Patrick Stewart (1940-2026)

British actor Patrick Stewart died last Wednesday, 28 October 2026, at 86. In a career spanning almost six decades, he acted on stage, television and in film. The unknown Shakespearean actor suddenly became famous as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in the American TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994) and its successor films. Another well-known role was Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men series of superhero movies.


American postcard by Classico San Francisco, no. 105-485. Photo: Paramount Pictures. Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation (1991).


American postcard by Classico San Francisco, no. 105-352. Photo: Paramount Pictures. Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek Generations (David Carson, 1994).


French postcard by Fox France. Photo: Marvel / 20th Century Fox. Patrick Stewart as Professor X in X-Men 2 (Bryan Singer, 2003). Caption: A specialist in genetic mutations, his telepathic abilities give him unlimited access to people’s thoughts. He identifies humans with special powers and brings them together to form the X-Men. His dream: a world where mutants and humans live in peace.

A traumatic experience

Patrick Stewart was born in 1940 in Mirfield, in Yorkshire, England. His parents were Gladys (née Barrowclough), a weaver and textile worker, and Alfred Stewart, a regimental sergeant major in the British Army. He had two older brothers, Geoffrey and Trevor. Stewart grew up in a poor household with domestic violence from his father, who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. This experience later influenced Stewart's political and ideological beliefs. Stewart attended Crowlees Church of England Junior and Infants School, where his English teacher stimulated him to perform. In 1951, aged 11, he failed the eleven-plus examination. He entered Mirfield Secondary Modern School, where he continued to study drama.

At 15, Stewart left school to work as a junior reporter for a local paper. He quit when his editor told him he was spending too much time at the theatre. At the age of 18, he lost his hair, a traumatic experience which made him more timid. For him, acting served as a means of self-expression. Stewart spent a year as a furniture salesman, saving cash to attend drama school. In 1957, Stewart received a grant to attend the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.

In 1959, he made his stage debut. Following a period with Manchester's Library Theatre, he became a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1966. Stewart received the 1979 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his performance in 'Antony and Cleopatra' on the West End. He made his Broadway debut as Snout in Peter Brook's legendary production of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. He remained with the Royal Shakespeare Company until 1982.

In the early 1980s, he moved to the Royal National Theatre. In 1967, he made his television debut on Coronation Street as a fire officer. Over the years, Stewart took roles in many major TV series without ever becoming a household name. He appeared as Vladimir Lenin in Fall of Eagles (1974); Sejanus in I, Claudius (Herbert Wise, 1976); Karla in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (John Irvin, 1979) and Smiley's People (Simon Langton, 1982); and Claudius in a BBC adaptation of Hamlet (Rodney Bennett, 1980) with Derek Jacobi and Claire Bloom.

He even took the romantic male lead in the BBC adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South (Rodney Bennett, 1975), wearing a hairpiece. He also co-starred with Peter Eyre and Glenda Jackson in Hedda (Trevor Nunn, 1975), a film adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's 'Hedda Gabler'. He took the lead, playing psychiatric consultant Dr Edward Roebuck in the BBC's Maybury (1981). Stewart played minor roles in films such as Excalibur (John Boorman, 1981), Dune (David Lynch, 1984) and the British Science-Fiction Horror film Lifeforce (Tobe Hooper, 1985).


American postcard by Classico San Francisco, no. 105-148. Photo: Paramount Pictures. Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation (1991).


German postcard by City Cards. Photo: Ingo Gebhard. Patrick Stewart in Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994).

Unexpected stardom and wealth

In 1987, Patrick Stewart agreed to work in Hollywood on a revival of an old Science-Fiction television show. Reportedly, Stewart knew nothing about the original show, Star Trek, or its iconic status in American culture. He was reluctant to sign the standard six-year contract but accepted the role of Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994).

Stewart unexpectedly became a star and wealthy. From 1994 to 2002, he also portrayed Picard in the films Star Trek Generations (David Carson, 1994), Star Trek: First Contact (Jonathan Frakes, 1996), Star Trek: Insurrection (Jonathan Frakes, 1998) and Star Trek: Nemesis (Stuart Baird, 2002), and in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's pilot episode Emissary (David Carson, 1993). This success typecast Stewart as Picard. Obtaining other roles became difficult. He found it difficult to return to the stage because of his long departure.

In the late 1990s, he accepted a key role in the big-budget X-Men film series as Professor Charles Xavier, founder and mentor of the superhero team, a role similar in many ways to Picard. He was initially reluctant to sign to another movie franchise, but his interest in working with director Bryan Singer persuaded him. Stewart played the role in seven feature films: X-Men (Bryan Singer, 2000), X2 (Bryan Singer, 2003), X-Men: The Last Stand (Brett Ratner, 2006), X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Gavin Hood, 2009) starring Hugh Jackman, The Wolverine (James Mangold, 2013), X-Men: Days of Future Past (Bryan Singer, 2014) and Logan (James Mangold, 2017) and voiced the role in several video.

