{"id":597,"date":"2021-12-01T21:02:56","date_gmt":"2021-12-01T21:02:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/performingartslegacy.org\/barriewilsonwendy\/?p=597"},"modified":"2025-03-29T12:27:25","modified_gmt":"2025-03-29T16:27:25","slug":"elisabeth-risdon-brandon-evans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/performingartslegacy.org\/barriewilsonwendy\/elisabeth-risdon-brandon-evans\/","title":{"rendered":"Elisabeth Risdon & Brandon Evans"},"content":{"rendered":"

Elisabeth Risdon & Brandon Evans<\/p>\n

or as they signed their notes \u2013 Lis & Brandy<\/p>\n

My Great-Great Aunt and Great-Great Uncle.<\/p>\n

(Elisabeth often signed her personal cards using the name Lis. So, to shorten her name, I will refer to her as Lis in this bio. Her husband Brandon at times wrote out her name as Lizzie.)<\/p>\n

Doing research on Elisabeth, I found confusing dates, both online and on official documents like census reports. So, I am writing her biography as I understand it, to date, from newspaper articles, online notes, books referencing her, and her personal notes & correspondence. Any corrections are welcome.<\/p>\n

With Thanks to Marilyn Sundin for her assistance in editing.<\/p>\n

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ELISABETH RISDON<\/p>\n

Born in Wandsworth, London, England, April 26, 1888, according to her own notes (though some census\u2019 say 1882, and some biographers say 1887; but these are inaccurate). Daisy Cartright Risdon was the daughter of John Jenkins Risdon (an accountant) and Martha Harrop Risdon.<\/p>\n

Lis writes that she was a \u201cchild entertainer at the age of 10, giving comedy sketches, monologues, smoking concerts, etc. in return for traveling expenses. At the age of 14 business was so good that education was allowed to lapse.\u201d<\/p>\n

Right now, it is unclear exactly when she began attending the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, but she writes that she was a teenager. Certainly, around the years 1910-1912, she may have been in attendance. A newspaper article titled \u201cWilliam S. Gilbert said, \u2018Yes\u2019 and Made the Girl An Actress\u201d begins, \u201cElisabeth Risdon, veteran actress, owes her place on the stage to W. S. Gilbert, lyricist member of the operator firm of Gilbert and Sullivan. More than 30 years ago, as \u2018a crusty old gentleman\u2019, Gilbert directed her examination for admission to the Academy of dramatic arts in London and spoke the formal words which pronounced are qualified for beginning the course. \u2018When my parents decided\u2019, said Miss Risdon, who appears in Mannekin, the film with Joan Crawford and Spencer Tracy at the Capital, \u2018that I should go on the stage, dramatic training seemed essential. But it was not a simple matter to enter the Academy. A severe test of ability was the entrance requirement. And, although I have never seen the Shakespearean play performed, I selected the potion scene from Romeo and Juliet in which to succeed or fail. Fortunately, W. S. Gilbert directed and approved. Before I completed my final term at the Academy\u2019, she said, \u2018I toured the provinces with The Christian. The experience, crude as it was, proved invaluable to any young actor actress. I recommend such a beginning, no matter how humble. My work on the stage reached maturity only after I had appeared in stock and on the road playing the tank towns of America.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

In several newspaper articles, one called \u201cCareer Story\u201d, Lis says she taught children\u2019s drama for several years. It has been written she taught at the Academy, either during this time, or just after her first husband\u2019s death, dividing her time between London and NY. She also writes that she \u201cplayed Gloria in You Never Can Tell, as a graduating exercise, and attracted the attention of Mr. George Bernard Shaw.\u201d This led to work on many of his plays.<\/p>\n

It is unclear when she graduated RADA. She writes in a one-page bio that it was in 1918, but she was in America by then. I think she may have written that in error. But, it is reported several places, and in her notes, that she graduated with highest honors.<\/p>\n

Lis writes that she made her stage debut in Nelson, Lancashire in 1910. (According to a newspaper article interview from 1917, it mentions the year as 1908). Her first \u201cprofessional\u201d show, her London debut, was at the Haymarket Theatre in 1911 in The Gods of the Mountains<\/em>, by Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 18th baron of Dunsany. It was his first London production.<\/p>\n

