Eleanor Phelps

Eleanor Phelps (September 8, 1907 – September 29, 2001) was an American actress whose career spanned theater, film, radio, and television. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, she accumulated 17 Broadway productions over a stage career that extended from 1929 to 1976, with credits including Steel, My Fair Ladies, A Royal Family, Crown Matrimonial, and The Loves of Cass McGuire.

Phelps received her early education at the Bryn Mawr School in Baltimore, where her classmates included future actresses Margaret Barker and Mildred Natwick. She went on to study at Vassar College, where Hallie Flanagan taught her at the Vassar Experimental Theatre. Her father discouraged her ambitions in the theater, though her mother intervened by arranging an introduction to actor George Arliss at his Beekman Place apartment in Manhattan. Arliss, too, attempted to steer her away from a stage career.

Despite those discouragements, Phelps joined the University Players Guild for its inaugural summer stock season in West Falmouth on Cape Cod in 1928, alongside Henry Fonda, Joshua Logan, Bretaigne Windust, Charles Leatherbee, Myron McCormick, and Kent Smith, among others. On July 29, 1928, Broadway producer Winthrop Ames traveled from New York to Cape Cod to attend the dress rehearsal of the University Players production of The Jest, a 1919 comedy by Sem Benelli, in which Phelps appeared. Ames subsequently offered her the role of Jessica in the post-Broadway national tour of The Merchant of Venice, a production in which Arliss had starred as Shylock during the preceding Broadway season. Phelps departed Cape Cod at the close of the 1928 summer season to join the Arliss company and did not return to Falmouth.

In the early 1930s, Phelps transitioned to motion pictures, appearing in The Run Around (1932), The Count of Monte Cristo (1934), and Cleopatra (1934). Her work in broadcasting began on radio, where she starred in the CBS serial Life and Love of Dr. Susan, which premiered on February 13, 1939. The program followed a young widow who continues her medical research following her husband's death. Phelps held the view that some of the finest acting could be found in soap operas, and her television work reflected that conviction. Her television credits include The Secret Storm (1954), Cinderella (1957), Hallmark Hall of Fame (1961), The Catholic Hour (1967), Somerset (1975), Threesome (1984), and Kate & Allie (1989). On The Secret Storm, she portrayed the wealthy character Grace Tyrrell from 1970 to 1973.

In her personal life, Phelps married actor Alden Chase, though the marriage was annulled in October 1935. She had a strong interest in Latin America and favored clothing featuring bright colors and Aztec designs. Phelps died in September 2001 in New York City.