Evelyn Nesbit | |
|---|---|
 1903 photograph by Gertrude Käsebier | |
| Born | Florence Evelyn Nesbit December 25, 1884, or December 25, 1885 Tarentum, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | January 17, 1967 (aged 82) or January 17, 1967 (aged 81) Santa Monica, California, U.S. |
| Other names | Evelyn Nesbit Thaw |
| Occupation(s) | Model, chorus girl, actress |
| Years active | 1899-1967 |
| Spouses | |
| Children | Russell William Thaw |
Evelyn Nesbit (born Florence Evelyn Nesbit; December 25, 1884 or 1885 – January 17, 1967) was an American artists' model, chorus girl, and actress. She is best known for her career in New York City, as well as her husband, railroad scion Harry Kendall Thaw's obsessive and abusive fixation on both Nesbit and architect Stanford White, which resulted in White's murder by Thaw in 1906.
As a model, Nesbit was frequently photographed for mass circulation newspapers, magazine advertisements, souvenir items and calendars. When in her early teens, she had begun working as an artist's model in Philadelphia. Nesbit continued after her family moved to New York, posing for artists including James Carroll Beckwith, Frederick S. Church and notably Charles Dana Gibson, who idealized her as a "Gibson Girl". She began modeling when both fashion photography (as an advertising medium) and the pin-up (as an art genre) were beginning to expand.
Nesbit entered Broadway theatre, initially as a chorus line dancer before becoming a featured star. A variety of wealthy men vied for her company including Stanford White, 32 years her senior. In 1905, Nesbit married Thaw, a multi-millionaire about 14 years her senior with a history of mental instability and abusive behavior. The next year, on June 25, 1906, Thaw shot and killed White at the rooftop theatre of Madison Square Garden.
The press called the resulting court case the "Trial of the Century", coverage of which was sensational. Nesbit testified that White had befriended her and her mother, but had drugged and then raped her when she was unconscious.[1][2][3] Nesbit and White had also begun an ongoing relationship after the alleged rape incident. Thaw was said to have killed White in retaliation for his actions with Nesbit, based on his own obsession with her.
Nesbit visited Thaw while he was confined to mental asylums. She toured Europe with a dance troupe, and her son, Russell Thaw, was born in Germany. Later she took the boy with her to Hollywood, where she appeared as an actress in numerous silent films. Nesbit wrote two memoirs about her life, published in 1914 and 1934. She died in Santa Monica, California, in 1967.
- ^ Uruburu 2008, pp. 99, 105: "nearly three times her age, at forty-six".
- ^ Paul, Deborah Dorian (April 2006). Tragic Beauty: The Lost 1914 Memoirs of Evelyn Nesbit. Lulu. ISBN 9781411696976.[self-published source]
- ^ Rayner, Richard (May 11, 2008). "'American Eve' by Paula Uruburu". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 22, 2015.