biographyBorn Eunice Quedens in Mill Valley, California, on April 30, 1908, actress Eve Arden harbored an early interest in the stage. Still in her teens, Arden quit school to try her luck in theater and films. Initially, she was just another pretty actress on stage. Her earliest film roles were in musicals: Song of Love (1929) and MGM's Dancing Lady (1933; with Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, and Franchot Tone). Neither film put Arden's career on the fast track, so she returned to the theater and landed a comedic role in the Ziegfeld Follies. By far the most success she had in her young career, Arden decided to stick with comedy and character parts. She returned to film with great success in the later 1930s, honing her sardonic wit in a series of comedies including No, No, Nanette (1940; with Anna Neagle and Richard Carlson) and Whistling in the Dark (1941; with Red Skelton and Virginia Grey). Even when appearing in dramas, such as the noirish Warner Bros. drama Mildred Pierce (1945; with Joan Crawford, Zachary Scott, Ann Blyth, and Bruce Bennett), for which Arden was rewarded with an Academy Award nomination, she often portrayed a wisecracker and provided comic relief. Arden has the distinction of acting in films alongside Joan Crawford's first three husbands (Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Franchot Tone, and Phillip Terry) and being in three Crawford films herself. Interestingly, Arden was often given then-typical male character names in films, from Buzz to Stonewall, perhaps to downplay her glamorous image. Her biggest role came not in film but in the CBS radio comedy Our Miss Brooks, which made its debut in the summer of 1948 and ran through 1957. In 1952, CBS took the popular radio show to television. Her portrayal of schoolteacher Connie Brooks is the role Arden is best remembered for. Also in 1952, she married her second husband, producer Brooks West. Arden had adopted two daughters before her second marriage and adopted one son afterward, and then gave birth to her son with West at age 46 in 1954. |
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the films of eve ardenSing for Your Supper (1941)From the Columbia musical comedy Sing for Your Supper with Benny Baker, Jinx Falkenburg, and Charles 'Buddy' RogersSan Antonio Rose (1941)The Doughgirls (1944)Arden as Russian sergeant Natalia Moskeroff in the wartime comedy The Doughgirls. Also pictured are Jane Wyman, Alexis Smith, and Ann SheridanMildred Pierce (1945)With Ann Blyth and Joan Crawford in Mildred Pierce. As Mildred's employee and friend Ida Corwin, Arden excelled at this type of roleThe Kid From Brooklyn (1946)The Unfaithful (1947)From the Warner Bros. film noir thriller The Unfaithful with Zachary ScottThe Voice of the Turtle (1947)One Touch of Venus (1948)Whiplash (1948)With Dane Clark in the Warner Bros. noir WhiplashCurtain Call at Cactus Creek (1950)From the Universal-International comedy Curtain Call at Cactus Creek. LEFT: With Chick Chandler and Gale Storm. RIGHT: With Vincent PriceTea for Two (1950)Three Husbands (1951)Our Miss Brooks (1952-1956 CBS TV Series)The Lady Wants Mink (1953)Our Miss Brooks (1956)From the Warner Bros. comedy Our Miss Brooks, a theatrically released film that included most of the cast members from the TV series. LEFT: With Don Porter. CENTER: With Nick Adams and Robert Rockwell. RIGHT: With Don Porter and Nick AdamsThe Mothers-In-Law (1967–1969 NBC TV Series)From the NBC TV series The Mothers-In-Law, which was produced by Desi Arnaz. Pictured are series stars Kaye Ballard, Deborah Walley, Jerry Fogel, and Eve ArdenGrease (1978)Under the Rainbow (1981)Grease 2 (1982)From the big-budget Paramount musical Grease 2 with Tab Hunter, Connie Stevens, Dody Goodman, and Sid Caesarlater yearsAfter Our Miss Brooks left the air in 1956, Eve Arden returned to CBS in the fall of 1957 in another situation comedy, titled The Eve Arden Show, which was not a success and was canceled in the spring of 1958. Afterward, Arden cooled her acting career, accepting fewer roles. After a nearly ten-year hiatus from television, Arden returned in the series The Mothers-in-Law (1967-1969; with Kaye Ballard and Deborah Walley). In the early 1970s, Arden appeared in several made-for-television films and she returned to the big screen in a hilarious performance as Principal McGee in Grease (1978; with Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta). Her final films were Pandemonium (1982; with Tom Smothers and Carol Kane) and Grease 2 (1982; with Michelle Pfeiffer, Maxwell Caulfield, and Lorna Luft). Arden's husband Brooks West passed away in 1984 at the age of 67. Plagued with heart trouble and cancer in her final days, Eve Arden passed away on November 12, 1990, at the age of 82. She was survived by two daughters and two sons. |
filmographyFILM
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