Screen star Evelyn Keyes was initially Vivien Leigh’s younger sister in “Gone With the Wind” (1939) before becaming a star in her own right in several films made at Columbia in the 1940s. When I met her in 2003, she was in her mid-eighties and looking better than ever.

‘A healthy mind in a healthy body,’ would have been a very accurate way to describe this disciplined and multitalented lady from the silver screen. Once married to legendary film director John Huston (from 1946-1950), when he made films as “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre” and “Key Largo” (both 1948)—some of the best films of the 1940s—she was able to step out of his shadow, and star in various films with highlights such as “The Jolson Story” (1946), “The Mating of Millie” (1948), “Mrs. Mike” (1949), and “The Prowler” (1951).

The most striking thing about the Texas-born Miss Keyes (b. 1916), however, was that she still looked stunning, was bright and intelligent as anyone could be when I got to meet her for an interview in her West Hollywood apartment in 2003. After traveling the world and living in Paris, Spain, and Connecticut, she had relocated and moved to Los Angeles, the city of dreams that partly made her dreams come true.

Or… maybe not? If you take a quick look at her first autobiography, ‘Scarlett O’Hara’s Younger Sister—My Lively Life in and Out of Hollywood’ (1977), she mentioned a highly interesting quote from the prominent and acclaimed George Bernard Shaw: ‘There are two tragedies in life. One is to get your heart’s desire. The other one is to get it.’ Still, she was able to handle her career, stardom, and life extremely well.

Ms. Keyes, how do you manage to keep in such good shape?

I always get up at five in the morning—05:03 to be exact—to run four miles every day. I still got the same weight I had decades ago, ever since I reached this height, so I haven’t blown up. You have to take care of your body; you only got one, and you can’t go to the store to buy new one. This is it. And I eat soya, proteins, fruit, and vegetables.

You’re very disciplined.

You have to be, in so many ways, physically and mentally. People often do things and then say, ‘Why did I do that, or why did I do it this or that way?’ It also happened to me until I got into psycho-analysis. It really helped me to find out more about myself. We often get pushed in a certain direction without really considering what we’re doing and why we’re doing it. I found many answers and got to know myself better. You have to realize what you’re doing, what the consequences may be of your actions, and how you relate to other people. I’ll put it this way: everywhere I went, I showed up. You know what I mean?

Who brought you into pictures in the 1930s?

That was Cecil B. DeMille. He was the first to cast me, then an eighteen-year-old aspiring actress, as a Southern belle in “The Buccaneer” [1938] opposite Fredric March. Although a small part, it was amazing to be able and walk on the Paramount lot and getting the star treatment as DeMille’s discovery. I became one of Paramount’s stock players—under personal contract to Mr. DeMille. Many small and supporting roles came my way; I appeared in more than a handful of films, such as “Sons of the Legion” [1938], and my final Paramount film, DeMille’s “Union Pacific” [1939], in the briefest of roles. I had to cry out loud, ‘Help, help, the Indians are attacking the railroad!’ [Laughs.]

That was the prelude to “Gone With the Wind” [1939]?

The whole casting of “Gone With the Wind” was incredible. So many actors went to Selznick’s studio [Selznick International] to be tested. Streams of girls, like debutantes and even drama students, pleaded to be tested. Hollywood’s major concern back then was who would be playing Rhett Butler and Scarlett O’Hara. I was assigned to play Scarlett O’Hara’s sister, Carreen [other producer David O. Selznick considered for this role were Margaret Tallichet and Judy Garland]. Clark Gable was already signed to play Rhett Butler in August 1938, several months before shooting began, but the part of Scarlett O’Hara was another matter. After a long search and after numerous actresses were considered for the part [including Jean Harlow, Tallulah Bankhead, Paulette Goddard, Frances Dee, Jean Arthur, Joan Bennett, Lana Turner, Katharine Hepburn, Norma Shearer, Claire Trevor, Bette Davis, and Claudette Colbert], it finally went to Vivien Leigh. She was a stranger to Hollywood and had arrived from England, along with Laurence Olivier [he scheduled to play the leading role in Hitchcock’s “Rebecca”]. Only a few weeks after she was signed, principal photography of “Gone With the Wind” began in late January 1939. It was not completed until November [although the burning of Atlanta sequence was filmed previously on Selznick’s backlot in Culver City, December 1938, with images of the characters Rhett and Scarlett filmed only in long-shot]. The atmosphere on the set of “Gone With the Wind” was almost partylike. Everyone was so thrilled to be part of this huge production, this most publicized picture of all time. The film was a super-production, but it would be wrong to say that I knew back then it would become the classic it has become. But David O. Selznick really was a perfectionist, looking after every detail, with endless costume fittings, rehearsal after rehearsal—he even imported red dust from Georgia to stain our shoes and skirts. For my part, I worked with all three directors [first George Cukor, then Victor Fleming—assigned in February 1939—and when he suffered a nervous breakdown in April, out for two weeks, he was replaced temporarily by Sam Wood].