After graduating, Sir Arthur Wing Pinero chose her for his play Preserving Mr. Panmure, with Edmund Gwenn at the Comedy Theatre in London. It ran a year (1911). The NY Times reported the London show a success. Lis worked with Granville Barker Repertory Theatre company in The Interlopers. Next came a season with Mrs. Patrick Campbell at the Haymarket in The Christian, a Pinero comedy, and in The Bear Leaders. Then followed a short season in the Music Halls, and then she originated a role in The Man Who Stayed at Home, at the Royalty.<\/p>\n

After these, Shaw chose her for the lead role in Fanny\u2019s First Play, playing Fanny O\u2019Dowda, to be presented in America. \u201cIn 1911, in London, Harley Granville Barker, and Lillah McCarthy (his wife) took over the management of the Little Theatre. On April 19, they presented a new play by Bernard Shaw, Fanny\u2019s First Play, which he had written especially for Lillah. Although he considered it to be \u2018a potboiler\u2019, the audiences loved it and it ran for 622 performances \u2013 a record for a Shaw play. He told Lillah to play it as if it is a J.M. Barrie play.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was 1912, she was age 24 when she sailed on the Majestic from Southampton to NYC, listed on the passenger manifest as an actress. The play ran Sept. 1912-April 1913, for 256 performances at Colliers Comedy Theatre. Maurice Elvey was in the cast. He later directed 33 of her silent films when she returned to England in 1913. There she made her silent screen debut in 1913. From 1913-1917 she made about 40 silent films. \u201cSmall, curvy and versatile, Risdon was very popular with British audiences and in 1915 was voted England\u2019s Favorite Movie Star.\u201d A 1917 newspaper article says she was 128 pounds and stood 5\u20195\u201d. Light brown hair and green eyes.<\/p>\n

She performed in America for 14 months. In interviews she gave, she listed two plays: The Poetasters of Ispahan (1912), and Beauty and the Jacobin (1912). I do not know if she did these while in NY, or after returning to England.<\/p>\n

After returning home to England, she worked in some Vaudeville, and at the Savoy and Royalty theatres in Vedrenne Night. Then she appeared in many motion pictures, some with Maurice Elvey as mentioned above, and some with an American film director George Sinclair Loane Tucker, who would soon become her husband. During the silent era she appeared in 40 (33-Elvey directed) English films, playing young women, from 1913-1917, and mothers from 1917 to 1919. The most reputable of these were 1914\u2019s \u201cIn the Days of Trafalgar\u201d and 1917\u2019s \u201cThe Mother of Dartmoor\u201d (released in the U.S. as \u201cMother\u201d). And in Tucker\u2019s, \u201cThe Manxman\u201d.<\/p>\n

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From WIKI, info on George.<\/a><\/p>\n

George Loane Tucker- (born in Illinois, 1872 (or 1880), Tucker was born George S. Loane in Chicago to George Loane and stage actress Ethel Tucker. [2][3] After graduating from the University of Chicago, he got a job as a railroad clerk. He was chief clerk for the Maintenance of Way. Tucker was later the youngest man to be promoted to Contracting Freight Agent. After his first wife died while giving birth to the couple\u2019s son, Tucker quit his job. On the advice of friends, he began acting in stage productions. [2] By the mid-1910s, films were becoming a more popular draw for audiences which led Tucker to film acting and scenario writing. In 1911, he wrote a script for the short drama film Their First Misunderstanding. The film, which starred Mary Pickford, was a surprise hit. [2] Over the course of his career, Tucker would direct 69 films, 19 of which he also wrote. In 1913 he directed Traffic in Souls, which concerned the topic of white slavery. The film was an enormous hit (it made over a million dollars in profit) and remains an early influential example of realism in early cinema. Traffic in Souls served to establish Tucker has a respected director and writer. [4] Shortly after the film was released, he moved to England where he hired as the Director-general for the London Film Company. (1913-14) It was there that Tucker met and married his second wife, British actress Elisabeth Risdon. [5] While living in England, Tucker directed and produced several films for London Film including The Manxman (1917). An adaptation of the 1894 novel of the same name, it was one of the few British films that was distributed in the United States and would go on to become a financial and critical success.  [6] In late 1916, Tucker returned to the United States in where he was hired as the Director-general for Goldwyn Pictures.[5] That year, he wrote and directed The Cinderella Man which became that year\u2019s most profitable film. The following year, Tucker wrote and directed another hit, Virtuous Wives, starring Anita Stewart. [5] In 1919, Tucker wrote, produced and directed what became his most well-known and financially successful film, The Miracle Man. The film featured Lon Chaney in a breakout role as a man who pretends to be handicapped. The Miracle Man was a critical and financial success (some critics called it \u201cthe greatest picture ever made\u201d). [7] and made the film\u2019s stars, Chaney and Thomas Meighan, established stars. [8] Shortly before his death, Tucker completed direction on the drama Ladies Must Live.[9] The film was released in October 1921, approximately four months after his death. 2 hits on Broadway\u20261909-10 The Fortune Hunter<\/em> with John Barrymore, and 1910-11, Alma, Where Do You Live<\/em>.<\/p>\n