Stewart's other film and television roles include the flamboyantly gay Sterling in Jeffrey (Christopher Ashley, 1995) and King Henry II in The Lion in Winter (Andrey Konchalovskiy, 2003), for which he received a Golden Globe Award nomination for his performance and an Emmy Award nomination for executive-producing the film.

Stewart portrayed Captain Ahab in the TV film Moby Dick (Franc Roddam, 1998), receiving Emmy and Golden Globe Award nominations for his performance. He also starred as Ebenezer Scrooge in a television film version of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol (David Jones, 1999), for which he received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination.


American postcard by Memory Card, no. 668. Photo: Patrick Stewart as Professor X in X-Men (Bryan Singer, 2000).


British postcard by London Postcard Company, no. XM 5806 (Series 1 set of 9). Photo: Marvel. Patrick Stewart as Professor X in X-Men (Bryan Singer, 2000).

Domestic violence

In late 2003, during the final season of the TV series Frasier, Patrick Stewart appeared on the show as a gay Seattle socialite and opera director who mistakes Frasier for a potential lover. In 2005, he was cast as Professor Ian Hood in an ITV thriller 4-episode series, Eleventh Hour (2006), created by Stephen Gallagher. He played Captain Nemo in a two-part adaptation of The Mysterious Island (Russell Mulcahy, 2005) opposite Kyle MacLachlan. Stewart also appeared as a nudity-obsessed caricature of himself in Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant's television series Extras (2005).

In 2006, Stewart made a short video against domestic violence for Amnesty International, in which he recollected his father's physical attacks on his mother and the effect it had on him as a child. He did voice roles such as CIA Deputy Director Avery Bullock in the animated series American Dad! (2005-2017) and narrated Ted (Seth MacFarlane, 2012). Stewart remained performing with the Royal Shakespeare Company. In 2008 he played King Claudius in 'Hamlet' on the West End and won a second Olivier Award. He was awarded the OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2000 Queen's Millennium Honours list for his services to acting and the cinema. In 2010, Stewart was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for services to drama.

Stewart and his first wife, Sheila Falconer, divorced in 1990 after 24 years of marriage. They have two children, son Daniel and daughter Sophia. Daniel is a television actor and has appeared alongside his father in the made-for-television film Death Train (David Jackson, 1993) starring Pierce Brosnan, and the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode The Inner Light (1992). In 1997, Stewart became engaged to Wendy Neuss, a producer of Star Trek: The Next Generation. They married in August 2000, and divorced three years later. Four months before his divorce from Neuss, Stewart played opposite actress Lisa Dillon in a production of The Master Builder, and the two were romantically involved until 2007.

In 2008, Patrick Stewart began dating Sunny Ozell, a singer and songwriter based in New York, whom Stewart met while performing in Macbeth at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. They married in 2013.  Sir Ian McKellen performed the wedding ceremony. Patrick Stewart played an ageing Juilliard dance professor with a colourful past in the film Match (Stephen Belber, 2015) with Carla Gugino and Matthew Lillard. He starred as Walter Blunt, a British journalist, intent on conquering American cable news in the TV series Blunt Talk (2015-2016).

He reprised his role as Picard in the TV series Star Trek: Picard (Jonathan Frakes, a.o., 2020-2023) and his role as Professor Charles Xavier in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (2022–2026), with Avengers: Doomsday (Anthony Russo, Joe Russo, 2026) being his final film performance. He also acted in the thriller Green Room (Jeremy Saulnier, 2015), the urban fantasy action-adventure film The Kid Who Would Be King (Joe Cornish, 2019), and the mystery comedy-drama The Sheep Detectives (Kyle Balda, 2026) with Hugh Jackman. Patrick Stewart died of Alzheimer's disease and Lewy body dementia in Los Angeles on 28 October 2026, aged 86.


Dutch poster postcard by Boomerang Freecards, Amsterdam P19 00. Poster: Marvel / 20th Century Fox. Poster for X-Men (Bryan Singer, 2000). Caption: Trust a few, fear the rest.


Trailer for Match (2015). Source: Movieclips Film Festivals & Indie Films (YouTube).

Sources: NOS (Dutch), Wikipedia and IMDb.

Elke Sommer (1940-2026)

Gorgeous German actress and sex symbol Elke Sommer (1940-2026)) made 99 film and television appearances between 1959 and 2005. With her trademark pouty lips, high cheekbones and sky-high bouffant hairdos, Sommer conquered Hollywood in the early 1960s. She was also one of the most popular pin-up girls of the sixties, posed twice for Playboy and had a long-running feud with Zsa Zsa Gabor.


German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/157. Photo: UFA.


