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Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Birthday
July 1, 1909
Died
April 26, 1981
Place of Birth
New York City, New York, USA
Also Known As
- Margherita Evans
- Madge Evans Kingsley
- Margherita "Madge" Evans
Madge Evans
0.3 Popularity
Biography
Lovely Madge Evans was the perennial nice girl in films of the 1930s. By then, she had been in front of the camera for many years, starting with Fairy Soap commercials at the age of two (she sat on a bar of soap holding a bunch of violets with the tag line reading "have you a little fairy in your home?"). 'Baby Madge' also lent her name to a children's hat company. In 1914, aged five, she was picked out by talent scouts to appear in the William Farnum movie The Sign of the Cross (1914), followed by The Seven Sisters (1915) with Marguerite Clark. By the end of the following year, she had amassed some twenty film credits, appearing with such noted contemporary stars as Pauline Frederick or Alice Brady. All of her early films were made on the East Coast, at studios in Ft.Lee, New Jersey. In 1917 (aged eight), Madge made her Broadway debut in 'Peter Ibbetson' with John Barrymore and Lionel Barrymore. She resumed her stage career in 1926 as an ingenue with 'Daisy Mayme' and the following year appeared with Billie Burke in Noel Coward's costume drama 'The Marquise' (1927). Her pleasing looks and personality soon attracted the attention of Hollywood and she was eventually signed by MGM in 1931. During the next decade, she appeared in several A-grade productions, notably as Lionel Barrymore's daughter in MGM's Dinner at Eight (1933) and as the dependable Agnes Wickfield in one of the best-ever filmed versions of David Copperfield (1935). She co-starred opposite James Cagney in the gangster movie The Mayor of Hell (1933), Spencer Tracy in The Show-Off (1934) and listened to Bing Crosby crooning the title song in Pennies from Heaven (1936). Madge received praise for her performance as the star of Beauty for Sale (1933) and The New York Times review of January 13 1934 described her acting in Fugitive Lovers (1934) (opposite Robert Montgomery ) as 'spontaneous and captivating'. Many of her 'typical American girl' roles did not allow her to express aspects of the greater acting range she undoubtedly possessed. Too often she was cast as the 'nice girl' - and those rarely make much of a dramatic impact. On the few occasions she was assigned the role of 'other woman' , such as the Helen Hayes-starrer What Every Woman Knows (1934), audiences found her character difficult to believe and disassociate from her all-round wholesome image. When her contract with MGM expired in 1937, Madge wound down her film career and, following her 1939 marriage, concentrated on being the wife of celebrated playwright Sidney Kingsley. She last appeared on stage in one of his plays, "The Patriots", in 1943.
Known For
6.1
Self (archive footage)
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
1975
5.0
Matinee Theater
1955
4.0
The Alcoa Hour
1955
8.6
Hallmark Hall of Fame
1951
🎬
6.3
Sylvia
Lux Video Theatre
1950
6.3
Your Show of Shows
1950
5.0
Studio One
1948
5.0
Ann
Studio One
1948
6.3
Elizabeth Bennet
The Philco Television Playhouse
1948
6.3
Elinor Dashwood
The Philco Television Playhouse
1948
Credits
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
as Self (archive footage)
1975
6.1
Matinee Theater
1955
5.0
The Alcoa Hour
1955
4.0
Hallmark Hall of Fame
1951
8.6
🎬
Lux Video Theatre
as Sylvia
1950
6.3
Your Show of Shows
1950
6.3
Studio One
1948
5.0
Studio One
as Ann
1948
5.0
The Philco Television Playhouse
as Elizabeth Bennet
1948
6.3
The Philco Television Playhouse
as Elinor Dashwood
1948
6.3
Army Girl
as Julie Armstrong
1938
6.0
Sinners in Paradise
as Anne Wesson
1938
5.1
The Thirteenth Chair
as Helen "Nell" O'Neill
1937
6.1
Espionage
as Patricia Booth
1937
6.8
Pennies from Heaven
as Susan Sprague
1936
6.9
Piccadilly Jim
as Ann Chester
1936
6.5
Moonlight Murder
as Toni Adams
1936
4.2
Exclusive Story
as Ann Devlin
1936
6.5
The Tunnel
as Ruth McAllan
1935
5.3
Men Without Names
as Helen Sherwood
1935
6.0
Calm Yourself
as Rosalind Rockwell
1935
4.5
Age of Indiscretion
as Maxine Bennett
1935
4.5
David Copperfield
as Agnes Wickfield as a Woman
1935
6.6
Helldorado
as Glenda Wynant
1935
0.0
What Every Woman Knows
as Lady Sybil Tenterden
1934
7.0
Death on the Diamond
as Frances Clark
1934
7.0
Paris Interlude
as Julie
1934
3.0
Grand Canary
as Lady Mary Fielding
1934
4.1
Stand Up and Cheer!