On June 20, 1921, Tucker died after a year-long illness at his home in Los Angeles at the age of 41. [11] [12] He was survived by his wife, actress Elisabeth Risdon. Tucker is buried at Hollywood Forever Cemetery. [13] \u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n

Lis and George wed on 11 Sept 1915 at St Margaret\u2019s on Thames, All Souls.  George, a silent movie director, was the director of some of her best vehicles. Over the course of his career, Tucker would direct 69 films, 19 of which he also wrote. In late 1916, Tucker returned to the United States in where he was hired as the Director-general for Goldwyn Pictures. In August 1916 Lis applied to the US for a passport back to England, as she now was a US resident. In 1917 they move into NYC. (Lis is quoted as saying \u201cAmerica Must Take Me!\u201d- from a newspaper interview.) In 1919, George is listed in NY, in the motion picture directors contact book. By 1920 they were living on West 55th street. (Same as I do, while writing this. Strange coincidence).  Lis was to return to the stage here in Winthrop Ames production of The Morris Dance<\/em> by H. Granville Barker in 1917 at the Little Theatre. From 1917 for the next 18 years she worked steadily on Broadway, and in many other theatres, especially with The Theatre Guild, where she played many of their shows, and toured the country in several of the plays that Lynn Fontanne originated. She also did several seasons in stock, in Milwaukee and Baltimore, as well as performing shows in Chicago.<\/p>\n

After Tucker died in 1921, she raised her step-son, George Tucker, as her own. She soon met another actor, (Thomas) Brandon Evans, who had been divorced from his wife and was raising his daughter, Ginny. I am not sure where they met (but I believe it was at the Theatre Guild where they performed together in the early 1920\u2019s), and we cannot find a marriage certificate (though she does refer to him in an article as her \u201cFriend husband\u201d), but they soon were living together with the kids on Long Island in Lynbrook, NY. A 1933 donation list for the Actor\u2019s Fund, she is listed as Elis Risdon Evans. Coincidently, Brandon was born on the same day as her first husband, George, June 12, but 6 years his junior. Lis reported that she liked the 30-minute commute. It gave her time to read and study. She also loved sewing. Of her hobby, in an interview, she said, \u201cI make the most beautiful underwear. I spend every spare minute behind the scene sewing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lis was on the council of Actors Equity for many years. Lis served on special committees for AEA. Later in LA she served on the SAG Board of Directors. She was also busy working on charities. One of the service groups she helped on was later on the list of \u201ccommunist activities\u201d with the House Committee on Un-American Activities<\/p>\n

https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/reportofsenatefa00calirich\/reportofsenatefa00calirich_djvu.txt<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/League_of_Women_Shoppers<\/a><\/p>\n

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Here are some of her plays as I have discovered. 27 are listed on IDBD as Broadway shows.<\/p>\n

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Misalliance \u2013 Hypatia Tarleton (1917), Broadhurst. For Shaw again.<\/p>\n

Seven Days\u2019 Leave \u2013 ???(1918) at the Park, throws of evening gown and stands in a one-piece bathing suit preparing to jump into the English Channel. (Kellerman\u2019s- note from Old Pix book I have pix of it)<\/p>\n

From Saturday to Monday\u2013 1918 \u2013 not Broadway<\/p>\n

Muggins\u2013 role? (1918)<\/p>\n

Humpty Dumpty \u2013 role? (1918), with Otis Skinner- flop.<\/p>\n

Dear Brutus \u2013 Joanna Trout (1918) with William Gillette and Helen Hayes,<\/p>\n