Spanish postcard by Archivo Bermejo, offered by Korès Carboplan, no. C-157, 1964. Photo: M.G.M. Publicity still for The Prize (Mark Robson, 1963).


Spanish postcard by Ediciones Tarjefher, no. 5.008, 1964.


German postcard by ISV, no. T-8.


Belgian postcard by S. Best, Antwerp, for Victoria chocolates, no. 29.


German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/347. Photo: Bernard of Hollywood.

Miss Viareggio Turistica

Elke Sommer was born Elke Schletz in 1940 in Berlin to a Lutheran Minister, Baron Peter von Schletz, and his wife, Renata Topp. In 1942, the family was forced to evacuate to Niederndorf, a village near Erlangen, a small university town in southern Germany.

Her father's death in 1955, when she was only 14, interrupted her education at the local Gymnasium (high school). In 1957, she graduated high school and moved to England. There she worked as an au pair in Chigwell and Hampstead, two expensive residential areas of London. She entertained plans to become a diplomatic translator for the United Nations, but instead decided to try modelling.

After winning the title 'Miss Viareggio Turistica' in 1958 while in Italy with her mother, she caught the attention of renowned film actor/director Vittorio De Sica and began performing on screen. Her debut film was in the Italian feature Uomini e nobiluomini / Men and Noblemen (Giorgio Bianchi, 1959), starring De Sica. Elke changed her surname from 'Schletz' to 'Sommer', easier for a non-German audience. A few more Italian pictures followed, including her first starring role in Femmine di lusso / Love, the Italian Way (Giorgio Bianchi, 1960) with Ugo Tognazzi and Walter Chiari.

Within two years, Elke made five films in Italy and also two in West Germany. Her German films were the adventure Das Totenschiff / Ship of the Dead (Georg Tressler, 1959) with Horst Buchholz, and the interesting Film Noir Am Tag, als der Regen kam / The Day It Rained (Gerd Oswald, 1959) starring Mario Adorf. Her status gradually upgraded to a European sex symbol in films such as the sexy De quoi tu te mêles Daniela! / Daniella by Night (Max Pécas, 1961) with Ivan Desny, Douce violence / Sweet Ecstasy (Max Pécas, 1962) opposite Pierre Brice, and the drama Das Mädchen und der Staatsanwalt / The Girl and the Prosecutor (Jürgen Goslar, 1962).

Her first English-language picture was Don't Bother to Knock (Cyril Frankel, 1961) with Richard Todd and Nicole Maurey. Most publicity photographs for Don't Bother to Knock showed her in a bikini. These revealed that although she was nothing like as buxom as Sophia Loren or Jayne Mansfield, Elke had a flat stomach and superb legs.


Dutch postcard by Gebr. Spanjersberg N.V., Rotterdam, no. 4626. Gebr. Spanjersberg was the Dutch licensee for the Ufa/Film-Fotopostcards. Photo: Georg Michalke / Ufa.


West German postcard by Rüdel-Verlag, Hamburg-Bergedorf, no. 4116. Photo: Rialto / Constantin / Reiter.


Dutch postcard by Uitg. Takken, Utrecht, no. AX 4982. Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.


Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. 502.


German postcard by Filmbilder-Vertrieb Ernst Freihoff, Essen, no. 789. Photo: Lothar Winkler.


French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, offered by Les Carbones Korès 'Carboplane', no. 1127 A. Photo: J.L. Castelli.


West-German postcard by Kolibri (Friedrich W. Sander-Verlag), Minden/Westf., no. 2352.

With Peter Sellers in a nudist camp

Elke Sommer moved to Hollywood in the early 1960s to try and tap into the foreign-born market. Her sexy innocence made a vivid impression in the all-star, war-themed drama The Victors (Carl Foreman, 1963) with Vince Edwards and Albert Finney.

She received considerable publicity when she filmed her scenes twice, with a sexier version made for the European market. Elke played a German girl who sexually gratifies her American boyfriend (George Hamilton) with the full knowledge of her parents because he brings chocolate to the family home.

In 1964 she won the Golden Globe as Most Promising Female Newcomer for The Prize (Mark Robson, 1963), an espionage thriller with Paul Newman and Edward G. Robinson.

In the classic, bumbling comedy A Shot in the Dark (Blake Edwards, 1964), the second entry in the hilarious Pink Panther series, she proved a shady and sexy foil to Peter Sellers' Inspector Clouseau. A scene with Sellers and Elke in a nudist camp received enormous publicity, and the film was a huge hit.

Besides becoming one of the top film stars of the mid-1960s, Sommer was also one of the most popular pin-up girls of the time. She posed for two spreads in Playboy: in the September 1964 issue and in the December 1967 issue.


German postcard by ISV, no. Sort 8/6.


German postcard by ISV, no. Sort 16/6.


German postcard by Krüger, no. 900/300. Photo: Georg Michalke.


