Edith Evanson

Edith Evanson (née Edith Carlson, April 29, 1896 – November 29, 1980) was an American character actress whose career spanned the Golden Age of Hollywood and the early years of television. Born in Tacoma, Washington, she began her professional life far from the bright lights, working as a court reporter in Bellingham before marrying Morris Otto Evanson on March 15, 1923, a union that produced no children but lasted until his death in 1975. Her entry into film came relatively late, with an uncredited appearance in The Man Who Wouldn't Talk (1940), and over the next three decades she became a reliable supporting player, often cast as maids, landladies, busybodies, or middle‑aged secretaries. Notable screen credits include brief but memorable turns in Citizen Kane (1941), Woman of the Year (1942), I Remember Mama (1948), Rope (1948), The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), and Disney’s Toby Tyler (1960), where her steady presence helped anchor ensembles that featured legends such as Orson Welles, Greer Garson, James Stewart, and Katharine Hepburn. As television emerged in the late 1940s, Evanson smoothly transitioned to the small screen, appearing on anthology series and popular shows like Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Loretta Young Show, Zane Grey Theater, and Lassie, displaying the same versatility that defined her film work. On stage she remained active in Los Angeles, delivering a “poignant” performance as a Swedish mother in DeWitt Bodeen’s Harvest of Years (1946) and later taking on the titular role of Mama in a stage adaptation of I Remember Mama in 1949. A friend of director George Cukor, she was even asked to coach Marilyn Monroe on a Swedish accent for the unfinished Something’s Got to Give, a testament to the respect she commanded among her peers. In the 1960s and early 1970s, advancing age limited her opportunities, but she still made guest appearances, such as a housekeeper in a 1964 episode of Gunsmoke and a final television role on Apple’s Way in 1974. A lifelong Democrat, Evanson supported Adlai Stevenson in 1952, and after retiring she lived in Riverside, California, where she died of heart failure in 1980; her ashes were scattered in the Pacific Ocean, closing the chapter on a quietly influential career.