And so “Gone With the Wind” paved the way to Columbia studios?

Yes. Subsequently, I was introduced to Harry Cohn [Columbia’s studio head], and he offered me a seven-year contract, beginning at $150 a week. My first film at Columbia, the ‘Gower Street empire’ as I used to call it, was “The Lady in Question” [1940], directed by my husband-to-be [from 1944 and Hungarian-born Charles Vidor]. I played Brian Aherne’s daughter and the sister of Glenn Ford in one of his early roles, and it was followed by a few extremely well-done B films such as “Before I Hang” [1940] with Boris Karloff and “Face Behind the Mask” [1941] starring Peter Lorre. I played a blind girl, but it wasn’t until “Here Comes Mr. Jordan” [1941, a hilarious and beguiling fantasy-comedy masterpiece with a boxing subplot] that I was recognized. I played the part of Bette Logan [reprised by Julie Christie in Warren Beatty’s 1978 remake “Heaven Can Wait”], the girl that Robert Montgomery falls in love with.

Variety wrote in its July 30, 1941, review that ‘Miss Keyes displays plenty of charm, personality and ability as the girl, and the role will get her both audience and critical attention.’ And it did?

Yes, it did, but off-screen, the collaboration with Robert Montgomery was much inferior, though. Yet it did not show in our performances. We hardly spoke, and he didn’t have any sense of humor. When shooting was finished, we had to pose together for an entire day for the still photographs. So there we were—hugging, smiling, and kissing in front of the camera, and he didn’t say one single word to me.

You then appeared in a variety of films, from the melodrama “Ladies in Retirement” [1941], the whodunit comedy murder mystery “Nine Girls” [1944] to the upbeat musical “The Thrill of Brazil” [1946, remake of “The Front Page”] which proved you were an astonishing comedienne. Yet “The Jolson Story” [1946] was your highlight at Columbia?

That’s right. At the time, the film was one of several musical biographical pictures dealing with still-living personalities; this one focused on the career of [singer, actor, and entertainer] Al Jolson [1886-1950], star of the first talking picture “The Jazz Singer” [1927]. I portrayed his third wife, actress Ruby Keeler [1910-1993, in the film she is referred to as Julie Benson since Miss Keeler didn’t allow her name to be used in the film]. “The Jolson Story” was an honest and intelligent depiction of his life and career, also because of Larry Parks’ wonderful performance [he was personally coached by Jolson himself]. It was high on the Columbia agenda; it was a Technicolor biggie that would push Larry and me farther up the ladder of fame and fortune. I had told Harry Cohn I could tap dance like Ruby Keeler, so couldn’t I play the part? Anyway, he tested one girl after another until I got my chance, and he told me, ‘I’m going to make you a very big star.’ And he did. While Larry Parks was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Actor, I became the No. 1 Star of Tomorrow—although I had been in pictures for nearly a decade.

“The Jolson Story” (1946, trailer)

“Johnny O’Clock” (1947), Robert Rossen’s first directorial job, became another highlight in your career? Voted as the No. 1 Star of Tomorrow, you definitely ranked as one of Columbia’s most reliable leading ladies.