German postcard by UFA (Universum-Film Aktiengesellschaft), Berlin-Tempelhof, no. CK 438. Photo: Herbert Fried / UFA.


German postcard by UFA (Universum-Film Aktiengesellschaft), Berlin-Tempelhof, no. CK 407. Photo: Georg Michalke / UFA.


Vintage collector card, no. 24.

Lingerie or lederhosen

Elke Sommer was the leading lady opposite hunky sixties stars like James Garner, Robert Vaughn and Dean Martin in Hollywood productions such as the crime melodrama The Art of Love (Norman Jewison, 1965), The Money Trap (Burt Kennedy, 1965), The Oscar (Russell Rouse, 1966), The Venetian Affair (Jerry Thorpe, 1967), and the Matt Helm spy spoof The Wrecking Crew (Phil Karlson, 1969).

The blonde and beautiful Sommer proved irresistible to American audiences whether adorned in lace or leather, donning lingerie or lederhosen. She also continued to make films in Europe.

The Euro-Western Unter Geiern / Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964) was based on one of the Winnetou novels by Karl May. Her co-stars were Stewart Granger as Old Surehand, Götz George and Pierre Brice as Winnetou.

In 1966 she returned to England to work on the Bulldog Drummond extravaganza Deadlier Than the Male (Ralph Thomas, 1968). The film has minor cult status, mainly because Richard Johnson gives a superb James Bond-like performance, but also because Elke and Sylva Koscina were so eye-catching as two sexually-charged assassins.

Always a diverting attraction in spy intrigue or breezy comedy, she was too often misused. Setbacks started when the quality of her films began to deteriorate. Examples were the tacky Hollywood entry, The Oscar (Russell Rouse, 1966) with Stephen Boyd, and the Bob Hope misfire, Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number! (George Marshall, 1966). Her title role in the tasteless Cold War comedy The Wicked Dreams of Paula Schultz (George Marshall, 1968) proved her undoing.


German postcard by ISV, no. C 13. Photo: Constantin. Publicity still for Unter Geiern / Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964) with Götz George.


German postcard, no. 13. Photo: Constantin. Publicity still for Unter Geiern / Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964) with Elke Sommer as Annie Dillman. Caption: The watchful Annie secretly observes the vulture Weller, who has crept as a Mormon preacher onto Baumann's farm. Allegedly, he is supposed to look after the diamond trek to Arizona. By a flippant remark from Old Wabble, he learns of Annie's treasure.


German postcard, no. 20. Photo: Constantin. Publicity still for Unter Geiern / Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964). Caption: The adventurous Annie would have liked to be there. While Martin is at work, two vultures are chasing in a wild gallop. Annie still does not know what will be imminent in the next few minutes.


German postcard, no. 23. Photo: Constantin. Publicity still for Unter Geiern / Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964) with Elke Sommer as Annie Dillman. Caption: Bravely, Annie defends herself against the bandits who surround her on all sides. She is locked up in a room on the first floor. In vain she tries to explain to the vultures that she does not carry the money at all.


German postcard, no. 41. Photo: Constantin. Publicity still for Unter Geiern / Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964) with Elke Sommer as Annie Dillman and Götz George as Martin Bauman Jr. Caption: From a hill, Annie and Martin watch the settlers' camp. They do not know yet that several members of the vulture gang have crept unnoticed into the trek.


West German postcard, no. 63. Photo: Rialto / Constantin. Götz George and Elke Sommer in Unter Geiern / Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964). Caption: Martin has realised that Annie is more than just a pretty girl. They have both decided to start a new life together, because Baumann’s ranch needs a new mistress.

Vomiting live frogs and insects.

Elke Sommer spoke seven languages fluently, and her career took her to scores of countries over time. Her films during the 1970s included the British World War I action-drama Zeppelin (Étienne Périer, 1971) in which she co-starred with Michael York and Anton Diffring, and a remake of Agatha Christie's oft-filmed murder mystery 'Ten Little Indians', And Then There Were None (Peter Collinson, 1974) with Richard Attenborough and Oliver Reed.

In 1972, she starred in two low-budget Italian Horror films directed by Mario Bava, which became cult classics. Gli orrori del castello di Norimberga / Baron Blood (Mario Bava, 1972) with Joseph Cotten turned out to be an international box office success, particularly in the U.S. Producer Alfredo Leone offered Bava a contract for another film, Lisa e il diavolo / Lisa and the Devil (Mario Bava, 1973) with Telly Savalas, and granted Bava total artistic control on it.

Lisa e il diavolo was later re-edited into a very different film called Casa dell'esorcismo / House of Exorcism, a rip-off of The Exorcist. In 1975, Elke returned to Italy for additional scenes, which the producer inserted against the director's wishes. In those scenes, a demonic Elke swears obscenities at her exorcist, and in typical Linda Blair style spits out pea soup and actually vomits live frogs and insects.

