Madge Evans
Lovely Madge Evans was the perennial nice girl in films of the 1930s. By then, she had been in front of the camera for many years, starting with Fairy Soap commercials at the age of two (she sat on a bar of soap holding a bunch of violets with the tag line reading "have you a little fairy in your home?"). 'Baby Madge' also lent her name to a children's hat company. In 1914, aged five, she was picked out by talent scouts to appear in the William Farnum movie The Sign of the Cross (1914), followed by The Seven Sisters (1915) with Marguerite Clark. By the end of the following year, she had amassed some twenty film credits, appearing with such noted contemporary stars as Pauline Frederick or Alice Brady. All of her early films were made on the East Coast, at studios in Ft.Lee, New Jersey. In 1917 (aged eight), Madge made her Broadway debut in 'Peter Ibbetson' with John Barrymore and Lionel Barrymore. She resumed her stage career in 1926 as an ingenue with 'Daisy Mayme' and the following year appeared with Billie Burke in Noel Coward's costume drama 'The Marquise' (1927). Her pleasing looks and personality soon attracted the attention of Hollywood and she was eventually signed by MGM in 1931. During the next decade, she appeared in several A-grade productions, notably as Lionel Barrymore's daughter in MGM's Dinner at Eight (1933) and as the dependable Agnes Wickfield in one of the best-ever filmed versions of David Copperfield (1935). She co-starred opposite James Cagney in the gangster movie The Mayor of Hell (1933), Spencer Tracy in The Show-Off (1934) and listened to Bing Crosby crooning the title song in Pennies from Heaven (1936). Madge received praise for her performance as the star of Beauty for Sale (1933) and The New York Times review of January 13 1934 described her acting in Fugitive Lovers (1934) (opposite Robert Montgomery ) as 'spontaneous and captivating'. Many of her 'typical American girl' roles did not allow her to express aspects of the greater acting range she undoubtedly possessed. Too often she was cast as the 'nice girl' - and those rarely make much of a dramatic impact. On the few occasions she was assigned the role of 'other woman' , such as the Helen Hayes-starrer What Every Woman Knows (1934), audiences found her character difficult to believe and disassociate from her all-round wholesome image. When her contract with MGM expired in 1937, Madge wound down her film career and, following her 1939 marriage, concentrated on being the wife of celebrated playwright Sidney Kingsley. She last appeared on stage in one of his plays, "The Patriots", in 1943.
Dinner at Eight
as Paula JordanAn ambitious New York socialite plans an extravagant dinner party as her businessman husband,...
Movie page
David Copperfield
as Agnes Wickfield as a WomanCharles Dickens' timeless tale of an ordinary young man who lives an extraordinary life, filled...
Movie page
Son of India
as JaniceAn Indian jewel merchant goes from penniless to wealthy in this story about gratitude.
Movie page
The Mayor of Hell
as Dorothy GriffithMembers of a teenage gang are sent to the State Reformatory, presided over by the callous...
Movie page
Death on the Diamond
as Frances ClarkPop Clark is about to lose his baseball team, unless they can win the pennant so he can pay off...
Movie page
Pennies from Heaven
as Susan SpragueLarry Poole, in prison on a false charge, promises an inmate that when he gets out he will look...
Movie page
What Every Woman Knows
as Lady Sybil TenterdenAspiring young Scottish politician John Shand enters into an unusual agreement with the wealthy...
Movie page
Sporting Blood
as Miss 'Missy' RubyA horse with great potential is reluctantly sold by the breeder and by chance passes through...
Movie page
The Greeks Had a Word for Them
as PolaireA trio of money-hungry women rent a luxurious penthouse, spending their dough on drink and...
Movie page
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
as Self (archive footage)Period music, film clips and newsreel footage combined into a visual exploration of the American...
Movie page
Hallelujah, I'm a Bum
as June MarcherA New York tramp falls in love with the mayor's amnesiac girlfriend after rescuing her from a...
Movie page
Sinners in Paradise
as Anne WessonThe survivors from a plane crash are washed up on an island where the only inhabitants are Mr....
Movie page
The Hidden Scar
as DotJanet Hall (Ethel Clayton) is "wronged" by Henry Dalton (Montagu Love) and becomes pregnant. She...
Movie page
Beauty for Sale
as Letty LawsonA beautiful woman lands a job at an exclusive salon that deals with the wives of wealthy...
Movie page
Paris Interlude
as JulieExpatriates and foreign correspondents mix in a Paris bistro...
Movie page
Exclusive Story
as Ann DevlinA reporter and his newspaper's attorney try to gather evidence that will put a notorious...
Movie page
Age of Indiscretion
as Maxine BennettA book publisher finds his business floundering, which prompts his socially ambitious wife to...
Movie page
Stand Up and Cheer!
as Mary AdamsPresident Franklin Roosevelt appoints a theatrical producer as the new Secretary of Amusement in...
Movie page
Grand Canary
as Lady Mary FieldingBased on an AJ Cronin novel, a disgraced doctor exiled to the Canary Islands, meets and falls in...
Movie page
The Tunnel
as Ruth McAllanAn engineer leads the building of a trans-Atlantic tunnel linking Britain and the United States.
Movie page
Huddle
as RosalieTony, the son of Italian immigrants, works in a smoky steel mill in Gary, Indiana. He wins a...
Movie page
Lovers Courageous
as Mary BlayneA daydreaming dramatist and his beloved persevere through hard times in the hope that one of his...
Movie page
Helldorado
as Glenda WynantArthur T. Ryan, a hitchhiker, gets a ride from haughty, society girl Glenda Wynant and her...
