Helene Whitney


Helene Whitney was an American actress who appeared in films in the late 1930s and 1940s. She was known as Helene Reynolds after her marriage.

Biography

Whitney was born Kenyon Fortescue in 1914, but was known as Helene. Through her mother, Grace Fortescue, she was a grandniece of Alexander Graham Bell, who invented the telephone.
Through her father Granville Roland Fortescue, she was a first cousin once removed of US President Theodore Roosevelt.
She grew up in Washington D.C. where she attended the National Cathedral School for Girls. She married Julian Louis Reynolds, son of Richard S. Reynolds, Sr. and heir to the Reynolds aluminum and tobacco fortunes, on July 15, 1936, in Washington, becoming Helene Fortescue Reynolds. After three years of marriage, they divorced in May 1939.
She became an actress, using the stage names of Joyce Gardner, Helene Whitney and Helene Reynolds, appeared in films in the late 1930s and 1940s and later in stage productions. After her acting career ended, she became a Manhattan art gallery proprietor and artist in the 1960s. She died of pneumonia at the John F. Kennedy Medical Center in Atlantis, Florida aged 75 on March 28, 1990.

Filmography

As Helene Whitney/Helen Whitney
YearTitleRole
1939The Hunchback of Notre DameFleur de Lys
1940The Saint's Double TroubleAnne Bitts
1940Millionaire Playboy aka Glamour Boy uncredited
1940The Philadelphia StoryMain Line Society Woman
1941City of Missing GirlsKatherine Crawford

As Helene Reynolds
YearTitleRole
1941Confirm or DenyDorothy
1941Blue, White and PerfectHelen Shaw
1942Girl TroubleHelen Martin
1942Roxie HartVelma Wall
1942Tales of ManhattanActress
1942MoontideWoman in boat
1942The Man Who Wouldn't DieAnna Wolff
1943Dixie DuganJean Patterson
1943Heaven Can WaitPeggy Nash
1943WintertimeMarian Daly
1943The Meanest Man in the WorldWife
1944Bermuda MysteryAngela

Television

As Helene Reynolds
YearTitleRole
1945The Front PageMollie Malloy
1948Mirage in Manhattan

Stage