In England, she good-naturedly appeared in the ‘comedy’ films Percy (Ralph Thomas, 1971) and its equally cheeky sequel Percy's Progress (Ralph Thomas, 1974), which starred Hywel Bennett (later Leigh Lawson) as the first man to have a penis transplant. She also showed up in a ‘Carry On’ farce, Carry on Behind (Gerald Thomas, 1975) as the Russian Professor Anna Vrooshka.

In Germany, Elke Sommer appeared in Edgar Reitz’s Die Reise nach Wien / The Trip to Vienna (1973) with Hannelore Elsner, and in Wolfgang Petersen’s thriller Einer von uns beiden / One or the Other (1974) opposite Klaus Schwarzkopf and Jürgen Prochnow.


Italian postcard by Rotalfoto, Milano, no. R 259.


Italian postcard. Photo: DEAR Film. Publicity still for Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number! (George Marshall, 1966).


French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 1091. Photo: Anders.


German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/269.


German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/169. Photo: Fried Agency.


Yugoslavian postcard by Cik Razglednica.

Long-running feud

From the mid-1970s, Elke Sommer worked more for TV. She appeared as a guest star in popular series such as The Six Million Dollar Man (1976), Fantasy Island (1981) and The Love Boat (1981, 1984). She played in the Mini-Series Inside the Third Reich (Marvin J. Chomsky, 1982), Jenny's War (Steve Gethers, 1985), Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna (Marvin J. Chomsky, 1986) and Peter the Great (Marvin J. Chomsky, Lawrence Schiller, 1986).

Sommer had a long-running feud with Zsa Zsa Gabor that began in 1984 when both appeared on Circus of the Stars and escalated into a multi-million dollar libel suit by 1993. Gabor and her husband made disparaging remarks about Sommer to several German publications. The jury ruled in favour of Sommer, and Gabor and her husband were sentenced to pay $2 million. Sommer also appeared as a cabaret singer and released several albums. She found a creative outlet on stage too with such vehicles as 'Irma la Douce' and 'Born Yesterday', eventually becoming a director. Sadly, while performing in 'Chicago', she lost twins in her sixth month of pregnancy.

Since the 1990s, she has concentrated more on writing and painting than on acting. Her artwork shows a strong influence from Marc Chagall. She even hosted a TV series on painting. Nevertheless, she tackled an acting role occasionally. Out of the blue, she was cast in a Fangoria magazine production, the Horror picture Severed Ties (1992). In her native Germany, she played in the TV film Ewig rauschen die Gelder / Eternally Rustling Funds (Rene Heinersdorff, 2005) and the comedy Das Leben ist zu lang (Dani Levy, 2010) with Markus Hering and Meret Becker.

Divorced from writer and journalist Joe Hyams, she married hotelier Wolf Walther in 1993. In a 2014 interview, Sommer described how she met him: "I was in New York City starring in 'Tamara' and had to stay there for four months. So, I had to find an apartment, but they were excruciatingly expensive, tiny and loud. I knew the managing director of the Essex House and wanted to talk to him about renting a room, but the hotel had a new managing director, a man called Wolf Walther. So we met. For him, it was love at first sight. For me, it took a little longer, but not much longer. As you may know, 'Tamara' is a play in which the audience follows the actor of their choice, and as you may also know, my husband is 6'5" and hard to miss. I saw him every night in the audience, following me. Every night. And that was the beginning of the greatest love story of my life, still unfolding and getting better by the day."

Elke Sommer died in 2026 of heart failure at her home in Bel Air, near Los Angeles, a few months after the death of her husband, Wolf Walther. Looking back, Sommer felt she had had a wonderful career, in which “I played all sorts of roles, from a prostitute to a nun”. She was satisfied with how she had developed as an actress. “I’ve become quite good, thanks to my stage work, by taking my work seriously and simply by living long enough.”


Vintage photo. Mario Adorf and Elke Sommer in Am Tag als der Regen kam / The Day It Rained (Gerd Oswald, 1959).


American trailer De quoi tu te mêles, Daniela! / Daniella by Night (1961). Source: Deathtrap Trailers (YouTube).


Trailer The Prize (1963). Source: InnuMaccaband (YouTube).


Trailer A Shot in the Dark (1964). Source: Movieclips Classic Trailers (YouTube).


Scene from Deadlier Than The Male (1968). Source: Fan90042 (YouTube).


Trailer Casa dell'esorcismo / House of Exorcism (1975). Source: trailersdaculto (YouTube).

Sources: Gary Brumburgh (IMDb), NOS (Dutch), Cult Sirens (Now defunct), Brian’s Drive-in Theatre, Wikipedia, and IMDb.

La Collectionneuse: Evelyn Nesbit

Evelyn Nesbit was involved in a famous case which made headlines at the beginning of the 20th Century. In 1906, her husband, Harry K. Thaw, shot noted architect Stanford White dead.

