Florence Eldridge (born Florence McKechnie,
September 5, 1901 – August 1, 1988) was an American actress. She was nominated for the
Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play in 1957 for her performance in ''
Long Day's Journey into Night''.
Early years
Eldridge was born Florence McKechnie in
Brooklyn, New York
Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
, the daughter of Charles J. McKechnie. She attended public schools, including P.S. 85 and
Girls' High School.
Stage
Eldridge made her
Broadway debut at age 17 as a chorus member of ''Rock-a-Bye Baby'' at the
Astor Theatre.
[ ] The reference book ''American Theatre: A Chronicle of Comedy and Drama, 1930–1969'' noted, "In the 1920s she won major attention in such plays as ''The Cat and the Canary'' and ''Six Characters in Search of an Author''."
In 1965, she and her husband
Fredric March did a world tour under the auspices of the
U.S. State Department. Eldridge wrote that they were "experimenting to see if an acting couple doing excerpts from plays on a bare stage could reach and appeal to a worldwide audience."
Personal life
On March 19, 1921, Eldridge married Howard Rumsey, who owned the Empire Theater and the Knickerbocker Players (both in Syracuse) and the Manhattan Players of Rochester. They were wed at her aunt's home in Maplewood, New Jersey.
[ ]
She was married to Fredric March from 1927 until his death in 1975, and appeared alongside him on stage and in seven films. They adopted two children, Penelope and Anthony. Like her husband, she was a
liberal Democrat.
Partial credits
Stage
*''
The Cat and the Canary''
*''
Six Characters in Search of an Author''
*''
An Enemy of the People''
*''
Long Day's Journey Into Night''
*''
The Skin of Our Teeth''
*''
The Autumn Garden
''The Autumn Garden'' is a 1951 Play (theatre), play by Lillian Hellman. The play is set in September, 1949 in a summer home in a resort on the Gulf of Mexico, about 100 miles from New Orleans. The play is a study of the defeats, disappointments ...
''
Screen
*''
Six Cylinder Love'' (1923) as Marilyn Sterling
*''
The Studio Murder Mystery'' (1929) as Blanche Hardell
*''
The Greene Murder Case'' (1929) as Sibella Greene
*''
Charming Sinners
''Charming Sinners'' is a 1929 American pre-Code comedy film directed by Robert Milton and Dorothy Arzner (who was uncredited), with a screenplay by Doris Anderson adapted from the 1926 play '' The Constant Wife'' written by W. Somerset Maug ...
'' (1929) as Helen Carr
*''
The Divorcee'' (1930) as Helen
*''
The Matrimonial Bed'' (1930) as Juliet Corton
*''
Thirteen Women'' (1932) as Grace Coombs
*''
The Great Jasper'' (1933) as Jenny Horn
*''
Dangerously Yours'' (1933) as Jo Horton
*''
The Story of Temple Drake'' (1933) as Ruby Lemarr
*''
A Modern Hero'' (1934) as Leah Ernst
*''
Les Misérables
''Les Misérables'' (, ) is a 19th-century French literature, French Epic (genre), epic historical fiction, historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published on 31 March 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. '' ...
'' (1935) as
Fantine
*''
Mary of Scotland'' (1936) as Elizabeth Tudor
*''
Another Part of the Forest'' (1948) as Lavinia Hubbard
*''
An Act of Murder'' (1948) as Catherine Cooke
*''
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus (; between 25 August and 31 October 1451 – 20 May 1506) was an Italians, Italian explorer and navigator from the Republic of Genoa who completed Voyages of Christopher Columbus, four Spanish-based voyages across the At ...
'' (1949) as Queen Isabella
*''
Inherit the Wind'' (1960) as Sarah Brady
Radio appearances
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Eldridge, Florence
1901 births
1988 deaths
American film actresses
American radio actresses
American stage actresses
Actresses from Brooklyn
Actresses from Long Beach, California
20th-century American actresses
Girls' High School alumni
Women's International Democratic Federation people