Florence Eldridge

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title: "Florence Eldridge" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1901-births", "1988-deaths", "american-film-actresses", "american-radio-actresses", "american-stage-actresses", "actresses-from-brooklyn", "actresses-from-long-beach,-california", "20th-century-american-actresses", "girls'-high-school-(brooklyn)-alumni", "women's-international-democratic-federation-people"] description: "American actress (1901–1988)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Eldridge" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American actress (1901–1988) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

Field	Value
name	Florence Eldridge
image	Florence-Eldridge-1922.jpg
caption	Florence Eldridge in 1922
birthname	Florence McKechnie
birth_date
birth_place	Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
death_date
death_place	Long Beach, California, U.S.
occupation	Actress
yearsactive	1918–1978
spouse	Howard Rumsey
(m. 1921; div. 192?)

| | children | 2 | ::

| name = Florence Eldridge | image =Florence-Eldridge-1922.jpg | caption =Florence Eldridge in 1922 | birthname = Florence McKechnie | birth_date = | birth_place = Brooklyn, New York, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = Long Beach, California, U.S. | occupation = Actress | yearsactive = 1918–1978 | spouse = Howard Rumsey (m. 1921; div. 192?)

| children = 2

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-2008-0617-502,_Ehepaare_March,_Prinz_zu_Löwenstein.jpg" caption="Left to right: Fredric March with his wife Florence Eldridge, Helga Maria zu Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg (born Schuylenburg) with husband [[Hubertus Prinz zu Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg]] at the Premiere of ''[[Anthony Adverse]]'' on 29 July 1936 in Los Angeles."] ::

Florence Eldridge (born Florence McKechnie, September 5, 1901 – August 1, 1988) 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

Eldridge was born Florence McKechnie in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of Charles J. McKechnie. 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, she and her husband Fredric March 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 (both in Syracuse) and the Manhattan Players of Rochester. They were wed at her aunt's home in Maplewood, New Jersey.

In 1926, Eldridge was the leading lady in the summer stock cast at Elitch Theatre, and the leading man was Fredric March. They fell in love and were married in 1927. They remained married until his death in 1975, and she appeared alongside him on stage and in seven films. They adopted two children, Penelope and Anthony. Like her husband, she was a liberal Democrat.

Partial credits

Stage

• The Cat and the Canary
• Six Characters in Search of an Author
• An Enemy of the People
• Long Day's Journey Into Night
• The Skin of Our Teeth
• The Autumn Garden

Screen

• Six Cylinder Love (1923) as Marilyn Sterling
• The Studio Murder Mystery (1929) as Blanche Hardell
• The Greene Murder Case (1929) as Sibella Greene
• Charming Sinners (1929) as Helen Carr
• The Divorcee (1930) as Helen
• The Matrimonial Bed (1930) as Juliet Corton
• Thirteen Women (1932) as Grace Coombs
• The Great Jasper (1933) as Jenny Horn
• Dangerously Yours (1933) as Jo Horton
• The Story of Temple Drake (1933) as Ruby Lemarr
• A Modern Hero (1934) as Leah Ernst
• Les Misérables (1935) as Fantine
• Mary of Scotland (1936) as Elizabeth Tudor
• Another Part of the Forest (1948) as Lavinia Hubbard
• An Act of Murder (1948) as Catherine Cooke
• Christopher Columbus (1949) as Queen Isabella
• Inherit the Wind (1960) as Sarah Brady

Radio appearances

::data[format=table]

Year	Program	Episode/source
1953	Star Playhouse	There Shall Be No Night
::

References

References

1. (2011). "Historical Dictionary of Contemporary American Theater: 1930-2010". Scarecrow Press.
2. "("Florence Eldridge" search results)".
3. (December 31, 1918). "'Seven Days' Leave' Thrills at Majestic". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle.
4. (December 1, 1946). "Fredric March and Florence Eldridge Play Real Parents".
5. (1996). "American Theatre: A Chronicle of Comedy and Drama, 1930-1969". Oxford University Press, USA.
6. (June 27, 1965). "March, Eldridge Conduct Great Cultural Experiment". Morning World.
7. (April 2, 1921). "Florence McKechnie Weds H. Rumsey, Theatrical Man". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle.
8. "Fredric March Theatre Naming — UW Oshkosh Archives".
9. "Fredric March (1926) – Historic Elitch Theatre".
10. (2003). "Enter the Players: New York Stage Actors in the Twentieth Century". Scarecrow Press.
11. Pryor, Thomas M.. (July 6, 1960). "Film Reviews: Inherit the Wind".
12. (August 3, 1988). "Florence Eldridge, 86, Actress on Stage and Screen - The New York Times". The New York Times.
13. Roland, Zelda. (28 April 2016). "A Socialist's Campaign for California Governor, And the Dirty Hollywood Politics That Sunk It".
14. (November 29, 1953). "Better Radio Programs for the Week". The Decatur Daily Review.

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