Dick Powell played an honest gambler in trouble; I was his girlfriend. But it was really my next film, “The Mating of Millie” [1948], that I couldn’t turn down. A lively, bright, and funny comedy, I played Millie, a businesswoman who wanted to adopt an orphan child, but to do so, I had to get a husband first. And for that, Glenn Ford had to help me out [their fourth of five films together]. Later on, we reprised our roles in a Lux Radio Theatre broadcast in 1949.

Meanwhile, you had married John Huston at the time when he made some of his best films.

A few years earlier, I attended a party at the Beverly Hills house of Sir Charles Mendl’s, a British diplomat. At the dinner table, Errol Flynn and John Huston were sitting at either side of me. Previously, both had had a fistfight in David O. Selznick’s garden, reportedly over Olivia de Havilland. I’ll never know why Sir Charles had them seated so near to each other, with me in the middle, but they were very civilized that evening—talking to me and ignoring each other. That’s when I first met him. We got married in 1946 [divorced in 1950]. I accompanied him on location for “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre” [1948], where the Bogarts [Humphrey Bogart and his wife Lauren Bacall] spent a lot of time together. During shooting, Betty Bacall and I hung around on the set, went shopping, or were sunbathing near the swimming pool. I really liked Betty, I liked the way she looked, and I envied Bogart’s devotion to her. She used to call John ‘The Monster.’ All of his friends did—with affection, of course. We had a wonderful time; practical jokes were a part of the Huston-Bogart circle. Sometimes they were very witty, sometimes just plain foolish [laughs], but always designed to relieve the tension of their work. If you took yourself too seriously, or you showed your weakness, that was reason enough for them to bring their mockery upon your head. I also loved the company of my father-in-law Walter Huston. Wonderful Walter; he always was the most amusing, concerning, and peaceful man.

Life seemed perfect, but when the House Un-American Activities Committee had turned their heads towards Hollywood, and saw indications of communism in films as “Kitty Foyle” [1940], “Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo” [1944], and “Murder, My Sweet” [1944], your husband reacted?

John was very courageous; he decided to fight back. With [director] William Wyler, [actor] Alexander Knox, and [writer] Philip Dunne, he created the Committee for the First Amendment, referring to the First Amendment that guaranteed freedom of speech. I was with him all the way. After all, what was wrong with having another political party? That’s what Republicans and Democrats are about to this day; they don’t agree with each others’ thinking, but isn’t that the principle of having different parties? And back then, communism was just one more, and if anything was voted in, then so be it. It’s as simple as that.

A lot of artists joined you, and a plane to Washington was chartered?

Yes, and they made us look like children who wanted to interfere with adult problems. It was an awful time—I wrote it all in my autobiography. It didn’t take too long before our Committee for the First Amendment was labeled as a Communist Front Organization; it left a permanent scar on all of us, but on top of that, several lives, careers, and families were destroyed. Like the career of my dear friend Larry Parks, it was over for him [he was never officially blacklisted, but Columbia terminated his contract, and no other studio offered him anything].

Do you think you should ever have earned an Academy Award nomination? Variety described your performance in “Mrs. Mike” in its film review of December 12, 1949, as a ‘portrayal that has excellent emotional depth and just the right touch of humor.’ So maybe for “Mrs. Mike”?

If so, maybe for the title role in “Mrs. Mike” [1949]: it was a [highly entertaining] drama based on the real-life adventures of Katharine May Flannigan as written in the 1947 novel by Benedict and Nancy Freedman. I played a Boston girl who marries a mountie [Dick Powell] and undergoes the hardships of the rough, rural life of the frozen Canadian northwestern wilderness, only to experience an ongoing series of tragedies

After your days at Columbia, you worked as a free-lance actress, signing contracts at your own convenience. Joseph Losey’s “The Prowler” [1951] became of your first films. How did that turn out?

Very well. It was written by Dalton Trumbo, but I wasn’t aware of that. He was blacklisted and out of sight. So [producer] Sam Spiegel had to credit another name on the screen; otherwise, the film wouldn’t be released. For director Joseph Losey, who directed it so beautifully, it was his last picture in Hollywood [he too was on the blacklist, after being identified by a witness as a former Communist; unable to find work in the U.S., he then settled in England, and made British and European co-productions until the mid-80s].

You always speak very highly of Billy Wilder, who directed “The Seven Year Itch” [1955] starring Marilyn Monroe, with you playing Tom Ewell’s vacationing wife.

