Judith Evelyn

Judith Evelyn (born Evelnov Morris; March 20, 1909 – May 7, 1967) was an American‑born Canadian actress whose career spanned more than two decades on stage, radio, film and television. Born in Seneca, South Dakota, she was raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba after her family moved north, where her step‑father, a successful stage performer, introduced her to the world of theater. Evelyn studied drama at the University of Manitoba and sharpened her craft at Hart House, the University of Toronto, before joining a Canadian Chautauqua troupe in 1932. The following year she crossed the border to California and performed with the Pasadena Community Playhouse, a stepping‑stone that led to work for both the British Broadcasting Corporation and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Her Broadway credits include Angel Street (as Bella Manningham), The Rich Full Life, Craig's Wife and The Shrike, each of which was later adapted for film, though she never reprised those roles on screen. In 1942 she received the Drama League Distinguished Performance Award, a testament to her powerful presence on the New York stage.

Evelyn transitioned to screen work in the early 1950s, quickly becoming a familiar character actress in Hollywood productions. She is perhaps best remembered for her haunting turn as Miss Lonelyhearts in Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window and for playing Nancy Lynnton in George Stevens’s epic Giant (1956). Other notable film appearances include the regal Queen Mother Taia in Michael Curtiz’s The Egyptian and a chilling partnership with Vincent Price in the horror classic The Tingler (1959), her final cinematic role. On television she appeared in episodes of Tales of Wells Fargo, Behind Closed Doors and her last credited performance was as Mrs. Bullock in The Eleventh Hour (1962). Though engaged to Canadian radio producer Andrew Allan, the couple never married; they survived the sinking of the SS Athenia in 1939. Evelyn succumbed to pancreatic cancer in New York City on May 7, 1967, and was interred at Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York.