Person Details

Birthday:

Aliases: Edythe Fellows

Gender: Female

Place of birth: Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Homepage:

Movie Involvements: 27

TV Involvements: 1


Most Famous Work

Biography

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.

Most Famous Work

ER
Average
8

ER

(1994) Sadie Hubbell
The Hills Have Eyes Part II
Average
4

The Hills Have Eyes Part II

(1985) Mrs. Wilson
Cimarron
Average
6

Cimarron

(1931) (uncredited)
Lilith
Average
6

Lilith

(1964) Patient (uncredited)
Dinky
Average
7

Dinky

(1935) Sally
Grace Kelly
Average
7

Grace Kelly

(1983) Edith Head
Jane Eyre
Average
5

Jane Eyre

(1934) Adele Rochester
Hollywood’s Children
Average
0

Acting

Year Character Movie/Tv
1994 Sadie Hubbell
1987 Mrs. Long, Judy's Mother
1985 Mrs. Wilson
1983 Edith Head
1982 Self
1981 N/A
1968 Self (clip from "Pennies from Heaven")
1964 Patient (uncredited)
1942 Ellen
Judy Drew
Connie Lane
Sue Norman
Self
1941 Milly Lou
1940 Linda Strong
Pat
Polly Pepper
Polly Pepper
Polly Pepper
Mary O'Malley
1939 Midge Griner
Polly Pepper
1938 Winnie Brady
Foxine LaRue
1937 Dodie Martin
1936 Patsy Smith
'Princess' Judy
Brenda Farnham
1935 Ellen
Annabel Barclay
Jean Marie Meredith / Little Scout
Sally
1934 Little Girl in Ice Cream Number (uncredited)
Australia Wiggs
Adele Rochester
Alice (as a child)
Little Sister
Felicia - Minister's Daughter (uncredited)
Rogers' Daughter (uncredited)
1933 Edith
1932 Little Girl at Aquarium (uncredited)
Betty Kelley
Girl with String in Mouth
Little Girl with Kite
Betty Joyce
Gypsy as a Child (uncredited)
1931 Schoolgirl (uncredited)
Orphan (uncredited)
Orphan girl
(uncredited)
1930 Girls Scared of Elephant
1929 Child at Puppet Show (uncredited)
Daughter
Year Character Movie/Tv

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