He was a superb director, and it was nice to see Marilyn Monroe again. I had often met her at Sam Spiegel’s, but I never really knew what the camera picked up, or what the audience saw in her to make her such a big star. Maybe I just looked with different eyes. To me, she was just another blonde with a perfect figure and a funny walk. But she turned out to be a wonderful actress.

West Hollywood, California
March 4, 2003

+ Miss Keyes passed away on July 4, 2008, in Montecito, California, at age 91.

“The Seven Year Itch” (1955, trailer)

FILMS

THE BUCCANEER (Paramount, 1938) DIR – PROD Cecil B. DeMille SCR Harold Lamb, Edwin Justus Mayer, C. Gardner Sullivan (adaptation by Jeanie MacPherson; novel ‘Lafitte the Pirate’ by Lyle Saxon) CAST Fredric March, Franciska Gaal, Akim Tamiroff, Walter Brennam, Beulah Bondi, Anthony Quinn, Evelyn Keyes (Madeleine)

DANGEROUS TO KNOW (Paramount, 1938) DIR Robert Florey SCR William R. Lipman, Horace McCoy (play ‘On the Spot’ by Edgar Wallace) CAST Anna Mae Wong, Akim Tamiroff, Gail Patrick, Anthony Quinn, Evelyn Keyes (uncredited)

ARTISTS AND MODELS ABROAD (Paramount, 1938) DIR Mitchell Leisen PROD Arthur Hornblow, Jr. SCR Ken Englund, Howard Lindsay, Russel Crouse (story by Howard Lindsay, Russel Crouse, idea by J. P. McEvoy) CAST Jack Benny, Joan Bennett, Mary Boland, Charles Grapewin, Evelyn Keyes (uncredited)

SONS OF THE LEGION (Paramount, 1938) DIR James P. Hogan PROD Stuart Walker SCR Lillie Hayward, Robert F. McGowan, Lewis R. Foster (story by Lewis R. Foster) CAST Lynne Overman, Evelyn Keyes (Linda Lee), Tim Holt, Billy Lee, Billy Cook, Elizabeth Patterson, Donald O’Connor

MEN WITH WINGS (Paramount, 1939) DIR – PROD William A. Wellman SCR Robert Carson CAST Fred MacMurray, Ray Milland, Louise Campbell, Andy Devine, Lynne Overman, Donald O’Connor, Evelyn Keyes (Nurse), Joan Brodel

PARIS HONEYMOON (Paramount, 1939) DIR Frank Tuttle PROD Harlan Thompson SCR Frank Butler, Don Hartman (story by Angela Sherwood) CAST: Bing Crosby, Franciska Gaal, Shirley Ross, Akim Tamiroff, Edward Everett Horton, Evelyn Keyes (uncredited)

UNION PACIFIC (Paramount, 1939) DIR – PROD Cecil B. DeMille SCR Jesse L. Lasky, Jr., C. Gardner Sullivan, Walter DeLeon (adaptation by Jack Cunningham, novel ‘Trouble Shooter’ by Ernest Haycox) CAST Barbara Stanwyck, Joel McCrea, Akim Tamiroff, Robert Preston, Lynne Overman, Brian Donlevy, Anthony Quinn, Evelyn Keyes (Mrs. Calvin)

GONE WITH THE WIND (MGM, 1939) DIR Victor Fleming PROD David O. Selznick SCR Sidney Howard (novel by Margaret Mitchell) CAST Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Leslie Howard, Olivia de Havilland, Thomas Mitchell, Barbara O’Neil, Evelyn Keyes (Suellen O’Hara), Ann Rutherford, Hattie McDaniel

SLIGHTLY HONORABLE (1940) DIR – PROD Tay Garnett SCR Ken Englund (novel ‘Send Another Coffin’ by F. G. Presnell) CAST Pat O’Brien, Edward Arnold, Broderick Crawford, Ruth Terry, Eve Arden, Evelyn Keyes (Miss Vlissingen)