(Then she writes after Dear Brutus there were several lean years of constant flops, till Heartbreak House.)<\/p>\n

Jacques Duval \u2013 w\/ George Arliss \u2014 Not Broadway<\/p>\n

Footloose \u2013 Alice Verney (1920), w\/ Emily Stevens<\/p>\n

A Gentleman\u2019s Mother \u2013 w\/ Jeanne Engels -Not B-way, Ronald Coleman had a small role.<\/p>\n

The Front Seat \u2013 By Rida Johnson Young \u2013 Not B-way \/ in Washington \u2013 Arthur Hammerstein produced.<\/p>\n

Heartbreak House\u2013 Ellie Dunn (1920-21), w\/ Helen Westley- Theatre Guild. A portrait of Lis appeared in the lobby fresco adorning that theatre.<\/p>\n

The Nightcap \u2013 Mrs. Lester Knowles (1921), Ronald Coleman in a small role. At the Wilbur, Boston.<\/p>\n

A season with the George Marshall Players in Baltimore, MD \u2013 playing amount others: Wedding Belles, The Pigeon and The Green Goddess\u2013 w\/ George Arliss (1922-ish) in Chicago, and on the road. Also, in the company, Robert Armstrong and James Gleason (her good friend).<\/p>\n

Stock in Milwaukee, Robert Armstrong her leading man, \u2013 The Lady, and -Mary Nash in The Rabbits Foot opposite Tom Moore.  Also, with her, Jimmy Gleason (friend) and Pat O\u2019Brien. Also, with them, Harry Bannister.<\/p>\n

The Lady \u2013 Fanny Le Clare (1923). I have a review of her. Empire Theatre, Mr. Woods brought it.<\/p>\n

And another season in Milwaukee. Three seasons total. Lunt and Fontanne had a home there called Ten Chimneys. The Brontes\u2013 Milwaukee Theater Festival- under Robert Henderson direction<\/p>\n

Cock O\u2019 the Roost \u2013 Mrs. Dawn (1924), (over 30 plays by now) by Rita Johnson Young.  w\/ Harry Davenport, Donald Foster, Sylvia Fields, and Purnell Pratt<\/p>\n

Artistic Temperament\u2013 Helen Stanwood (1924), at the Wallick.<\/p>\n

Thrills\u2013 Mozilla Benson (1925)<\/p>\n

The Enchanted April \u2013 Lotty Wilkins (1925)<\/p>\n

Lovely Lady \u2013 Mrs. Julia Deshiels (1925), Miriam Hopkins was the ingenue.<\/p>\n

A Proud Woman -Julia Cates (1926)- this was a flop, with Florence Eldridge & Margaret Wycherly.<\/p>\n

The Silver Cord \u2013 Christina (mother in law from hell) (1926); by Sidney Howard. w\/ Laura Hope Crew, who helped direct. Made into a film. Irene Dunn played Lis\u2019 role (1933).<\/p>\n

Replaced Lynn Fontanne in \u201cPygmalion\u201d due to her surgery for appendicitis, then took it on road, with 4 other plays in rep. (1927). Strange Interlude, replacing Judith Anderson. She wrote: \u201cJudith Anderson created the part but did not want to go on the road with it. So, I got the part, rehearsed a week, and opened in Oakland. In the two years that followed I play just about every hamlet in the United States and thoroughly enjoyed it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Right You Are If You Think You Are\u2013 Signora Sirelli (1927), Edward G Robinson. Done as a matinee during The Silver Cord run.<\/p>\n

Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream \u2013 June 1927- a single event for the Actors Fund, outdoors at the Forest Hills stadium- Dir. Richard Boleslavsky. Prologue spoken by Tyrone Power.<\/p>\n

The Springboard \u2013 Rhoda Brice (1927)<\/p>\n

We Never Learn \u2013 Helen Bruce (1928)<\/p>\n

The Silver Cord \u2013 again- 1928 according to a picture book of old shows I have- index listed.<\/p>\n

Elizabeth the Queen \u2013 Jan 1932, in Chicago (taken over from Lynn Fontanne).<\/p>\n

For Services Rendered- Gwen Cedar (1933) with Evan Adair, Fay Bainter, Leo G Carroll,<\/p>\n

