Elisabeth Bergner

Austrian-British film and stage actress Elisabeth Bergner is the real-life person behind the character "Margo Channing", whose real-life story is told in the film 'All About Eve' (1950).

This is a photograph of Elisabeth Bergner as "Gemma Jones" in Paul Czinner's British drama film 'Escape Me Never' (1935). Her signature role, "Gemma Jones" in 'Escape Me Never', was a character in a play written expressly for Elisabeth Bergner by Margaret Kennedy. Elisabeth Bergner played "Gemma Jones", first on the stage in London and then in the Broadway stage debut, and then in this film version for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. It is interesting that Elisabeth Bergner lost the Academy Award to Bette Davis, given that fifteen years later, Bette Davis would play "Margo Channing" in the film 'All About Eve' (1950), a character based on Elisabeth Bergner.

In 1943, Elisabeth Bergner returned to Broadway in the play 'The Two Mrs. Carrolls', for which she won the Distinguished Performance Medal from the Drama League. And this was when the "Margo Channing" period of Elisabeth Bergner's life began.

According to The New York Times obituary for the writer Mary Orr, Elisabeth Bergner had told writer Mary Orr about an experience that provided Mary Orr with the inspiration for the short story that gave birth to the character of "Eve Harrington", who was played by Anne Baxter in 'All About Eve (1950). The story "The Wisdom of Eve" appeared in 'Cosmopolitan' magazine in 1946. The play based on that story was then the basis for Joseph L. Mankiewicz's film 'All About Eve' (1950).

The episode in her life occurred when Elisabeth Bergner was performing in the play 'The Two Mrs. Carrolls' in 1943. Elizabeth Bergner took pity on a "waif-like" young woman who stood outside the theatre for days on end. She gave her a job as her secretary, and the young actress tried to "take over" Elisabeth Bergner's life. And the rest is history. Remembering Elisabeth Bergner (22 August 1897 – 12 May 1986).