Eva Mckenzie

Eva McKenzie, born Eva Belle Heazlit on November 5, 1889, in Toledo, Ohio, was an American actress whose career spanned both stage and screen. She died on September 15, 1967.

McKenzie built a substantial film career, appearing in more than 150 productions between 1915 and 1944, with a significant portion of those credits falling within the Western genre. Her stage work included a Broadway appearance in 1913 in The Beggar Student. Beyond Broadway, she was a member of a theatre company called the Broadway Players, through which she performed in two 1928 stage productions, Nothing But the Truth and Little Orphan Annie. A contemporary newspaper review of Nothing But the Truth observed that McKenzie was "usually called upon to overact, but she has achieved a certain popularity thru her willingness and enthusiasm."

Her work extended behind the camera as well. McKenzie wrote the screenplays for two silent Western comedy films, A Knight of the West (1921) and Freshwater Jack (1921), both of which were directed by her husband, actor Robert McKenzie. The two were married until Robert McKenzie's death in 1949, and they appeared together on screen as a married couple in the Three Stooges short The Yoke's on Me (1944). Among her other film credits are The Man from Guntown (1935), Pioneer Trail (1938), and Oily to Bed, Oily to Rise (1939).

McKenzie and her husband had three daughters, all of whom became actresses: Ida Mae McKenzie, Ella McKenzie, and Fay McKenzie. The family frequently worked together professionally, with Eva, Robert, Ida Mae, and Ella all appearing in the 1928 film Laff That Off and sharing the stage in the two Broadway Players productions that same year.