Evelyn Keyes

Actor

Port Arthur, Texas, USA

November 20, 1916

Biography

Evelyn Louise Keyes (November 20, 1916 - July 4, 2008) was an American film actress. A chorus girl by age 18, Keyes came out to Hollywood and was introduced to Cecil B. DeMille, who in her own words, “signed me to a personal contract without even making a test”. After a handful of B-movies at Paramount Pictures, she landed the role in Gone with the Wind, of Scarlett O'Hara's sister, Suellen. She was later interviewed for the 1988 documentary The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind. Columbia Pictures signed her to a contract. In 1941, she played an ingenue in Here Comes Mr. Jordan. She spent most of the early 1940s playing leads in many of Columbia's B dramas and mysteries. She appeared as the female lead opposite Larry Parks in Columbia's blockbuster hit, The Jolson Story. She followed this up with an enjoyable minor screwball comedy, The Mating of Millie, with Glenn Ford. She was then in a 1949 role as Kathy Flannigan in Mrs. Mike. Keyes' last major film role was a small part as Tom Ewell's vacationing wife in The Seven Year Itch (1955), which starred Marilyn Monroe. Keyes officially retired in 1956, but continued to act.