Edith Fellows
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- May 20, 1923
- Died
- Jun 26, 2011 (aged 88)
- Place of birth
- Boston, Massachusetts, USA
- Credits
- 58
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.
Known for
Filmography
Alan Ladd: The True Quiet Man
1999Movie
Self
ER
1994TV
Sadie Hubbell
In the Mood
1987Movie
Mrs. Long, Judy's Mother
The Hills Have Eyes Part 2
1985Movie
Mrs. Wilson
Grace Kelly
1983Movie
Edith Head
St. Elsewhere
1982TV
Mrs. Sabin
Cagney & Lacey
1982TV
Mrs. Isbecki
Between Two Brothers
1982Movie
Victim's Wife
Hollywood’s Children
1982Movie
Self
The Brady Brides
1981TV
The Private Navy of Sgt. O'Farrell
1968Movie
Self (clip from "Pennies from Heaven")
Lilith
1964Movie
Patient (uncredited)
Criminal Investigator
1942Movie
Ellen
Stardust on the Sage
1942Movie
Judy Drew
Heart of the Rio Grande
1942Movie
Connie Lane
Girls' Town
1942Movie
Sue Norman
Hedda Hopper's Hollywood No. 4
1942Movie
Self
Her First Beau
1941Movie
Milly Lou
Her First Romance
1940Movie
Linda Strong
Nobody's Children
1940Movie
Pat
Five Little Peppers in Trouble
1940Movie
Polly Pepper
Out West with the Peppers
1940Movie
Polly Pepper
Five Little Peppers at Home
1940Movie
Polly Pepper
Music in My Heart
1940Movie
Mary O'Malley
Pride of the Blue Grass
1939Movie
Midge Griner
Five Little Peppers And How They Grew
1939Movie
Polly Pepper
The Little Adventuress
1938Movie
Pinky Horton
City Streets
1938Movie
Winnie Brady
Little Miss Roughneck
1938Movie
Foxine LaRue
Life Begins with Love
1937Movie
Dodie Martin
Pennies from Heaven
1936Movie
Patsy Smith
Tugboat Princess
1936Movie
'Princess' Judy
And So They Were Married
1936Movie
Brenda Farnham
One Way Ticket
1935Movie
Ellen
She Married Her Boss
1935Movie
Annabel Barclay
The Keeper of the Bees
1935Movie
Jean Marie Meredith / Little Scout
Dinky
1935Movie
Sally
Kid Millions
1934Movie
Little Girl in Ice Cream Number (uncredited)
Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch
1934Movie
Australia Wiggs
Jane Eyre
1934Movie
Adele Rochester
His Greatest Gamble
1934Movie
Alice (as a child)
Cross Streets
1934Movie
Little Sister
This Side of Heaven
1934Movie
Felicia - Minister's Daughter (uncredited)
Two Alone
1934Movie
Rogers' Daughter (uncredited)
Mush and Milk
1933Movie
Edith
The Penguin Pool Murder
1932Movie
Little Girl at Aquarium (uncredited)
Law and Lawless
1932Movie
Betty Kelley
Birthday Blues
1932Movie
Girl with String in Mouth
Divorce In The Family
1932Movie
Little Girl with Kite
The Rider of Death Valley
1932Movie
Betty Joyce
Emma
1932Movie
Gypsy as a Child (uncredited)
Huckleberry Finn
1931Movie
Schoolgirl (uncredited)
Daddy Long Legs
1931Movie
Orphan (uncredited)
Second Hand Kisses
1931Movie
Orphan girl
Cimarron
1931Movie
(uncredited)
Shivering Shakespeare
1930Movie
Girls Scared of Elephant
Madame X
1929Movie
Child at Puppet Show (uncredited)
Movie Night
1929Movie
Daughter