Eve Arden

Eve Arden

Date of Birth: April 30, 1912
Died: November 12, 1990

Nobody could deliver a sarcastic line better than Eve Arden. Even Groucho Marx withered under her knowing sneer. Her tart-tongue firmly entrenched her as the ultimate wise-cracking secretary/chorus girl/gal pal in dozens of films in the '30's and '40's, mostly in hokum like She Couldn't Say No and Forgotten Woman (Eve was the one audiences remembered).

The highlight of her early career came when she was cast as Joan Crawford's acidic friend Ida in Mildred Pierce. (Speaking of Mildred's spoiled daughter, Ida remarks, "Personally, Veda's convinced me that alligators have the right idea... they eat their young.") To Arden, Mildred Pierce was just another job. In her autobiography, Three Phases of Eve, Arden wrote: "I would never have guessed that it would bring Crawford her only Oscar and me a nomination in the supporting category."

Unfortunately, the Oscar nod didn't do a lot to boost her film career. However, it did lead to the role that would bring her lasting fame -- lovelorn schoolteacher Connie Brooks, better known as Our Miss Brooks. Starting on radio in 1948 and moving to television in 1952, Eve was perfect as the single teacher whose cynical veneer hid her soft heart. A bigscreen version of Our Miss Brooks was made in 1956.

With the success of her show, Arden's film output dwindled, but she made a comeback in Otto Preminger's sensational courtroom drama, Anatomy of a Murder. After that, she appeared on-and-off in films (with another TV series, The Mothers-In-Law, in the late '60's). She was as sardonic as ever when she played the principal in Grease, a part she reprised four years later in Grease 2.

Filmography

Grease 2 (1982)
Pandemonium (1982)
Under The Rainbow (1981)
Grease (1978)
The Strongest Man In The World (1975)
Sergeant Deadhead (1965)
The Dark At The Top Of The Stairs (1960)
Anatomy Of A Murder (1959)
Our Miss Brooks (1956)
The Lady Wants Mink (1953)
We're Not Married (1952)
Goodbye, My Fancy (1951)
Curtain Call At Cactus Creek (1950)
Paid In Full (1950)
Tea For Two (1950)
Three Husbands (1950)
The Lady Takes A Sailor (1949)
My Dream Is Yours (1949)
One Touch Of Venus (1948)
Whiplash (1948)
The Arnelo Affair (1947)
Song of Scheherazade (1947)
The Unfaithful (1947)
The Voice of the Turtle/ One for the Book (1947)
The Kid From Brooklyn (1946)
My Reputation (1946)
Night and Day (1946)
Earl Carroll Vanities (1945)
Mildred Pierce (1945)
Pan Americana (1945)
Patrick the Great (1945)
Cover Girl (1944)
The Doughgirls (1944)
Change Of Heart/ Hit Parade Of 1943 (1943)
Let's Face It (1943)
Bedtime Story (1941)
The Last of the Duanes (1941)
Manpower (1941)
Obliging Young Lady (1941)
San Antonio Rose (1941)
She Knew All the Answers (1941)
That Uncertain Feeling (1941)
Whistling in the Dark (1941)
Ziegfeld Girl (1941)
A Child is Born (1940)
Comrade X (1940)
No, No, Nanette (1940)
She Couldn't Say No (1940)
Slightly Honorable (1940)
Big Town Czar (1939)
Eternally Yours (1939)
Forgotten Woman (1939)
Marx Brothers at the Circus (1939)
Women in the Wind (1939)
Cocoanut Grove (1938)
Having Wonderful Time (1938)
A Letter of Introduction (1938)
Oh, Doctor! (1937)
Stage Door (1937)
Dancing Lady (1933)
The Song of Love (1929)