Joan Evans (actress)

Joan Evans
Joan Evans in Edge of Doom
Born Joan Eunson
(1934-07-18) July 18, 1934
New York, New York, U.S.
Occupation Actress
Years active 1949-1961
Spouse(s) Kirby Weatherly (m. 1952; 2 children)

Joan Evans (born Joan Eunson,[1] July 18, 1934) is an American film actress.

Early years

Evans's parents were Hollywood writers Dale Eunson and Katherine Albert. Her father wrote the book The Day They Gave Babies Away, which was made into the movie All Mine to Give (1957). She was named after actress Joan Crawford, her godmother.[2]

Acting

Evans appeared in three movies with actor Farley Granger. Her first film with him was as the title role in Roseanna McCoy (1949), based on the real-life romance between two members of the Hatfield-McCoy feud. She gained the role after producer Samuel Goldwyn conducted a national talent search. She was only 14 years old when she started work on Roseanna McCoy, and her parents added two years to her age so she could claim to be 16 when the film was released.

Evans' film career was launched with her three pictures opposite Granger, including a supporting role in the drama Our Very Own and a featured part in the crime story Edge of Doom. She had top billing as a suicidal teenager in 1951's drama On the Loose, then second billing to Esther Williams in a 1952 musical comedy, Skirts Ahoy!

Evans continued to make movies throughout the 1950s, including a featured role in It Grows on Trees, a comedy about a family with a tree that grows money in place of leaves. She starred as the love interest of John Derek in a 1954 western, The Outcast, and co-starred twice with Audie Murphy in the westerns Column South and No Name on the Bullet. She retired from acting in 1961. Her last role was in the episode "The Killer Legend" of Laramie as Julie Wade.

Journalism

In the 1950s, Evans wrote articles for Photoplay magazine. Beginning in May 1966, she was editor of Hollywood Studio Magazine, using her married name, Joan Evans Weatherly.[2]

Later years

Evans became an educator, and in the 1970s she was the director of Camden Academy in Van Nuys, California.[3]

Personal life

When Evans was 17 years old, she announced that she would marry a car salesman named Kirby Weatherly.

Her parents asked Crawford to dissuade her from marrying, since Evans was so young, but Crawford not only gave the couple her blessing, she had the wedding ceremony performed right in her own house without having the parents present. Evans's marriage to Weatherly lasted, but the friendship between Evans's parents and Crawford ended.[4]

The Weatherlys had a daughter on August 16, 1955.[5]

In 1984, Joan Evans and her husband signed a tribute to Crawford in Daily Variety.[6]

Filmography

Film

Television

References

  1. ↑ Room, Adrian (2012). Dictionary of Pseudonyms: 13,000 Assumed Names and Their Origins, 5th ed. McFarland. p. 168. ISBN 9780786457632. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
  2. 1 2 Slide, Anthony (2010). Inside the Hollywood Fan Magazine: A History of Star Makers, Fabricators, and Gossip Mongers. Univ. Press of Mississippi. p. 77. ISBN 9781604734140. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
  3. ↑ Jackovich, Karen (March 3, 1977). "Actress Joan Evans now a 'schoolmarm'". Valley News. California, Van Nuys. p. 29. Retrieved September 21, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ↑ Hadleigh, Boze (1999). Celebrity Feuds!: The Cattiest Rows, Spats, and Tiffs Ever Recorded. Taylor Trade Publishing. p. 188. ISBN 9781461708582. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
  5. ↑ "Girl for Joan Evans". The Corpus Christi Caller-Times. Texas, Corpus Christi. Associated Press. August 17, 1955. p. 34. Retrieved September 21, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ↑ Joan Crawford fansite
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