When you write about Evelyn Nesbit, it should be noted that the main sources of information about her early life and the years before the murder come in fact from Evelyn herself, through her testimonies at the two trials, through her 1914 and 1934 memoirs or through various interviews.

Of course, Stanford White never spoke publicly about his affair with Evelyn. As for Harry Thaw, he published a book in 1926, in which he vilified Stanford White, lauded Evelyn, criticised her mother, presented himself as a chivalrous hero, trying to protect young and innocent girls from rich perverts, and insisted he had never been insane. Unsurprisingly, the mention of his brutal assault on a 19-year-old boy in 1916 was carefully omitted from his book.

To our knowledge, Evelyn’s mother, who, at best, had been described as naive and unwitting or, at worst, as unfit and calculating, has never made any in-depth public statement. Anyway, her daughter always defended her.

The affair made Evelyn a shady character. As far as the proponents of morality were concerned, her fate was sealed, and her reputation was stained for good. In a 1920 interview, Evelyn complained about it: "Is there no forgiveness for a woman? Must I go through life with the stain of Harry Thaw and Stanford White forever on my forehead?" Unfortunately, deep within herself, she probably knew the answer …


Australian postcard by T. Shaw Fitchett, Melbourne. Caption: "Head and Hearts" Packet. Evelyn Nesbit sketched by famous illustrator Charles Dana Gibson. This artwork was called “The Eternal Question”. Evelyn’s hairstyle is curved into the shape of a question mark.

A family in financial trouble

Evelyn Nesbit was born as Florence Evelyn Nesbit or Florence Mary Nesbit on the 25th of December 1884 or 1885 in Tarentum, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.

Her parents were Winfield Scott Nesbit and Evelyn Florence McKenzie, and she had a younger brother, Howard.

Her father died when she was about ten years old, and the family was left penniless. The ensuing years were difficult times.

In 1898, her mother left for Philadelphia, where she found work as a sales clerk at Wanamaker’s department store.

She soon arranged for her children to come live with her and found them menial jobs at Wanamaker.


British postcard by Philco Publishing Co., no. 3323A. Caption: Mrs. Harry K. Thaw.

Successful model

Evelyn’s beauty didn’t go unnoticed, and she began to successfully pose for artists. Her steady income soon persuaded her mother to allow Evelyn to become a professional model.

In 1900, Mrs. Nesbit left for New York and, in December, her two children also relocated there.

Evelyn started to pose for noted painter James Carroll Beckwith, and this led to other modelling work.

She was soon much in demand by illustrators, painters and photographers. Women’s magazines steadily used her image and her likeness graced postcards, calendars and advertisements.

In mid-1901, she joined the cast of the popular Broadway show 'Florodora' as a chorus girl.


British postcard by H.V. & Co. Card A. Caption: Miss Florence Evelyn Nesbitt (Mrs. Harry Thaw).

Stanford White

During the 'Florodora' run, she was introduced to famous architect Stanford White, who was in his late 40s and married.

He took a great interest in the young girl, soon moved Evelyn and her mother to a luxury apartment at the Wellington Hotel and offered to pay for younger brother Howard’s schooling in Chester County Academy. Mrs. Nesbit got along well with White and, according to Evelyn, considered him a thoughtful benefactor.

Evelyn later told how she had lost her virginity to White. She would claim that she had been sexually abused by White while she was unconscious after having been drinking. This would have happened when her mother had been paid a trip by White to visit friends in Pittsburgh and had left her daughter under his guardianship.

In any case, underage Evelyn and White started an affair. However, he dated other young female companions. Evelyn, herself, allegedly had an affair with John Barrymore.

Later she wrote: "Stanford White was a great man. That is how I see him after all these years. That he did me wrong, that from certain moral standards he was perverse and decadent, does not blind my judgement".


British postcard by H.V. & Co., Card B. Caption: Miss Florence Evelyn Nesbitt (Mrs. Harry Thaw).

Harry K. Thaw

From May to August 1902, Evelyn Nesbit was elevated to the rank of featured player, as gypsy girl Vashti, in the Broadway musical 'The Wild Rose'.

An avid spectator of the show was Harry K. Thaw, the son of a very wealthy Pittsburgh railroad baron who had died in 1889. He was an unbalanced young man who allegedly had been once expelled from Harvard for 'immoral practices' and was spoiled by his overprotective mother.

In New York, he had applied to several elite men’s clubs but had been turned down. The paranoid Thaw was convinced he had been blackballed by certain influential members and came to blame Stanford White in particular.

Thaw became obsessed with Evelyn and managed to be introduced to her.

In the autumn of 1902, she was sent to a boarding school by her mother and Stanford White. Before she left, Thaw made his first marriage proposal, which she rejected. Other declined proposals would follow over the next two years.


