Helene Whitney (born Kenyon Fortescue, July 4, 1914 – March 28, 1990) was an American
actress
An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...
who appeared in films in the late 1930s and 1940s. She was known as Helene Reynolds after her marriage.
Biography
Whitney was born Kenyon Fortescue in 1914, but was known as Helene.
[Ancestry.co Historical Person Overview: Kenyon "Helene" Fortescue]
accessed May 2017. Through her mother,
Grace Fortescue, she was a grandniece (and cousin twice removed) of
Alexander Graham Bell
Alexander Graham Bell (; born Alexander Bell; March 3, 1847 – August 2, 1922) was a Scottish-born Canadian Americans, Canadian-American inventor, scientist, and engineer who is credited with patenting the first practical telephone. He als ...
, who invented the telephone.
Through her father
Granville Roland Fortescue, she was a
first cousin once removed of US President
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T.R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt previously was involved in New York (state), New York politics, incl ...
.
She grew up in
Washington D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
where she attended the
National Cathedral School for Girls.
She married Julian Louis Reynolds,
son of
Richard S. Reynolds, Sr. and heir to the
Reynolds aluminum and tobacco fortunes, on July 15, 1936, in Washington, becoming Helene Fortescue Reynolds.
After three years of marriage, they divorced in May 1939.
[ "Mrs. Helen E. Fortesque Reynolds arrived here today by plane from New York, prepared to take up residence to divorce Julian Louis Reynolds, tobacco heir."]
She became an actress, using the stage names of Joyce Gardner, Helene Whitney and Helene Reynolds, appeared in films in the late 1930s and 1940s and later in stage productions.
After her acting career ended, she became a Manhattan art gallery proprietor and artist in the 1960s.
She died of pneumonia at the John F. Kennedy Medical Center in
Atlantis, Florida aged 75 on March 28, 1990.
Filmography
As Helene Whitney/Helen Whitney
As Helene Reynolds
Television
As Helene Reynolds
Stage
*''
Oh, Captain!'' (February 4, 1958 – July 19, 1958)
*''
Happy Hunting'' (December 6, 1956 – November 30, 1957)
*''
Call Me Madam'' (October 12, 1950 – May 3, 1952)
*''
Miss Liberty'' (July 15, 1949 – April 8, 1950)
*''
High Button Shoes'' (October 9, 1947 – July 2, 1949)
*''Yours Is My Heart'' (September 5, 1946 – October 5, 1946)
Family tree
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitney, Helene
1914 births
1990 deaths
20th-century American actresses
20th-century American singers
20th-century American women singers
American film actresses
American musical theatre actresses
American people of Dutch descent
Deaths from pneumonia in Florida
National Cathedral School alumni
Roosevelt family
Gardiner family
Schuyler family