles area, where her performance in DeWitt Bodeen's Harvest of Years was praised by the Los Angeles Times.

She is also remembered for a brief link with Marilyn Monroe: director George Cukor asked her to help Monroe with a Swedish accent for Something's Got to Give, a film left unfinished. In the late 1960s and 1970s, as she grew older, she found little film work and her last appearances were on television. She retired to Riverside, where she died in 1980.

Key films

• Shane (1953): Mrs. Shipstead, the farmer's wife, in George Stevens's Western.
• Rope (1948): Mrs. Wilson, in Hitchcock's thriller shot largely in one set.
• Woman of the Year (1942): Alma, in the comedy with Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy.
• Désirée (1954): Queen Hedwig, in a period production.
• Citizen Kane (1941): Leland's nurse, in Orson Welles's debut.