| Margot Stevenson | |
| Birth Name: | Margaret Helen Stevenson |
| Birth Date: | February 8, 1912 |
| Birth Place: | New York City, U.S. |
| Death Place: | New York City, U.S. |
| Occupation: | Actress |
| Years Active: | 1934–1983 |
| Children: | 1 |
Margaret Helen Stevenson (February 8, 1912 – January 2, 2011) was an American film, stage and radio actress, known for her role as Margo Lane in the radio adaptation of The Shadow, opposite Orson Welles in 1938.[1] [2]
Stevenson was born in Manhattan on February 8, 1912, the daughter of Irish-born actor Charles Alexander Stevenson, who was 60 years old when she was born, and his second wife Frances Riley, who was 22 years old at the time. She graduated from Brearley School in Manhattan. Stevenson was about to enroll at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania, when the Great Depression began. She decided to pursue acting to earn an income instead of attending Bryn Mawr.
Stevenson made her Broadway debut in The Firebird in 1932. Her other Broadway credits included The Royal Family (1975), Hostile Witness (1966), One by One (1964), Big Fish, Little Fish (1961), Triple Play (1959), The Young and Beautiful (1955), The Leading Lady (1948), The Rugged Path (1945), Little Women (1944), Golden Wings (1941), You Can't Take It With You (1936), Stage Door (1936), Call It a Day (1936), Truly Valiant (1936), Symphony (1935), The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1935), A Party (1933), and Evensong (1933).[3] She also acted in a West End production of The Seven Year Itch in London in the 1950s in addition to performing frequently in summer stock theatre and regional theater in the United States.[4]
In addition to her work on The Shadow, Stevenson acted on Aunt Jenny's Real Life Stories on old-time radio.[5] She also acted on television and for more than a decade did TV commercials.[6]
Her second husband, Val Avery, whom she married in 1953,[7] died on December 12, 2009, at age eighty-five.[8]
By the late 1990s, Stevenson was blind as a result of macular degeneration. She died at her home in Manhattan on January 2, 2011, at the age of 98.
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1934 | Come to Dinner | Miss Jurgen - Oliver's Daughter | Short film | |
| 1939 | Smashing the Money Ring | Peggy | ||
| 1939 | Invisible Stripes | Sue | ||
| 1940 | Calling Philo Vance | Hilda Lake | ||
| 1940 | Granny Get Your Gun | Julie Westcott | ||
| 1940 | Castle on the Hudson | Ann Rockford | ||
| 1940 | Saturday's Children | Mrs. MacReady (voice) | Uncredited | |
| 1940 | Flight Angels | Rita | ||
| 1967 | Valley of the Dolls | Anne's Mother | Uncredited | |
| 1968 | The Brotherhood | Uncredited | ||
| 1970 | Rabbit, Run | Mrs. Tothero | ||
| 1979 | Going in Style | Store Cashier |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1954 | Douglas Fairbanks Presents | Myra | Episode: "Myra and the Moneyman" | |
| 1954 | Macbeth | Lady Macduff | Television film | |
| 1954–1955 | The Philco Television Playhouse | Mary Venner | 2 episodes | |
| 1965 | Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea | Betty | Episode: "Escape from Venice" | |
| 1983 | How to Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days | Old Lady | Television film |