THE LADY IN QUESTION (Columbia, 1940) DIR Charles Vidor PROD B. B. Kahane SCR Lewis Meltzer (screenplay of GIBROUILLE [France, 1937], adaptation by H. G. Lustig, story by Marcel Archard) CAST Brian Aherne, Rita Hayworth, Glenn Ford, Irene Rich, George Coulouris, Evelyn Keyes (Françoise Morestan)

BEYOND SACRAMENTO (Columbia, 1940) DIR Lambert Hillyer Prod Leon Barsha SCR Luci Ward CAST Bill Elliott, Evelyn Keyes (Lynn Perry), Bud Taylor, John Dilson, Bradley Page, Frank LaRue

BEFORE I HANG (Columbia, 1940) DIR Nick Grinde PROD Wallace MacDonald SCR Robert D. Andrews (story by Robert D. Andrews, Karl Brown) CAST Boris Karloff, Evelyn Keyes (Martha Garth), Bruce Bennett, Edward Van Sloan, Ben Taggart

THE FACE BEHIND THE MASK (Columbia, 1941) DIR Robert Florey PROD Wallace MacDonald SCR Paul Jarrico, Allen Vincent (radio play ‘Interim’ by Thomas Edward O’Connell, story by Arthur Levinson) CAST Peter Lorre, Evelyn Keyes (Helen Williams), Don Beddoe, George E. Stone, James Seay

HERE COMES MR. JORDAN (Columbia, 1941) DIR Alexander Hall PROD Everett Riskin SCR Seton I. Miller, Sidney Buchman (play ‘Heaven Can Wait’ by Harry Segall) CAST Robert Montgomery, Evelyn Keyes (Bette Logan), Claude Rains, Rita Johnson, Edward Everett Horton, James Gleason

LADIES IN RETIREMENT (Columbia, 1941) DIR Charles Vidor PROD Lester Cowan SCR Reginald Denhem, Garrett Fort (play by Reginald Denham, Edward Percy) CAST Ida Lupino, Louis Hayward, Evelyn Keyes (Lucy), Elsa Lanchester, Edith Barrett

THE ADVENTURES OF MARTIN EDEN (Columbia, 1942) DIR Sidney Salkow PROD B. P. Schulberg SCR W. L. River (novel by Jack London) CAST Glenn Ford, Claire Trevor, Evelyn Keyes (Ruth Morley), Stuart Erwin, Dickie Moore, Iain MacDonald

THE DESPERADOES (Columbia, 1943) DIR Charles Vidor PROD Harry Joe Brown SCR Robert Carson (story by Max Brand) CAST Randolph Scott, Glenn Ford, Claire Trevor, Evelyn Keyes (Allison McLeod), Edgar Buchanan, Raymond Walburn

DANGEROUS BLONDES (Columbia, 1943) DIR Leigh Jason PROD Samuel Bischoff SCR Richard Flournoy, Jack Henley (novel ‘If the Shroud Fits’ by Kelley Roos) CAST Allyn Joslyn, Evelyn Keyes (Jane Craig), Edmund Lowe, John Hubbard, Anita Louise, Frank Craven, Ann Savage

THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT A SOLDIER (Columbia, 1943) DIR Alfred E. Green PROD Samuel Bischoff SCR Barry Trivers, Horace McCoy CAST Tom Neal, Evelyn Keyes (Carol Harkness), Bruce Bennett, John Hubbard, Jeff Donnell

NINE GIRLS (Columbia, 1944) DIR Leigh Jason PROD Burt Kelly SCR Karen DeWolf, Connie Lee (adaptation by Al Martin, play by Wilfrid H. Pettitt) CAST Ann Harding, Evelyn Keyes (Mary O’Ryan), Jinx Falkenburg, Anita Louise, Leslie Brooks, Lynn Merrick, Jeff Donnell

STRANGE AFFAIR (Columbia, 1944) DIR Alfred E. Green PROD Burt Kelly SCR Oscar Saul, Eve Greene, Jerome Odlum (story by Oscar Saul) CAST Allyn Joslyn, Evelyn Keyes (Jacqueline Harrison), Marguerite Chapman, Edgar Buchanan, Nina Foch, Hugo Haas

A THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS (Columbia, 1945) DIR Alfred E. Green PROD Samuel Bischoff SCR Wilfrid H. Pettitt, Richard English, Jack Henley (story by Wilfrid H. Pettitt) CAST Cornel Wilde, Evelyn Keyes (The Genie), Phil Silvers, Adele Jergens, Dusty Anderson, Shelley Winters

RENEGADES (Columbia, 1946) DIR George Sherman PROD Michael Kraike SCR Francis Edwards Faragoh, Melvyn Levy (story by Harold Shumate) CAST Evelyn Keyes (Hannah Brockway), Willard Parker, Larry Parks, Edgar Buchanan, Forrest Tucker

THE THRILL OF BRAZIL (Columbia, 1946) DIR S. Sylvan Simon PROD Allen Rivkin, Sydney Biddell SCR Allen Rivkin, Harry Clork, Devery Freeman CAST Evelyn Keyes (Vicki Dean), Keenan Wynn, Ann Miller, Allyn Joslyn, Tito Guízar

THE JOLSON STORY (Columbia, 1946) DIR Alfred E. Green PROD Sidney Skolsky SCR Stephen Longstreet (adaptation by Harry Chandlee, Andrew Solt) CAST Larry Parks, Evelyn Keyes (Julie Benson), William Demarest, Bill Goodwin, Ludwig Donath

JOHNNY O’CLOCK (Columbia, 1947) DIR Robert Rossen PROD Edward G. Nealis SCR Robert Rossen (story by Milton Holmes) CAST Dick Powell, Evelyn Keyes (Nancy Hobbs), Lee J. Cobb, Ellen Drew, Nina Foch, Thomas Gomez

THE MATING OF MILLIE (Columbia, 1948) DIR Henry Levin PROD Casey Robinson SCR Louella MacFarlane, St. Clair McKelway (story by Adele Comandini) CAST Glenn Ford, Evelyn Keyes (Millie McGonigle), Ron Randell, Willard Parker, Virginia Hunter, Jimmy Hunt

ENCHANTMENT (RKO, 1948) DIR Irving Reis PROD Samuel Goldwyn SCR John Patrick (novel ‘Take Three Tenses: A Fugue in Time’ by Rumer Godden) CAST David Niven, Teresa Wright, Evelyn Keyes (Grizel Dane), Farley Granger, Jayne Meadows, Leo G. Carroll

MRS. MIKE (United Artists, 1949) DIR Louis King PROD Edward Gross SCR DeWitt Bodeen, Alfred Lewis Levitt (novel ‘Mrs. Mike: The Story of Katherine Mary Flannigan’ by Benedict Freedman, Nancy Freedman) CAST Dick Powell, Evelyn Keyes (Kathy O’Fallon), J. M. Kerrigan, Angela Clarke, John Miljan

SOFT TOUCH (Columbia, 1949) DIR Gordon Douglas, Henry Levine PROD Milton Holmes SCR Orin Jannings (story by Milton Holmes) CAST Glenn Ford, Evelyn Keyes (Jenny Jones), John Ireland, Beulah Bondi, Percy Kilbride, Clara Blandick

THE KILLER THAT STALKED NEW YORK (Columbia, 1950) DIR Earl McEvoy PROD Robert Cohn SCR Harry Essex (article by Milton Lehman) CAST Evelyn Keyes (Sheila Bennet), Charles Corvin, William Bishop, Dorothy Malone, Lola Albright, Barry Kelley

THE PROWLER (United Artists, 1951) DIR Joseph Losey PROD Sam Spiegel SCR Dalton Trumbo, Hugo Butler (story by Robert Thoeren, Hans Wilhelm) CAST Van Heflin, Evelyn Keyes (Susan Gilvray), John Maxwell, Katherine Warren, Emerson Treacy

SMUGGLER’S ISLAND (Universal, 1951) DIR Edward Ludwig PROD Ted Richmond SCR Leonard Lee (adaptation and story by Herbert H. Margolis, Louis Morheim) CAST Jeff Chandler, Evelyn Keyes (Vivian Craig), Philip Friend, Marvin Miller, ‘Ducky’ Louise