Uncle Tom\u2019s Cabin \u2013 Eliza (a runaway slave) (1933), at Players Club. Dogs and a donkey in the cast. Dog was to chase her as a runaway, but she fell one night and the dog came and licked her face instead.<\/p>\n

Big Hearted Herbert- Elizabeth Kalness (1934), at Biltmore Theatre, shared dressing room with Marjorie Wood. Produced by Eddie Dowling.<\/p>\n

Laburnum Grove-Mrs. Lucy Baxley (1935)- Played it in London; then to America. Last play. Edmund Gwenn. Ran two years total. During this she took a screen test. \u201cAs a rule,\u201d she said, \u201cNew York screen tests are taken as a joke by professionals. But Dorothy Arzner directed, mind, and although I knew nothing about motion picture work, it was a success.\u201d {She \u201cknew nothing of motion picture work??? \u2013 after all those years in silent films?}<\/p>\n

________________<\/p>\n

In 1935 Lis and Brandon decided to \u201cretire\u201d and moved to Brentwood, LA, CA. She was immediately picked up for motion pictures., though at times she was still considered for plays. For example, In April 1946, Lis was being considered to take over for Laurette Taylor in The Glass Menagerie. One paper announced she was in the lead for taking over the role while Laurette was out for surgery that summer. She also was considered to take over the role for the road shows that fall. I don\u2019t know what happened; perhaps she decided not to do it. (That play was one of my favs to perform.)<\/p>\n

An attractive beauty in her youth, she often played society parts; but in later years, in films she played character parts and strong-willed matriarchs. As soon as she moved to California, she was cast in Josef von Sternberg\u2019s Crime and Punishment<\/em>, as Mrs. Raskolnikov. (Peter Lorre was Raskolnikov, Edward Arnold as the Inspector, and the great Mrs. Patrick Campbell as a pawnbroker, a smaller role.) Lis\u2019 first film with sound was Guard That Girl (1935) (L. Hillyer, Columbia). She was frequently under contract with RKO from 1937-50. She contracted with a lot of studios. Lis did 50 pictures in her first 5 years in Hollywood.<\/p>\n

\u201cEither I retired too soon, \u2014or came to the wrong place to retire.\u201d Career Story- newspaper article.<\/p>\n

She acted in 140 films from 1913-1952. After that date she began working more on Television productions.<\/p>\n

In November of 1943 Lis stepped down from the SAG board of directors. She was replaced by Lena Horne, first performer of color to sit on the board.<\/p>\n

Lis retired in 1956. In later years, she taught drama to patients at a Veteran\u2019s Administration hospital near her Brentwood home. After retirement she writes \u2013 \u201cSince then my main interest has been teaching drama to patients in Brentwood neuropsychiatric hospital (US Veterans Administration). This work is experimental but may prove of value.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brandon died on April 3, 1958.  Lis Risdon died later that year, December 20, 1958, at St. John\u2019s Hospital in Santa Monica, California, from a cerebral hemorrhage.  Her body was donated to medical science at UCLA.<\/p>\n

About Acting Lis Risdon wrote:<\/p>\n

From a newspaper article\/interview, (about 1937 or 38) \u201cWilliam S. Gilbert said \u201cYes\u201d\u2026\u201d she names three people who have contributed the most to her career. \u201cArliss\u201d, she declared, \u201ctaught me to be economical with my emotions. I often ran wild and dramatic scenes, which pleased my ego. For this, Arliss frequently chided me, \u201cbe more repressed and you\u2019re acting will be more effective\u201d, he counseled.\u2019 \u201cFrom Miss Laura Hope Crews, I learned honesty and sincerity. She continually cautioned me against affectations. I had acquired bad stage habits, waving my arms and fidgeting while other actors were speaking their lines. She broke me of those.\u201d \u201cTo (Jimmy) Gleason, I owe my becoming an American, a circumstance which has kept me from being typed in Hollywood. When I was playing in Milwaukee I had a decided Oxford accent. Jimmy used to mimic me, and finally kidding me out of it. Often, I have felt that the less an actress knows, or cares, about technique the better off she is. Although I have played with many brilliant actors, none of them has ever told me, \u201cthis is positively the right way to act, and that way is positively the wrong\u201d. I have never been conscious that either the theater or the screen has a definitive, concrete technique. Harpo Marx cannot tell you why he makes audiences laugh. That is something for a psychologist to figure out. Personally, while working before the camera, I have never been bothered by a difference in technique, or by the lack of an audience. I simply take direction and act as I feel it. A doctor can give a detailed account of how a child is born, while a mother might not understand exactly how nature works. But she, not the doctor, is the one who actually bears the child. Acting is like that. Someone directs you and you act, with no thought of technique.\u201d<\/p>\n

