Elisabeth Risdon


Elisabeth Risdon was an English film actress. She appeared in over 140 films between 1913 and 1952. A beauty in her youth, she usually played in society parts. In later years in films she switched to playing character parts.

Biography

Born in London, England, Risdon was the daughter of John Jenkins Risdon and Martha Harrop Risdon. She graduated from the Royal Academy of Arts in 1918 with high honours. She attracted the attention of George Bernard Shaw and was cast as the lead in his biggest plays. Besides her performances for Shaw, she was leading lady for actors including George Arliss, Otis Skinner, and William Faversham. She was also under contract to the Theatre Guild for many years.
Risdon's film debut came in England, where she made 13 silent films. She came to the United States in 1912, and her first film with sound was Guard That Girl.
Her Broadway credits include Laburnum Grove, Big Hearted Herbert, Uncle Tom's Cabin, For Services Rendered, We Never Learn, The Springboard, Right You Are If You Think You Are, The Silver Cord, A Proud Woman, Lovely Lady, The Enchanted April, Thrills, Artistic Temperament, Cock O' the Roost, The Lady, The Nightcap, Heartbreak House, Footloose, Dear Brutus, Humpty Dumpty, Muggins, Seven Days' Leave, Misalliance, The Morris Dance, The Poetasters of Ispahan, Beauty and the Jacobin, and Fanny's First Play.
In later years, she taught drama to patients at a veterans administration hospital near her Brentwood home. In 1916, she married silent film director George Loane Tucker, who died in 1921. In 1938, she married actor Brandon Evans, who died in April 1958. She was the great-aunt of actress Wendy Barrie-Wilson.
Risdon died in December 1958 in St John's Hospital in Santa Monica, California, from a cerebral haemorrhage. Her body was donated to medical science.

Partial filmography