Evelyn Ward

Evelyn Mae Ward (May 21, 1923 – December 23, 2012) was an American actress and dancer whose career encompassed Broadway musicals, television, nightclub performances, and regional theater. Born and raised in West Orange, New Jersey, she was the daughter of Frederick and Ethel Laurinda (née Wheeler) Ward, and her ancestors were among the founders of Newark, New Jersey.

Ward began performing as a teenager, dancing with the Roxyettes at the Roxy Theater. Her path to Broadway included understudying Mary Martin in Dancing in the Streets, a musical that closed out of town in the spring of 1943. That same summer, Ward made her Broadway debut in the musical Early to Bed. She went on to appear in The Firebrand of Florence and Spring in Brazil, both in 1945, followed by Billion Dollar Baby in 1946 and Along Fifth Avenue in 1949. Ward returned to Broadway in the spring of 1958, replacing Gwen Verdon in the lead role of New Girl in Town. Her stage work also extended to regional theater, nightclub engagements in New York City and Boston, and a Las Vegas revue in 1954. In 1967, she appeared in the play And So to Bed at the LA Theater Center, a production that also featured her son David Cassidy in the cast. Ward came out of retirement in 1996 to co-star in Such a Pretty Face.

Her television work included a regular role on the CBS game show Hold It Please in 1949 and a recurring presence on the ABC variety series The College Bowl, also known as The Chico Marx Show, during the 1950–1951 season. Additional television credits include Perry Mason, Ben Casey, Dr. Kildare, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Mike Hammer, The Further Adventures of Ellery Queen, and Hallmark Hall of Fame.

Ward met actor Jack Cassidy in 1945 while both were appearing in The Firebrand of Florence on Broadway, and the two married on June 28, 1948. Their son, David Bruce Cassidy, was born on April 12, 1950, and the family lived in Ward's hometown of West Orange. The marriage ended in a Mexican divorce in July 1956, after which Ward and David resided with her parents in West Orange. In 1961, Ward married film director Elliot Silverstein, whom she had known through Boston-area stage productions he directed in 1955 and 1957. That marriage ended in 1968. She later married Al Williams, who died in 2005.

Ward died on December 23, 2012, from complications from dementia. She was survived by her son David Cassidy, who died on November 21, 2017, and by two grandchildren, Katie Cassidy and Beau Cassidy.