Eve Arden

Eve Arden, born Eunice Mary Quedens on April 30, 1908, in Mill Valley, California, was an American actress whose career in film, radio, stage, and television spanned nearly six decades. She died on November 12, 1990. Her parents were Charles Peter Quedens and Lucille Frank, a milliner who divorced her husband over his gambling and subsequently went into business on her own. Though not Catholic, young Eunice attended a Dominican convent school in San Rafael, California, before enrolling at Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley, which she left at age 16 to join the stock theater company of Henry "Terry" Duffy.

Arden made her screen debut under her birth name in the Columbia Pictures backstage musical Song of Love in 1929, playing a wisecracking showgirl who becomes a rival to singer Belle Baker. She relocated to New York City in 1933, where she took on supporting roles in Broadway productions before being cast in the Ziegfeld Follies revue in 1934. That production marked the first time she was credited as Eve Arden, a stage name she assembled by combining "Evening in Paris" perfume with the name of cosmetics brand Elizabeth Arden. Between 1934 and 1941, her Broadway appearances included Parade, Very Warm for May, Two for the Show, and Let's Face It. She would continue performing on Broadway through 1983, with additional credits including Ziegfeld Follies of 1931, Butterflies Are Free, Auntie Mame, and Moose Murders.

Her film career gained momentum in 1937 when she signed with RKO Radio Pictures and appeared in Stage Door alongside Katharine Hepburn and Lucille Ball, earning considerable notice for her fast-talking, witty supporting performance. The following year she appeared in Having Wonderful Time, starring Ginger Rogers and Douglas Fairbanks Jr., and in 1939 took a role in the Marx Brothers comedy At the Circus, which required her to perform acrobatics. She also appeared in The Forgotten Woman in 1939, Comrade X in 1940 opposite Clark Gable and Hedy Lamarr, and Manpower in 1941 alongside Marlene Dietrich, Edward G. Robinson, and George Raft.

Arden received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Joan Crawford's wisecracking friend in the 1945 film Mildred Pierce. Despite her reputation for refined wit and comedy, she appeared effectively in several prominent films noir, among them Mildred Pierce, The Unfaithful in 1947, The Arnelo Affair in 1947, Whiplash in 1948, and Anatomy of a Murder in 1959, in which she played James Stewart's secretary opposite her husband, Brooks West. In 1946, exhibitors voted her the sixth-most promising star of tomorrow.

Arden's facility with comic material translated naturally to radio. She was a regular on Danny Kaye's 1946 comedy-variety program, which also featured swing bandleader Harry James and character actor Lionel Stander. That exposure led directly to her most celebrated role: Connie Brooks, an English teacher at Madison High School, in Our Miss Brooks. She played the character on radio from 1948 to 1957, on television from 1952 to 1956, and in a 1956 feature film. Her Miss Brooks navigated a running conflict with principal Osgood Conklin, played by Gale Gordon, and an unrequited attraction to fellow teacher Philip Boynton, originated on radio by Jeff Chandler and later played by Robert Rockwell on both radio and television. The role earned Arden the first Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, a listeners' poll victory from Radio Mirror magazine as top comedienne of 1948 to 1949, and a 1952 award from the Teachers College of Connecticut's Alumni Association for humanizing the American teacher. The National Education Association made her an honorary member, and she received actual job offers from schools. CBS gave her a follow-up series, The Eve Arden Show, in the fall of 1957, but it was canceled after 26 episodes in spring 1958.

In 1966, Arden appeared in an episode of Bewitched as a pediatric nurse and in an episode of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. as a scientist. From 1967 to 1969 she co-starred with Kaye Ballard in the NBC situation comedy The Mothers-in-Law, produced by Desi Arnaz, playing neighbor and in-law Eve Hubbard. She made a brief appearance as herself in a 1955 episode of I Love Lucy titled "L.A. at Last," in which she corrects Lucy Ricardo and Ethel Mertz's mistaken identification of her portrait at the Brown Derby. Later television appearances included Maude, Alice, Hart to Hart, and Falcon Crest. In 1985 she played the wicked stepmother in the Faerie Tale Theatre production of Cinderella.

A new generation of audiences encountered Arden through her role as Principal McGee in the film musicals Grease in 1978 and Grease 2 in 1982.