Evelyn Nesbit - Actresses, Life Achievements and Life

Florence Evelyn Nesbit was born on 25 December 1884 in Tarentum, a town near Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, to Winfield Scott Nesbit and his wife, Evelyn Florence McKenzie. She had a brother named Howard. Her father passed away when she was only 11.

Her mother tried to turn their home into a boarding house but with minimal success. They were frequently left with so little money that they were literally reduced to eating mustard sandwiches to survive.

When Evelyn was fourteen years old, her mother moved their family to Philadelphia, and found work at Wanamaker’s department store. Evelyn’s lovely features and attractiveness soon caught the attention of a local artist, Mrs. Darragh, who was impressed by her beauty and asked Evelyn to pose for a portrait. He girl had the facial structure that artists simply loved to sketch.

She was soon sought out by well-known artists such as Carl Bender and F.S Church. After that, Evelyn met and posed for Carroll Beckwith who then introduced her to other New York artists such as Charles Dana Gibson and photographers such as Rudolf Eickemeyer. Before long, she became one of the most popular artists’ models in the city. Evelyn grew more famous as her pictures started to appear in newspapers.

She was also contacted by theatrical producers for features and shows, regardless of whether she actually had any real acting talent. She appeared in several films in her career, mostly in lead roles. Her film credits include ‘The Woman Who Gave’ and ‘Redemption’.

Evelyn Nesbit published two memoirs, ‘The Story of my Life’ in 1914 and ‘Prodigal Days’ in 1934. She had acted in many films, such as ‘The Woman Who Gave’, ‘The Fallen Idol,’ ‘The Hidden Woman’ and ‘Redemption’.

Evelyn Nesbit’s first relationship was with Stanford White, the most famous architect in New York at the time. When they first met, Evelyn was just a teenager and Stanford was 47, married with a wife and son. Stanford used to take Evelyn and her mother out shopping and helped them financially as well. He also sent Evelyn’s brother to a military school. White helped the Nesbits move to a better apartment in New York.

Once when Evelyn was alone with Stanford in his private apartment, he intoxicated her with champagne that was drugged and sexually assaulted her. This was a traumatic incident; yet at the end of her life, Evelyn claimed that Stanford White was the only man she had ever loved. Following the rape, Evelyn became White’s mistress for about a year.

Evelyn was courted by several men; one of the notable ones was John Barrymore who she dated for a while.

Later on, she met Harry K Thaw of Pittsburgh. Harry was the heir to a multi-million dollar mining and railroad fortune. Thaw pursued her relentlessly, but Evelyn learnt that he was addicted to cocaine and morphine. Thaw was also prone to temper tantrums, fits, and violent outbursts.

Thaw had an instinctive hatred for Stanford White and constantly pressed Evelyn for information regarding their relationship. When he found what White had did to her that night, he flew into a rage and beat Evelyn with a whip mercilessly and sexually abused her.

Evelyn returned to New York and sought out Stanford and let him know what happened. At this point in time, Stanford had already found another young lover and Evelyn ended up returning to Thaw. Evelyn and Harry Thaw got married on April 4, 1905 in Pittsburgh; she was 20 and he was 33.

On June 25, 1906, Evelyn and Thaw were in New York. At the end of a show at Madison Square Garden where Stanford White was also present, Thaw approached him with a pistol and fired three shots into Stanford’s head and back, killing him instantly. Following this murder, the press went into frenzy. There were two long and arduous trials and Thaw was sentenced to incarceration for life in a Mental Asylum-Prison in Beacon, New York.

Evelyn Nesbit gave birth to a son, Russell William Thaw in 1910; the child’s paternity is disputed. She legally divorced Harry Thaw in 1915. She then married dancer Jack Clifford, but even this marriage was not a success and ended in divorce.

She lived most of her final years in Northfield, New Jersey. She died in a nursing home in Santa Monica, California on January 17, 1967, at the age of 82. Her final resting place is Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.