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From Lincoln Center Performing Arts library, a paper from Chamberain Lyman Brown Collection, talks about how she never became famous, but others around her did. Some examples:<\/p>\n

Ronald Coleman was in small parts in her plays A Gentleman\u2019s Mother and The Night Cap.<\/p>\n

Edward G. Robinson was in Right You Are If You Think You Are.<\/p>\n

Tallulah Bankhead starred with her in Footloose.<\/p>\n

George Arliss opposite her in Jacques Duval and The Green Goddess.<\/p>\n

Robert Armstrong and James Gleason in Stock seasons- Milwaukee and Baltimore.<\/p>\n

Otis Skinner opposite her in Humpty Dumpty.<\/p>\n

Miriam Hopkins was the ingenue in Lovely Lady.<\/p>\n

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A list of some of her films follows, taken from her notes and newspaper reports. For a full clearer list see IMDB.  https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0728230\/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0<\/a><\/p>\n

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Film notes:<\/p>\n

Columbia -14 films? Lis writes \u201cColumbia Pictures provided a long contract starting with a role in Miss Irene Dunne\u2019s comedy Theodora Goes Wild. Engagements in MGM, Fox, RKO, Republic, and Warner followed thru the years with such stars as Deanna Durbin, John, Lionel, and Ethel Barrymore, Mickey Rooney, Elizabeth Taylor and Claudette Colbert. Active in television until retirement in 1956.\u201d<\/p>\n

1935: Crime and Punishment, \u2013 Raskolnikov\u2019s (Peter Lorre) mother \/ Josef von Sternberg for Columbia. Mrs. Patrick Cambell is in it (a pawnbroker).<\/p>\n

1936: Theodora Goes Wild, \u2013 Aunt Mary, (Irene Dunne her niece) \/ R. Boleslawski for Columbia<\/p>\n

1936; Craig\u2019s Wife \u2013 D. Arzner, one scene with Rosalind Russell as her dying sister<\/p>\n

1937: Make Way for Tomorrow \u2013 Cora Payne, \/ L. McCarey for Paramount\/ with Beulah Bondi, Fay Bainter, Thomas Mitchell, Minna Gombell<\/p>\n

1937: Mannequin, \/ F. Borzage, for MGM.  Joan Crawford her daughter, Spencer Tracey<\/p>\n

1937: The Awful Truth<\/p>\n

1939: Love Affair<\/p>\n

1939: The Adventures of Huck Finn, Widow Douglas, R. Thorpe, for MGM, Mickey Rooney<\/p>\n

1940: The Howards of Virginia \u2013 Cary Grant \u2013 F. Lloyd \u2013 Columbia\/<\/p>\n

1942: The Lady Is Willing, Child welfare worker, w\/ Marlene Dietrich\/ Columbia?<\/p>\n

1942: Random Harvest, M. LeRoy- women looking to see if Ronald Coleman is her son in a sanatorium, MGM<\/p>\n

1942: Journey for Margaret, W.S. Van Dyke \u2013 Brit woman who decides if to help Robert Young help bring a child to US, for MGM Canterville Ghost \u2013 plays Margaret O\u2019Brien\u2019s invalid Aunt Mrs. Polverdine \/ (https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0036696\/characters\/nm0728230?ref_=tt_cl_c_9  ) Robert Young, Charles Laughton.  J. Dassin for MGM<\/p>\n

1947: High Wall \u2013 C. Bernhardt, plays Robert Taylors mother, MGM<\/p>\n

1952: Scaramouche. \u2013 plays Isabelle de Valmorin, Stewart Granger, Mel Ferrer, MGM<\/p>\n

1937-1950- RKO- Of the 23 films for them, 7 were the Mexican Spitfire series starring Lupe Velez. She played Aunt Della Lindsay<\/p>\n

