Florence Eldridge


Florence Eldridge was an American actress. She was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play in 1957 for her performance in Long Day's Journey into Night.

Early years

The daughter of Charles J. McKechnie, Eldridge was born Florence McKechnie in Brooklyn. She attended public schools, including P.S. 85 and Girls' High School.

Stage

Eldridge made her Broadway debut at age 17 as a chorus member of Rock-a-Bye Baby at the Astor Theatre. The reference book American Theatre: A Chronicle of Comedy and Drama, 1930-1969 noted, "In the 1920s she won major attention in such plays as The Cat and the Canary and Six Characters in Search of an Author."
In 1965, husband Fredric March and she did a world tour under the auspices of the U.S. State Department. Eldridge wrote that they were "experimenting to see if an acting couple doing excerpts from plays on a bare stage could reach and appeal to a worldwide audience."

Personal life

On March 19, 1921, Eldridge married Howard Rumsey, who owned the Empire Theater and the Knickerbocker Players and the Manhattan Players of Rochester. They were wed at her aunt's home in Maplewood, New Jersey.
She was married to Fredric March from 1927 until his death in 1975, and appeared alongside him on stage and in films. Like her husband, she was a liberal Democrat.

Death

She died of a heart attack aged 86. She was buried alongside her husband at the March Estate in New Milford, Connecticut.

Partial credits

Stage