Eve Arden

Eve was born just north of San Francisco in Mill Valley and was interested in show business from an early age At 16 she made her stage debut after quitting school to joined a stock company After appearing in minor roles in two films under her real name Eunice Quedens she found that the stage offered her the same minor roles By the mid 30s one of these minor roles would attract notice as a comedy sketch in the stage play Ziegfeld Folies By that time she had changed her name to Eve Arden In 1937 she attracted some attention with a small role in Oh Doctor 1937 which led to her being cast in a minor role in the film Stage Door 1937 By the time the film was finished her part had expanded into the wisecracking fasttalking friend to the lead She would play virtually the character for most of her career While her sophisticated wisecracking would never make her the lead she would be a busy actress in dozens of movies over the next dozen years In At the Circus 1939 she was the acrobatic Peerless Pauline opposite Groucho Marx and the Russian sharp shooter in the comedy The Doughgirls 1944 For her role as Ida in Mildred Pierce 1945 she received an Academy Award nomination Famous for her quick ripostes this led to work in Radio during the 40s In 1948 CBS Radio premiered Our Miss Brooks which would be the perfect show for her character As her film career began to slow CBS would take the popular radio show to television in 1952 The television series Our Miss Brooks 1952 would run through 1956 and led to he movie Our Miss Brooks 1956 When the show ended she tried another television series The Eve Arden Show 1957 but it was soon canceled In the 60s Eve raised a family and did a few guest roles until her comeback television series The MothersInLaw 1967 This show costarring Kaye Ballard ran for two seasons After that she would make more unsold pilots a couple of television movies and a few guest shots She returned in occasional cameo appearances including the Principal McGee in Grease 1978 and Warden June in Pandemonium 1982 showing that she still had the wisecracks and screen presence to bring back the fond memories of Miss Connie Brooks Date of Death 12 November 1990  Los Angeles California  cardiac arrest due to arteriosclerotic heart disease