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 Evelyn
Brent
Evelyn Brent, one of
the first matinee idols of the silent screen, was born in Tampa
on October 20, 1899. Not only was she to capture the hearts of
the earliest movie goers but she would be mother to one of Tarzan's
"Janes" in movies that would be filmed some 60 years
later.
Brent was born just north of downtown Tampa
when Tampa was young and there were no cars, only dirt roads and
horse buggies. As a youngster, she wandered the unpaved streets
of Tampa and enjoyed with childish wonderment the early pioneers.
Her family gathered often alongside the Hillsborough River on
the grounds of H. B. Plant Hotel, now the University of Tampa.
She attended city schools until age 10 when her mother died after
which she and her father moved to New York City.
 She
got into modeling as a teenager and appeared in films at the Popular
Plays and Players studio in Fort Lee, New Jersey. Following the
First World War, she went to London where she worked in films
and on stage
Returning stateside in 1922, Evelyn established
herself in exotic, "dangerous" roles, notably in the
late-silent efforts of director Josef Von Sternberg and she became
a well known star of that era. Luckily, Evelyn's voice matched
her screen image perfectly, and she had no trouble adjusting to
talkies.
Unfortunately, her earliest talkie starring
roles were box-office failures, and by the mid-1930s she was consigned
to secondary roles. She took occasional sabbaticals from Hollywood
to tour in vaudeville, rounding out her acting career in such
Monogram cheapies as Bowery Champs (1944) and The Golden Eye (1948).
She worked as an  actor's
agent in the 1950s, then retired, periodically emerging from her
Westwood Village home to appear as guest of honor at theatrical
revivals of her best silent films. Her married name was Evelyn
Brent Ashe.
She died July 4, 1975.
Her daughter, Eve, has been active in films
and television since the 50's, starring and "Jane" in
several Tarzan flicks with Gordon Scott. She's played roles on
dozens of television programs through five decades and most recently
appeared in "The Green Mile" with Tom Hanks. She lives
in Los Angeles and takes on new projects to this day.
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