MADGE EVANS

Madge Evans was an actress from the 1910s to the 1950s. She was born in 1909, and she appeared in commercials starting at the age of 2, as "Baby Madge". In 1914, she started playing young girls in William Fox movies, and she appeared in over 20 in her first two years, and she was still just 6 years old! In 1917, when she was 8, she made her Broadway debut with John and Lionel Barrymore. In 1920, at age 11, she got a big break playing the leader role in the first adaptation of "Heidi", and that led to many more significant roles through 1924. All her films were made in New York or New Jersey, and at that point, she returned to Broadway. But in 1931, she was signed to a Hollywood contract by MGM and moved to Hollywood. She is probably best remembered for playing Lionel Barrymore's daughter in "Dinner at Eight" in 1933. She starred opposite James Cagney in "The Mayor of Hell", Spencer Tracy in "The Show-Off", and Bing Crosby in "Pennies from Heaven". She left MGM in 1937, and in 1939, she married famous playwright Sidney Kingsley, and she pretty much retired. She passed away in 1981 at the age of 71.