Edith Fellows
Edith Fellows was born on May 20, 1923, in Boston, Massachusetts. When she was a year old, she and her father and grandmother moved to Charlotte, North Carolina. As a toddler, Edith was pigeon-toed and had trouble walking, and one doctor suggested that dance lessons might cure this condition. At age four, Edith entered Henderson's School of Dance, where she was spotted by a man claiming to be a talent scout, who told her grandmother that he could get Edith into show business for a fifty-dollar fee. The dance school raised the money, but when Edith and her grandmother arrived in Hollywood, they discovered that the address the man had given them did not exist, and they realized he was a fraud. Stranded in Hollywood with no means to return to North Carolina, Edith's grandmother began doing housework to earn a living. While she worked, she left Edith with a neighbor and her young son. One day Edith was taken along when the neighbor's son had an audition for the film Movie Night (1929), and she ended up getting the part. Although she never become a child star, Edith appeared in many popular films of the 1930s, most notably Pennies from Heaven (1936). She also proved herself to be a very versatile actress, playing roles ranging from a spoiled rich girl, as in Heart of the Rio Grande (1942), to a poor orphan girl, as in Pennies from Heaven. Edith was even given her own series, The Five Little Peppers, while under contract to Columbia, and she made four of the Pepper films (the first was Five Little Peppers and How They Grew (1939)) in two years. Between 1929 and 1954, Edith appeared in some fifty films, mostly in juvenile roles due to her short 4' 10" stature. But her career suddenly slowed down in the mid-1950s. Between 1955 and 1980, she appeared in only one film, Lilith (1964), in which she had a bit part. During this time, Edith chose to focus on her family life; she had married producer Freddie Fields in 1946, and their only child, daughter Kathy, was born in 1947. But Edith and Fields divorced in 1955, and the end of her marriage, coupled with other factors, caused Edith to have a nervous breakdown. She recovered, and in 1981, she returned to acting in numerous supporting roles on television. In 1985, fellow former child actor Jackie Cooper announced plans to make a TV movie based on Edith's life, but this project never happened.
Known For
Credits
- 1999 · Alan Ladd: The True Quiet Man as Self
- 1994 · ER as Sadie Hubbell
- 1987 · In the Mood as Mrs. Long, Judy's Mother
- 1985 · The Hills Have Eyes Part 2 as Mrs. Wilson
- 1983 · Grace Kelly as Edith Head
- 1982 · Between Two Brothers as Victim's Wife
- 1982 · Hollywood’s Children as Self
- 1981 · The Brady Brides as
- 1968 · The Private Navy of Sgt. O'Farrell as Self (clip from "Pennies from Heaven")
- 1964 · Lilith as Patient (uncredited)
- 1942 · Criminal Investigator as Ellen
- 1942 · Stardust on the Sage as Judy Drew
- 1942 · Heart of the Rio Grande as Connie Lane
- 1942 · Girls' Town as Sue Norman
- 1942 · Hedda Hopper's Hollywood No. 4 as Self
- 1941 · Her First Beau as Milly Lou
- 1940 · Her First Romance as Linda Strong
- 1940 · Nobody's Children as Pat
- 1940 · Five Little Peppers in Trouble as Polly Pepper
- 1940 · Out West with the Peppers as Polly Pepper
- 1940 · Five Little Peppers at Home as Polly Pepper
- 1940 · Music in My Heart as Mary O'Malley
- 1939 · Pride of the Blue Grass as Midge Griner
- 1939 · Five Little Peppers And How They Grew as Polly Pepper
- 1938 · City Streets as Winnie Brady
- 1938 · Little Miss Roughneck as Foxine LaRue
- 1937 · Life Begins with Love as Dodie Martin
- 1936 · Pennies from Heaven as Patsy Smith
- 1936 · Tugboat Princess as 'Princess' Judy
- 1936 · And So They Were Married as Brenda Farnham
- 1935 · One Way Ticket as Ellen
- 1935 · She Married Her Boss as Annabel Barclay
- 1935 · The Keeper of the Bees as Jean Marie Meredith / Little Scout
- 1935 · Dinky as Sally
- 1934 · Kid Millions as Little Girl in Ice Cream Number (uncredited)
- 1934 · Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch as Australia Wiggs
- 1934 · Jane Eyre as Adele Rochester
- 1934 · His Greatest Gamble as Alice (as a child)
- 1934 · Cross Streets as Little Sister
- 1934 · This Side of Heaven as Felicia - Minister's Daughter (uncredited)
- 1934 · Two Alone as Rogers' Daughter (uncredited)
- 1933 · Mush and Milk as Edith
- 1932 · Penguin Pool Murder as Little Girl at Aquarium (uncredited)
- 1932 · Law and Lawless as Betty Kelley
- 1932 · Birthday Blues as Girl with String in Mouth
- 1932 · Divorce In The Family as Little Girl with Kite
- 1932 · The Rider of Death Valley as Betty Joyce
- 1932 · Emma as Gypsy as a Child (uncredited)
- 1931 · Huckleberry Finn as Schoolgirl (uncredited)
- 1931 · Daddy Long Legs as Orphan (uncredited)
- 1931 · Second Hand Kisses as Orphan girl
- 1931 · Cimarron as (uncredited)
- 1930 · Shivering Shakespeare as Girls Scared of Elephant
- 1929 · Madame X as Child at Puppet Show (uncredited)
- 1929 · Movie Night as Daughter