??? Let\u2019s Make Music (not on list below, from \u201cCareer Story\u201d Newspaper clip)- RKO- w\/ Bob Crosby- plays a school teacher<\/p>\n

1943: Higher and Higher- T. Whelan<\/p>\n

1947: Mourning Becomes Electra \u2013 D. Nichols<\/p>\n

Universal- 16 films, best recognized is The Egg and I.:<\/p>\n

1947: The Egg and I, with Claudette Colbert as her daughter, Fred MacMurray.<\/p>\n

1950: The Secret Fury, w\/ Colbert again, Lis plays a psychiatrist.<\/p>\n

She also worked for Warner Brothers, paramount, Republic, Twentieth Century Fox, and Samuel Goldwyn\u2019s independent film company:<\/p>\n

1937: Dead End W, Wyler, Sam Goldwyn<\/p>\n

1939: The Roaring Twenties, R. Walsh, Warner Brothers<\/p>\n

1941: High Sierra, R. Walsh, Warner brothers (Bogart, Ida Lupino, Joan Leslie, Henry Travers)<\/p>\n

1942: Reap the Wild Wind, Cecile B DeMille- Paramount<\/p>\n

1947: The Shocking Miss Pilgrim, G Seaton, 20th century fox<\/p>\n

1947: Life with Father, M. Curtiz for Warner Brothers<\/p>\n

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My Cousin Megan Evans Daniels helped me collect the bio info for Brandon.<\/p>\n

Thomas Daniel \u201cBrandon\u201d Evans \u2013 was born June 12, 1878, in Newark, Licking County, Ohio, the youngest of five children of Welsh immigrants William T. and Mary Ann Jones Evans. Thomas graduated from Ohio State University in 1902 with a bachelor\u2019s degree in law. He was a member of Kappa Sigma fraternity and Phi Delta Phi honor law society. In 1901 Thomas founded the student club \u201cThe Stollers Dramatic Society,\u201d the first drama club to admit women in its productions. He passed his bar exams and was admitted into the bar. He practiced law only for a short time, before going full-time into the theatre. He was quoted in a newspaper article, saying he expected to end up practicing law full time, eventually.<\/p>\n

A year after graduation, The Ohio State Lantern newspaper, Jan. 28, 1903, wrote that \u2013 \u201cMr. Tom Evans, the well-known manager of The Strollers, met with an unexpected success in New York. Notwithstanding the fact that only about ten percent of the applicants for entrance to the Frohman Theatrical school eventually pass, Mr. Evans not only succeeded in passing the examinations, but he was allowed to enter the second year of the course, and in addition to this he received a scholarship. The University is to be congratulated upon having one more of her alumni make known her excellency in all departments.\u201d<\/p>\n

By 1904, Thomas became known as \u201cBrandon Evans,\u201d and opened a stock company bearing his name. The Brandon Evans Stock Company performed mostly in the Midwest, staging melodramas and popular dramas of the day. He married Josephine Gans, an actor in the troupe, also in 1904. Together they had a daughter Virginia Josephine Evans, who also went into the theatre for a short time. Brandon and Josephine divorced around 1920. His legal training came in very handy during that time.<\/p>\n

Brandon continued his acting career in various companies including the Empire, Poli, and Forepaugh Stock Companies, around the country. At an unknown point he met the widowed Elisabeth Risdon with whom he shared the stage in the Theatre Guild Repertory in the late 1920s. Risdon and Evans were married prior to 1930, and remained so until his death in Brentwood, California, on April 3, 1958.<\/p>\n

The Theatre Guild Productions Brandon was in \u2013 1929:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Second Man\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNed McCobb\u2019s Daughter\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJohn Ferguson\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Doctor\u2019s Dilemma\u201d \u2013 Shaw (with Elisabeth Risdon)<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014-<\/p>\n

Articles:<\/p>\n

Palladium-Item, Richmond, Indiana, Sept 22 1904 \u2013 Brandon Evans Stock Company article on the road plays at New Phillips- \u201cMy Sweetheart\u201d, and \u201cThe Shadow of The Law\u201d.<\/p>\n

Call-Leader Paper -Ellwood Indiana sept 12, 1904- Brandon Evans stock arrives in town. 18 ladies and gentlemen in the company. Playing \u201cCumberland \u201961\u201d. Ladies free night. Pix of Josephine Ross. (Gans)<\/p>\n