British postcard by Rotary Photo E.C., no. 4411F. Caption: Mrs. Thaw.

A fateful trip to Europe

After an appendectomy in late April 1903, Harry Thaw offered Evelyn and her mother a long trip to Europe to help the young girl recover faster.

The tour wouldn't go on as smoothly as Evelyn had hoped.

Evelyn’s mother soon grew dissatisfied. After it was decided that Mrs. Nesbit would stay in London, Evelyn and Thaw went to Paris.

There, under great pressure from a persistent Thaw, Evelyn allegedly confessed to him every detail of her relationship with Stanford White, which left him in shock.

Mrs. Nesbit finally decided to return to America, leaving her daughter behind. Evelyn and Thaw continued to travel. He soon took her to a castle in Austria-Hungary, where, according to Evelyn, he sadistically assaulted her and beat her with a whip. However, the trip continued into September 1903, and Evelyn finally came back to New York in October.


British postcard by Philco Publishing Co., no. 3319E. Caption: Mrs. Harry K. Thaw.

Marriage

After much pleading on Thaw’s part, Evelyn finally agreed to see him again.

He assured her that she would never be again the victim of his violent behaviour, which he said to have been caused by her confession.

From December 1903 to January 1904, she was briefly back on Broadway in 'The Girl from Dixie'.

Throughout 1904, Thaw pursued his intensive wooing of Evelyn and succeeded in getting back into her good graces. She eventually agreed to marry him, and the ceremony took place in April 1905.

If the young girl had hoped to live a quiet life, it was not to be the case as Thaw’s hatred of Stanford White had increased over the years.


British postcard by Rotary Photo E.C., no. 4411K. Caption: Mrs. Thaw.

Murder

On the 25th of June 1906, Harry Thaw shot Stanford White dead at the rooftop theatre of Madison Square Garden, during a performance of the show 'Mamzelle Champagne'. The press went wild, and the case made headlines.

A first trial opened on the 23rd of January 1907. Evelyn testified in February, mentioning notably the circumstances of her deflowering by White. It ended in a deadlocked jury on the 11th of April. Seven had voted guilty, and five voted not guilty on the ground of insanity. The strategy trying to make the murder appear as a justifiable crime had failed.

The defence had wrongly thought that the notions of 'Unwritten Law' and of 'Dementia Americana' would help Thaw to be acquitted. The 'Unwritten Law' was the supposed and informal principle of the right to use violence to avenge wrongs against family honour. 'Dementia Americana' was an alleged form of temporary dementedness leading to aggression that takes hold of a man who believes the honour of his family has been violated.

A second trial opened in the beginning of January 1908. This time, the defence took another approach and clearly pleaded a plain case of insanity, choosing to focus on Thaw’s troubled mental history. Reports and testimonies of Thaw’s deranged past behaviour were produced. It worked. In February, Thaw was found not guilty by reason of insanity and sent to an asylum.

Almost immediately, Thaw, greatly discontented with having been adjudged as a lunatic, began a campaign to have himself declared sane, but it would take him more time than expected.


British postcard by Rapid Photo Printing Co. Ltd., no. 3832A. Caption: Miss Florence Nesbit (Mrs. Harry Kendall Thaw).

Found insane a second time

In October 1910, Evelyn Nesbit gave birth to a son, Russell, in Germany. She claimed that her pregnancy was the result of a conjugal visit with Harry Thaw at the asylum, but he strongly denied it and never accepted the boy as his biological child. Neither did the Thaw family, which had never been enthusiastic about Harry’s involvement with Evelyn. Russell Thaw would later appear in several of his mother’s films.

In August 1913, Harry Thaw escaped from his asylum and sought refuge in Canada. He was sent back to the U.S. a few weeks later. On the 16th of July 1915, a jury declared him sane and set him free.

On Christmas 1916, he savagely attacked and viciously whipped 19-year-old boy Frederick Gump in a hotel room. A most curious remark was made in the Harrisburg Daily Independent newspaper: "The boy is said by those who know him to have been finely formed almost effeminate in type, and to have singularly resembled Evelyn Nesbit in features".

Thaw was arrested in January 1917 and was indicted on charges of assault in the second degree. In March, he was found insane and sent again to an asylum. In January 1924, Gump agreed to settle his suit out of court. In April, Thaw was adjudged to be a sane man and was released. He would never go on trial for the Gump affair.

Thaw's later life was much quieter, and he was not involved in any serious legal trouble again.


British postcard by Rotary Photo E.C., no. 4411G. Caption: Mr. and Mrs. Thaw. Evelyn Nesbit and Harry Thaw never posed for this portrait, which is a composite of two different photos.

