Evalyn Knapp

Evalyn Knapp

in 1934
Born Evelyn Pauline Knapp
(1906-06-17)June 17, 1906
Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.
Died June 12, 1981(1981-06-12) (aged 74)[1]
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation Actress
Years active 1929 –1943
Spouse(s) Dr. George A. Snyder (1934–1977; his death)

Evalyn Knapp (June 17, 1906 – June 12, 1981) was an American film actress of the late 1920s, 1930s and into the 1940s. She was a leading B-movie serial actress in the 1930s. She was the younger sister of the orchestra leader Orville Knapp (1904-1936).

Life and career

Knapp was born in 1906 in Kansas City, Missouri, as Evelyn Pauline Knapp. She started acting in silent films, her first role being in the 1929 film, At The Dentist's. She was cast as leading lady in Smart Money in 1931, the only film starring both Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney. In 1932, Knapp was one of fourteen girls, along with Ginger Rogers and Gloria Stuart, selected as "WAMPAS Baby Stars".[2]

Knapp achieved success in cliffhanger serials, which were popular at the time. She played the title character in the 1933 serial The Perils of Pauline. She also played in Corruption that year opposite Preston Foster. One of her better known film roles was opposite Ken Maynard in the 1934 film In Old Santa Fe.[3]

She worked through 1941, but her career slowed afterward. In 1943, she played her last role, uncredited, in Two Weeks To Live, one of the Lum and Abner films starring Chester Lauck and Norris Goff.[3]

Personal life

In 1931 Evalyn Knapp spent several months in the hospital after she fell from a cliff during a hike with her brother, Orville Knapp. Several vertebrae were fractured and it was necessary for her to learn to walk again, step by step.

Her brother, orchestra Leader, Orville Knapp, died in a plane crash in 1936, He was 32 years old. Her brother was married to film actress Gloria Grafton (1909-1994).

She married a physician, Dr. George A. Snyder, in 1934. Dr Snyder gave her a yacht as a wedding gift and she became one of Hollywood's leading yachtswomen and a big game fisher woman.

Following her retirement, she concentrated on her family. She and Snyder remained married until his death in 1977. Knapp died from undisclosed causes on June 12, 1981, five days before her 75th birthday, in Los Angeles, California.[3]

Partial filmography

References

  1. ↑ Knapp was born in 1906, not 1908, as has been misreported, according to the Social Security Death Index under the name Evelyn Snyder. Also a search of the 1930 United States census by name shows that Pauline Knapp, as she was then calling herself, was born "around 1907". As the census began on April 1, and Knapp's birthday was not until June, this also supports the 1906 birth year. However the Social Security Death Index info (above) is more dispositive of the matter.
  2. ↑ "Here They Are Together - Hollywood's Baby Stars". Santa Cruz Sentinel. Associated Press. December 24, 1932 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. 1 2 3 Evalyn Knapp at the Internet Movie Database
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