as Mary Adams
1934
4.9
The Show-Off
as Amy Fisher Piper
1934
5.7
Fugitive Lovers
as Letty Morris
1934
6.0
Dinner at Eight
as Paula Jordan
1933
6.7
Day of Reckoning
as Dorothy Day
1933
4.4
Broadway to Hollywood
as Anne Ainsley
1933
4.6
Beauty for Sale
as Letty Lawson
1933
7.0
The Mayor of Hell
as Dorothy Griffith
1933
7.1
Hell Below
as Joan
1933
5.9
The Nuisance
as Dorothy Mason
1933
5.0
Made on Broadway
as Claire
1933
6.5
Hallelujah, I'm a Bum
as June Marcher
1933
7.4
Fast Life
as Shirley
1932
8.3
Huddle
as Rosalie
1932
6.6
Are You Listening?
as Laura O'Neil
1932
5.0
The Greeks Had a Word for Them
as Polaire
1932
5.2
Lovers Courageous
as Mary Blayne
1932
5.6
West of Broadway
as Anne
1931
6.3
Heartbreak
as Countess Vima Walden
1931
0.0
Guilty Hands
as Barbara 'Babs' Grant
1931
5.9
Sporting Blood
as Miss 'Missy' Ruby
1931
5.1
Son of India
as Janice
1931
5.0
Envy
as Helen
1930
0.0
🎬
The Bard of Broadway
1930
0.0
🎬
Classmates
as Sylvia
1924
0.0
On the Banks of the Wabash
as Lisbeth
1923
0.0
Home Wanted
as Madge Dow
1919
0.0
Three Green Eyes
as Child
1919
0.0
Love Net
as Patty Barnes
1918
0.0
🎬
The Power and the Glory
as Deanie Consadine
1918
0.0
🎬
Neighbors
as Clarissa Leigh
1918
0.0
The Golden Wall
as Madge Lathrop
1918
0.0
Stolen Orders
as Ruth Le Page - as a child
1918
0.0
True Blue
as Ruth, as a Child
1918
0.0
Wanted, A Mother
as Eileen Homer
1918
0.0
The Volunteer
as Self
1917
0.0
🎬
The Burglar
as Editha
1917
0.0
The Corner Grocer
as Mary Brian, age 8
1917
0.0
Beloved Adventuress
as Francine - Age 7
1917
1.0
Maternity
as Constance
1917
0.0
The Web of Desire
as Marjorie
1917
0.0
The New South
as Georgia Gwynne, as a girl
1916
0.0
Seventeen
as Jane Baxter
1916
0.0
The Hidden Scar
as Dot
1916
0.0
🎬
The Revolt
as Nannie Stevens
1916
0.0
Husband and Wife
as Bessie
1916
1.0
Sudden Riches
as Little Emily
1916
0.0
The Devil's Toy
as Betty
1916
0.0
The Master Hand
as Jean as a Child
1915
0.0
The Seven Sisters
as Clara
1915
2.0