IRON MAN (Universal, 1951) DIR Joseph Pevney PROD Aaron Rosenberg SCR Borden Chase, George Zuckerman (novel by W. R. Burnett) CAST Jeff Chandler, Evelyn Keyes (Rose Warren), Stephen McNally, Rock Hudson, Joyce Holden, Jim Backus, James Arness

ONE BIG AFFAIR (United Artists, 1952) DIR Peter Godfrey PROD Benedict Bogeaus SCR Francis Swann, Leo Townsend (story by George Bricker) CAST Evelyn Keyes (Jean Harper), Dennis O’Keefe, Mary Anderson, Connie Gilchrist, Thurston Hall

99 RIVER STREET (United Artists, 1953) DIR Phil Karlson PROD Edward Small SCR Robert Smith (story by George Zuckerman) CAST John Payne, Evelyn Keyes (Linda James), Brad Dexter, Frank Kaylen, Peggie Castle

SHOOT FIRST, a.k.a. ROUGH SHOOT (United Artists, 1953) DIR Robert Parrish PROD Raymond Stross SCR Eric Ambler, Geoffrey Household CAST Joel McCrea, Laurence Naismith, Denis Lehrer, Marius Goring, Evelyn Keyes (Cicely Paine)

C’EST ARRIVÉ À PARIS, a.k.a. IT HAPPENED IN PARIS (1953) DIR – PROD Henri Lavorel SCR Ben Barzman CAST Paul Faivre, Clément Harari, Evelyn Keyes (Patricia Moran), Frédéric O’Brady, Henri Vidal

HELL’S HALF ACRE (Republic, 1954) DIR – PROD John H. Auer SCR Steve Fisher CAST Wendell Corey, Evelyn Keyes (Donna Williams), Elsa Lanchester, Marie Windsor, Nancy Gates, Leonard Strong

THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH (20th Century Fox, 1955) DIR Billy Wilder PROD Billy Wilder, Charles K. Feldman SCR Billy Wilder, George Axelrod (play by George Axelrod) CAST Marilyn Monroe, Tom Ewell, Evelyn Keyes (Helen Sherman), Sonny Tufts, Robert Strauss, Oskar Homolka

TOP OF THE WORLD (United Artists, 1955) DIR Lewis R. Foster PROD Lewis R. Foster, Michael Baird SCR John D. Klorer, N. Richard Nash CAST Dale Robertson, Evelyn Keyes (Virgie Rayne), Frank Lovejoy, Nancy Gates, Paul Fix, Robert Arthur

AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS (United Artists, 1956) DIR Michael Anderson PROD Michael Todd SCR John Farrow, James Poe, S. J. Perelman (novel by Jules Verne) CAST David Niven, Cantinflas, Robert Newton, Shirley MacLaine, Charles Boyer, Martine Carol, Ronald Colman, Marlene Dietrich, Evelyn Keyes (The Flirt), Peter Lorre, Robert Morley, Frank Sinatra

ACROSS 110TH STREET (United Artists, 1972) DIR Barry Shear PROD Ralph Serpe, Fouad Said SCR Luther Davis (novel by Wally Ferris) CAST Anthony Quinn, Yaphet Kotto, Anthony Franciosa, Richard Ward, Evelyn Keyes (Cameo)

RETURN TO SALEM’S LOT (Warner Bros., 1987) DIR Larry Cohen PROD Paul Kurta SCR Larry Cohen, James Dixon (story by Larry Cohen, novel by Stephen King). CAST: Michael Moriarty, Ricky Addison reed, Samuel Fuller, Andrew Duggan, Evelyn Keyes (Mrs. Axel), June Havoc

WICKED STEPMOTHER (MGM, 1989) DIR – SCR Larry Cohen PROD Robert Littman CAST Bette Davis, Colleen Camp, Lionel Stander, Tom Bosley, Barbara Carrera, Evelyn Keyes (Witch Mistress), Seymour Cassel

NOVEL: I Am a Billboard (1971); Lyle Stuart, Secaucus, New Jersey, publisher

AUTOBIOGRAPHY: Scarlett O’Hara’s Younger Sister: My Life In and Out of Hollywood (1977); Dutton, New York, New York, publisher

AUTOBIOGRAPHY: I’ll Think About That Tomorrow (1991); Dutton, New York, New York, publisher