Movie page
Piccadilly Jim
as Ann ChesterJim's father wants to marry Eugenia, but her sister Netta refuses to allow it. When Jim sees Ann...
Movie page
Men Without Names
as Helen SherwoodA G-man woos a newswoman and corners bank robbers with a hostage in a factory.
Movie page
Moonlight Murder
as Toni AdamsAn escaped lunatic, a mysterious swami, and various lovers all have designs on a famous opera...
Movie page
The Nuisance
as Dorothy MasonFast-talker extraordinaire Tracy gives one of his quintessential wiseguy performances as a...
Movie page
Made on Broadway
as ClaireA satire about the power of publicity. Robert Montgomery plays Jeff Bidwell, a dashing Broadway...
Movie page
Guilty Hands
as Barbara 'Babs' GrantA district attorney commits the perfect murder when he kills his daughter's womanizing fiancé...
Movie page
Seventeen
as Jane BaxterSeventeen year old William Sylvanus Baxter has fallen madly in love with young coquette, Lola...
Movie page
West of Broadway
as AnneA wealthy soldier returns home after WWI, discovers his socialite fiancee no longer wants to...
Movie page
The Thirteenth Chair
as Nell O'NeillA phony psychic tries to solve a murder that took place during her seance.
Movie page
Hollywood: The Selznick Years
as 'Dinner at Eight' (archive footage) (uncredited)Henry Fonda hosts this retrospective on the career and films of iconic filmmaker David O....
Movie page
Espionage
as Patricia BoothTwo reporters pose as man and wife in order to get the goods on a munitions supplier and the...
Movie page
The Seven Sisters
as ClaraMici is the middle of seven sisters, who all believe if a younger sister marries first, the...
Movie page
The Web of Desire
as MarjorieWhen his wife Grace inherits her father's stock, John Miller, the president of the Western Power...
Movie page
Army Girl
as Julie ArmstrongA young captain hoping to replace the U.S. Army's horses with mechanized vehicles faces...
Movie page
Broadway to Hollywood
as Anne AinsleyIn this through-the-years saga about a show business family, the fame of husband and wife...
Movie page
Hell Below
as JoanOn leave in Italy, Lt. Tommy Knowlton falls in love with Jean Standish, who's not only married,...
Movie page
Calm Yourself
as Rosalind RockwellA recently-fired advertising executive starts his own company, Confidential Services, to help...
Movie page
Day of Reckoning
as Dorothy DayIn this brutal prison drama a hen-pecked husband is sentenced to prison after getting caught...
Movie page
Are You Listening?
as Laura O'NeilWBLA is on the air, presenting the live music, the sudsy dramas and the sell-sell-sell of...
Movie page
Fast Life
as ShirleyTwo sailors (William Haines and Cliff Edwards) are leaving the US Navy after 10 years. In their...
Movie page
Husband and Wife
as BessieWhen Doris Baker spends her husband Dick into serious debt, he embezzles funds from the bank...
Movie page
Love Net
as Patty BarnesLittle Patty Barnes lives with her grandfather, Captain Amos Barnes, in a rickety shack on the...
Movie page
The Devil's Toy
as BettyThe Devil's Toy is a 1916 American silent drama film directed by Harley Knoles and starring...
Movie page
The Show-Off
as Amy Fisher PiperAubrey cons Amy into thinking he's a railroad bigwig. When he loses his job he takes one wearing...
Movie page
Fugitive Lovers
as Letty MorrisIn a hopeful effort to evade gangster Legs Caffey, chorus girl Letty Morris hops a bus in New...
Movie page
The Volunteer
as SelfMadge Evans, World Film Corp. juvenile star, is sent to her Quaker grandparents, Timothy and...
Movie page
True Blue
as Ruth, as a ChildTrue Blue begins with the marriage of black-sheep British nobleman Gilbert Brockhurst to the...
Movie page
On the Banks of the Wabash
as LisbethAn inventor, David Hammond is the son of a ship's captain. He leaves his sweetheart, Lisbeth...
Movie page
Wanted, A Mother
as Eileen HomerNeglected by her grief-stricken father, a doctor, after the tragic death of his wife, little...
Movie page
Envy
as HelenTwo bored couples think they can find happiness if they exchange spouses for the evening.
Movie page
Stolen Orders
as Ruth Le Page - as a childA renegade American and his innocent daughter become entangled in the snares of German secret...
Movie page
The New South
as Georgia Gwynne, as a girlThe New South is a silent 1916 drama.
Movie page
Matinee Theater
as uncreditedMatinee Theater is an American anthology series that aired on NBC during the Golden Age of...
TV Show page
The Philco Television Playhouse
as Elizabeth BennetThe Philco Television Playhouse is an American anthology series that was broadcast live on NBC...
TV Show page
The Philco Television Playhouse
as Elinor DashwoodThe Philco Television Playhouse is an American anthology series that was broadcast live on NBC...
TV Show page
Studio One
as uncreditedAn American radio–television anthology series, created in 1947 by Canadian director Fletcher...
TV Show page
Studio One
as AnnAn American radio–television anthology series, created in 1947 by Canadian director Fletcher...
TV Show page
Your Show of Shows
as uncreditedYour Show of Shows was a live 90-minute variety show that was broadcast weekly in the United...
TV Show page
The Alcoa Hour
as uncreditedThe Alcoa Hour is an American anthology television series that was aired live on NBC from 1955...
TV Show page
Hallmark Hall of Fame
as uncreditedHallmark Hall of Fame is an anthology program on American television, sponsored by Hallmark...
TV Show page