The Cincinnati Enquirer \u2013 Cincinnati, Ohio. Oct 24, 1910. \u201cThe Clansman\u201d \u2013 The Forepaugh Players. Brandon \u201cis fine as the colored Lieutenant Governor.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Bat\u201d article\/review- Played in Iola. Brandon played The Bat title character. He talks about studying law\u2026 etc. Not taking The Bat role to Australia.  Another performer who played the The Bat sent him info about their terrible audiences \u2013 eating and drinking in the theatre and talking to the actors.<\/p>\n[aesop_gallery transition=”crossfade” galleryType=”grid” id=”832″]\n

<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Elisabeth Risdon & Brandon Evans or as they signed their notes \u2013 Lis & Brandy My Great-Great Aunt and Great-Great Uncle. (Elisabeth often signed her personal cards using the name Lis. So, to shorten her name, I will refer to her as Lis in this bio. 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She played Sister Aloysius in the European premiere of Doubt in Vienna. Wendy received a SALT Award and a DayTony award for her other productions of Doubt. Wendy was on Broadway in Our Town starring Paul Newman; and in the Tony Award winning production of Arthur Miller's All My Sons. Wendy has six seasons for the Shakespeare Theatre of NJ, Including, The Guardsman (Mama), I Capture the Castle (Mrs. Cotton), The Grapes Of Wrath (Ma Joad), and The Glass Menagerie (Amanda). Variety hailed her Amanda Wingfield as:\u00a0She is one of the finest Amanda Wingfields in memory, and can proudly take her place alongside the memorable Amandas in this critic's experience: Helen Hayes, Jessica Tandy, Julie Harris and Maureen Stapleton.\u00a0 Wendy has performed all over the country, at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Actor's Theatre of Louisville, Great Lakes Theatre Festival, Huntington Theatre, Asolo Theatre, Virginia Stage, Portland Stage, New Jersey Shakespeare Festival, River Arts Repertory, Indiana Repertory, Alliance Theatre, Playmaker's Repertory, and Denver Center Theatre Company, Princeton University Guest artist, among many others. She has worked with such wonderful writer's as J.P. Donleavy, Derek Walcott, Soviet writer Sasha Galin, The Red Clay Rambler's, Theresa Rebeck, and Arthur Miller. Roles include: Yelena (opposite Hal Holbrook) in Uncle Vanya, Lady Croom in Arcadia, May in Fool For Love, Masha in Three Sisters, Andromache in The Greeks, Tourvel in Les Liaisons Dangereuses; Mags in Painting Churches, Maud\\\/Lin in Cloud Nine, Nadya Lenin in Travesties, Anna in Old Times, Mrs. Gibbs in Our Town, Sasha in Wild Honey, Olivia in Twelfth Night, Mariana in Measure for Measure, and several times in her two favorite's; Roxane in Rostand's Cyrano De Bergerac, and Stella in Tennessee William's A Streetcar Named Desire. Wendy played Mrs. Chitwood on \u201cThe Guiding Light\u201d. She can be seen on reruns of \u201cLaw & Order\\\/ L&O\u2019s SVU and C.I\u201d. On PBS in \\\"Novel Reflections\u201d, and with PBS\\\/Showtime in \u201cOur Town\u201d. Commercials: Wendy was for several years on Japanese TV as the Mom for General Foods \u201cBlendy\u201d Coffee. Many others inc: for Adidas (Europe) starring Anna Kornikova; Wendy also won an Addy award for Z94's Morning Zoo for her voiceover work. Wendy coaches actors and has taught Master Acting classes, theatre history and the \\\"Business of the Biz\\\", at Denison University, UNC-Chapel Hill; The ArtSchool, NC; Northeastern University, Baltimore's School for the Performing Arts, Denver Center Conservatory; Asolo Theatre; Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey; among others. She received her BFA in Theatre\\\/Film at Denison University and her MFA in Acting at the UNC\\\/Chapel Hill. Wendy\u2019s Great-Great Aunt Elisabeth Risdon and Uncle Brandon Evans were members of the Theatre Guild and worked with Lunt and Fontanne, Helen Hayes, J.B. Shaw, among many others. 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