Edith Fellows facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Edith Fellows
Edith Fellows in 1937
Born	Edith Marilyn Fellows (1923-05-20)May 20, 1923 Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died	June 26, 2011(2011-06-26) (aged 88) Woodland Hills, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1928–1994
Spouse(s)	Freddie Fields ​ ​ (m. 1946; div. 1956)​
Children	Kathy Fields
Relatives	Natalie Lander (granddaughter)

Edith Marilyn Fellows (May 20, 1923 – June 26, 2011) was an American actress. She became a famous child star in the 1930s. Edith was known for playing characters like orphans and street kids. She was a very expressive actress and had a great singing voice.

Edith started acting at just five years old in a short film called Movie Night (1929). Her first main role in a movie was in The Rider of Death Valley (1932). By 1935, she had been in over twenty films! Her acting in She Married Her Boss (1935) helped her get a special seven-year contract with Columbia Pictures. This was the first time a child had ever received such a contract.

Edith Fellows starred in many movies for Columbia Pictures. These included Tugboat Princess (1936) and Little Miss Roughneck (1938). She earned great praise for her role as a smart orphan with Bing Crosby in Pennies from Heaven (1936). In the early 1940s, she appeared in two Gene Autry films. These movies, Heart of the Rio Grande and Stardust on the Sage, showed off her wonderful singing voice. After some time away from acting, she returned in the 1980s. She took on roles in different TV shows. Between 1929 and 1995, Edith Fellows acted in more than seventy films and television programs.

Early Life and First Roles

Edith Marilyn Fellows was born on May 20, 1923, in Boston, Massachusetts. She was the only child of Willis and Harriet Fellows. Her mother left when Edith was just a few months old. When she was two, Edith moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, with her father and her grandmother, Elizabeth Fellows.

As a young child, Edith took dancing lessons. These lessons helped her with a slight pigeon-toed walk. When she was four, a person who claimed to be a talent scout saw her. This person arranged a screen test in Hollywood for fifty dollars. Edith and her grandmother traveled to Hollywood by train. They soon found out they had been tricked and the screen test was not real.

While her grandmother worked as a housecleaner, Edith stayed with a local family. Their son worked as an extra in movies. One day, Edith went with him to the studio. Without anyone asking, she started dancing and singing in front of the director. A few days later, the studio sent a message saying, "Send the girl." She was soon cast in a short film called Movie Night (1929). She played the funny daughter of the comedian Charley Chase.

More movie roles quickly followed. These included Daddy Long Legs (1931) and The Rider of Death Valley (1932). She also appeared in two Our Gang comedies, Shivering Shakespeare (1930) and Mush and Milk (1933). In Jane Eyre (1934), she played a clever girl trying to bring two people together. That same year, Edith was in Mrs Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch with W C Fields. She played Australia Wiggs, one of five children living in a poor town. By 1935, she had made over twenty films and was ready for bigger roles.

Becoming a Child Star

In 1935, Edith Fellows appeared in the movie She Married Her Boss. She played the tricky daughter of Melvyn Douglas. Her performance helped her get a seven-year contract with Columbia Pictures. At just twelve years old, she became a star!

In her first Columbia films, One-Way Ticket, And So They Were Married, and Tugboat Princess, she often played orphans or street kids. In 1936, her popularity grew a lot. This was thanks to her role with Bing Crosby in Pennies from Heaven. She played a tough, smart orphan who was protected by Crosby's singing character. A newspaper review from The New York Times praised Edith's acting. It said her performance was "exceptional for a youngster."

During these years, Edith's grandmother managed her life and career very strictly. She often kept Edith from playing with friends. Eventually, her grandmother kept her away from almost everyone, including Edith's father. In the mid-1930s, Edith's mother, who had been gone for over ten years, came back. She wanted to have custody of Edith and control her movie earnings.

Over the next few months, there was a difficult custody battle. Newspapers across the country reported on it in the summer of 1936. Edith had to choose between her grandmother and her mother. When asked by the court, she chose her grandmother. She said she was "not used to loving strangers." The judge decided that Edith's grandmother would have custody. The judge also ordered that Edith's earnings be put into a special trust fund for her.

Edith continued to make films into the early 1940s. However, as she grew older, there were fewer roles for her. She was 4 feet 10.5 inches tall. She wrote the story for her last Columbia picture, Her First Beau. She even included a role for her friend Millie Lou. But the studio decided to have Jane Withers star instead of Edith. Edith ended up playing the sidekick, Millie Lou. Edith found work at smaller studios like Monogram Pictures and Republic Pictures. She also appeared in two Gene Autry westerns, Heart of the Rio Grande and Stardust on the Sage. These movies really showed off her excellent singing voice. After her last film, Girls Town (1943), she stopped acting in movies for a while.

Later Career and Return to Acting

In 1946, Edith married talent agent Freddie Fields. They had a daughter named Kathy. Edith then started acting on stage. She appeared on Broadway in a musical called Louisiana Lady in 1947. In the early 1950s, she began acting in television shows. She was in Musical Comedy Time (1950), Studio One in Hollywood (1952), and Tales of Tomorrow (1951–1953). She also appeared in a stage comedy called Uncle Willie for several months in 1956 and 1957.

After her marriage ended in the mid-1950s, Edith took a break from acting. She worked different jobs, like being an operator for telephone answering services. She did not act again until 1979, except for two small, uncredited movie roles.

In the late 1970s, Edith met Rudy Venz. He was a playwright and director at a community theater in Los Angeles. Rudy learned about Edith's life story and suggested turning it into a play. He invited her to star in it. In 1979, Edith returned to the stage for the first time in many years. She appeared in Rudy Venz's play, Dreams Deferred. This experience helped her feel confident about acting again.

This experience inspired her to make guest appearances on TV shows. She was in The Brady Brides (1981), Simon & Simon (1982), Father Murphy (1982), and Scarecrow and Mrs. King (1983). She also appeared in Cagney & Lacey (1982–1986), ER (1995), and The Pursuit of Happiness (1995). The Pursuit of Happiness was her final acting role. She retired from acting in 1995.

In her later years, Edith lived in Hollywood with her three cats. She passed away peacefully on June 26, 2011, at the Motion Picture Country Home. She was 88 years old.

Selected Filmography