Evelyn Keyes

A chorus girl by age 18, Evelyn Keyes came out to Hollywood and was introduced to Cecil B. DeMille who in her own words “signed me to a personal contract without even making a test." After a handful of B movies at Paramount Pictures, she landed a minor role in "Gone with the Wind" (1939), that of Scarlett O'Hara's sister Suellen (below, to the left of Vivien Leigh).

Columbia Pictures signed her to a contract. In 1941, she played an ingenue in "Here Comes Mr. Jordan." She spent most of the early 1940s playing leads in many of Columbia's B dramas and mysteries. She appeared as the female lead opposite Larry Parks in Columbia's blockbuster hit "The Jolson Story" (1946). She followed this up with an enjoyable minor screwball comedy, "The Mating of Millie" (1948), with Glenn Ford. She was then in a 1949 role as Kathy Flannigan in Mrs. Mike. Keyes' last major film role was a small part as Tom Ewell's vacationing wife in The Seven Year Itch (1955), which starred Marilyn Monroe.

Keyes said of her many relationships: "I always took up with the man of the moment and there were many such moments." She has one son, Pablo, from her marriage to John Huston. In Huston's autobiography, he writes of how he found the boy while making a movie in Mexico. After finding out the boy was homeless and an orphan, he adopted him and brought him back to the US, unbeknownst to his wife. He met Evelyn at the airport and shocked her by introducing her to their new son. Evelyn, who "was not going to spend her life raising other lives," was not pleased. Most of her marriages ended because of her lack of desire to start a family, although that would have meant adopting, since she could not have children of her own. However, according to her autobiography, her father-in-law Walter Huston had already spilled the beans before the boy arrived.

Keyes became involved with flamboyant producer Mike Todd for three years during his preparation and filming of "Around the World in 80 Days" (1956). She even played a cameo role in the movie and helped on publicity. During the filming, he broke things off after falling in love with Elizabeth Taylor, whom he later married. The positive thing that came out of it for her was that she had invested most of her money in the picture and was financially set for life as a result.

Happy Birthday, Evelyn Keyes!