Keyes, Evelyn Louise

▪ 2009

      American actress

born Nov. 20, 1916, Port Arthur, Texas

died July 4, 2008, Montecito, Calif.

attained a level of stardom on the silver screen with her role as Scarlett O'Hara's put-upon sister Suellen in the Academy Award-winning Gone with the Wind (1939) and in the tabloids with her tumultuous romantic life, which included marriages to directors Charles Vidor and John Huston and bandleader Artie Shaw. Keyes played bit parts before being cast in Gone with the Wind. Her later varied movies included The Face Behind the Mask (1941), Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941), Dangerous Blondes (1943), and The Jolson Story (1946). After unsuccessfully suing Columbia Pictures for her stagnating career, Keyes lost her studio contract, though she continued to act in such films as The Seven Year Itch (1955) and on television. Keyes published two autobiographies, Scarlett O'Hara's Younger Sister: My Lively Life in and out of Hollywood (1977) and I'll Think About That Tomorrow (1991).

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