Back to the stage

In 1913, faced with financial problems, Evelyn Nesbit accepted the offer to appear in the revue 'Hullo, Ragtime!' in London and was teamed with experienced dancer Jack Clifford. Later that year, she successfully performed her dancing act at $1,750 a week at the Victoria Theatre in New York. The management netted a huge profit, and it helped to establish Evelyn as a drawing card in the world of vaudeville. She then went on tour for Comstock and Gest for the pricey sum of $3,250 a week.

Show business producers reckoned that Evelyn’s name had commercial value and that there was an audience which was ready to pay to see this notorious woman in flesh or on screen.

In 1914, she notably appeared at the Théâtre Marigny in Paris. The famous French magazine Comoedia wrote: "She has found the recognition of her truly remarkable talent in front of Parisian audiences".

During the season 1915-1916, her Vaudeville act with Jack Clifford included songs, ballroom specialities and acrobatic dancing. In mid-1917, the duo was booked by the Orpheum Circuit to perform in San Francisco and Los Angeles. At the end of the year, she appeared with a new dance partner, Bobby O’Neill, in « A Roseland Fantasy », a richly staged vaudeville performance.

After several years of estrangement, she legally divorced Thaw in 1916. She declared: "All I ask from him is that he leave me in peace to continue my stage career. I do not want his name, and I do not want his money". That same year, she married her dance partner, Jack Clifford. That union didn’t last long. They separated in 1918, and their divorce was finalised in 1933.


American postcard. Caption: Evelyn Nesbit Thaw "In a reverie".

Evelyn in films

In March 1907, Lubin released the short The Unwritten Law: A Thrilling Drama Based on the White Case, which depicted White as a lecher, taking advantage of young and innocent girls. It was an openly pro-Thaw movie and ended with his acquittal because he had killed in his wife’s honour. It was rather curious as the actual trial had not yet ended.

According to some sources, Evelyn Nesbit played herself in The Unwritten Law. Others strongly disagree. Let’s note that, if Evelyn really appeared in this film, it may seem weird that such a key witness in the trial would have appeared in a movie about the murder, even before a verdict had been rendered. Therefore, it would be more plausible that an unknown and unnamed performer portrayed Evelyn in this short.

In 1914, Evelyn made her official screen debut in Threads of Destiny. According to the Moving Picture World magazine, the movie packed theatres because "people are still interested in the notorious Thaw case". She then starred in two films produced and directed by Julius Steger: Redemption (1917), whose part of the plot bears a similarity to Evelyn’s own life, and Her Mistake (1918). Redemption was advertised as "A photo-drama of life depicted with relentless truth".

She next joined the Fox Film Corporation star rostrum and was featured in The Woman Who Gave (1918), I Want to Forget (1918), Woman, Woman! (1919), Thou Shalt Not! (1919), A Fallen Idol (1919) and My Little Sister (1919).

Her screen career ended with The Hidden Woman (1922), directed and produced by Allan Dwan.


British postcard by Lilywhite Ltd. in the Cinema Stars series, no. C.M.-76.

A singer in nightclubs

In 1925, she was hired as a star attraction at the Moulin Rouge Cafe in Chicago as a singer. In the same city, she would later appear at the Club Alabam several times. In January 1928, Billboard magazine mentioned her success at the Lido Venice in Boston with an act called 'Life’s Impressions'.

In the 1920s, she briefly ran a tea room, Chez Evelyn, in Manhattan, and the Evelyn Nesbit Club in Atlantic City.

In 1930, she performed at the famous Bilgray’s Garden, a major fixture of Panamanian nightlife.

But all didn’t go smoothly for Evelyn: there were suicide attempts in 1921 and 1926 and bouts with alcoholism and drug addiction.

Her last known stage appearance took place at the Club Alabam in 1939. By that time, she had somewhat become a relic of the past.


British postcard by Cinema Chat. Photo: Fox.

The Girl in a Red Velvet Swing

When Harry Thaw died in 1947, he left Evelyn $10,000, only a very tiny fraction of his estate.

In the 1940s, she studied at the Grant Beach School of Arts and Crafts in Los Angeles and later taught classes in sculpting and ceramics.

She was hired by 20th Century Fox to be a technical consultant on The Girl in a Red Velvet Swing (Richard Fleischer, 1955), a heavily fictionalised account of the events that had taken place some 50 years before. Evelyn, Stanford White and Harry Thaw were respectively portrayed by Joan Collins, Ray Milland and Farley Granger. The film title refers to a lavish indoor swing on which Evelyn had ridden in Stanford White’s apartment.

The White-Thaw-Nesbit triangle was also portrayed later in Miloš Forman’s Ragtime (1981), with Elizabeth McGovern as Evelyn.

In 1962, she would allegedly say: "I’m still interested in that world of art and music and beauty which Stanford White first showed me, so long ago". Evelyn Nesbit passed away on the 17th of January 1967, in a Santa Monica nursing home.


British postcard by Cinema Chat. Photo: F.B.O.

Text and postcards: Marlene Pilaete.