Edith Fellows
Biography
Edith Fellows was born on May 20, 1923, in Boston, Massachusetts. When she was a year old, she and her father and grandmother moved to Charlotte, North Carolina. As a toddler, Edith was pigeon-toed and had trouble walking, and one doctor suggested that dance lessons might cure this condition. At age four, Edith entered Henderson's School of Dance, where she was spotted by a man claiming to be a talent scout, who told her grandmother that he could get Edith into show business for a fifty-dollar fee. The dance school raised the money, but when Edith and her grandmother arrived in Hollywood, they discovered that the address the man had given them did not exist, and they realized he was a fraud. Stranded in Hollywood with no means to return to North Carolina, Edith's grandmother began doing housework to earn a living. While she worked, she left Edith with a neighbor and her young son. One day Edith was taken along when the neighbor's son had an audition for the film Movie Night (1929), and she ended up getting the part. Although she never become a child star, Edith appeared in many popular films of the 1930s, most notably Pennies from Heaven (1936). She also proved herself to be a very versatile actress, playing roles ranging from a spoiled rich girl, as in Heart of the Rio Grande (1942), to a poor orphan girl, as in Pennies from Heaven. Edith was even given her own series, The Five Little Peppers, while under contract to Columbia, and she made four of the Pepper films (the first was Five Little Peppers and How They Grew (1939)) in two years. Between 1929 and 1954, Edith appeared in some fifty films, mostly in juvenile roles due to her short 4' 10" stature. But her career suddenly slowed down in the mid-1950s. Between 1955 and 1980, she appeared in only one film, Lilith (1964), in which she had a bit part. During this time, Edith chose to focus on her family life; she had married producer Freddie Fields in 1946, and their only child, daughter Kathy, was born in 1947. But Edith and Fields divorced in 1955, and the end of her marriage, coupled with other factors, caused Edith to have a nervous breakdown. She recovered, and in 1981, she returned to acting in numerous supporting roles on television. In 1985, fellow former child actor Jackie Cooper announced plans to make a TV movie based on Edith's life, but this project never happened.
Known For
ER
1994
St. Elsewhere
1982
Cagney & Lacey
1982
The Brady Brides
1981
The Hills Have Eyes Part 2
1985
Lilith
1964
The Private Navy of Sgt. O'Farrell
1968
She Married Her Boss
1935
Five Little Peppers in Trouble
1940
In the Mood
1987
Cimarron
1931
Music in My Heart
1940
Filmography
ER
as Sadie Hubbell · 1994
St. Elsewhere
as Mrs. Sabin · 1982
Cagney & Lacey
as Mrs. Isbecki · 1982
The Brady Brides
· 1981
The Hills Have Eyes Part 2
as Mrs. Wilson · 1985
Lilith
as Patient (uncredited) · 1964
The Private Navy of Sgt. O'Farrell
as Self (clip from "Pennies from Heaven") · 1968
She Married Her Boss
as Annabel Barclay · 1935
Five Little Peppers in Trouble
as Polly Pepper · 1940
In the Mood
as Mrs. Long, Judy's Mother · 1987
Cimarron
as (uncredited) · 1931
Music in My Heart
as Mary O'Malley · 1940
Movie Night
as Daughter · 1929
Tugboat Princess
as 'Princess' Judy · 1936
Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch
as Australia Wiggs · 1934
Five Little Peppers at Home
as Polly Pepper · 1940
This Side of Heaven
as Felicia - Minister's Daughter (uncredited) · 1934
Pride of the Blue Grass
as Midge Griner · 1939
Life Begins with Love
as Dodie Martin · 1937
City Streets
as Winnie Brady · 1938
And So They Were Married
as Brenda Farnham · 1936
Out West with the Peppers
as Polly Pepper · 1940
Pennies from Heaven
as Patsy Smith · 1936
The Penguin Pool Murder
as Little Girl at Aquarium (uncredited) · 1932
The Keeper of the Bees
as Jean Marie Meredith / Little Scout · 1935
Grace Kelly
as Edith Head · 1983
Five Little Peppers And How They Grew
as Polly Pepper · 1939
Divorce In The Family
as Little Girl with Kite · 1932
Cross Streets
as Little Sister · 1934
Heart of the Rio Grande
as Connie Lane · 1942
Emma
as Gypsy as a Child (uncredited) · 1932
Two Alone
as Rogers' Daughter (uncredited) · 1934
Huckleberry Finn
as Schoolgirl (uncredited) · 1931
Between Two Brothers
as Victim's Wife · 1982
The Rider of Death Valley
as Betty Joyce · 1932
Jane Eyre
as Adele Rochester · 1934
Her First Beau
as Milly Lou · 1941
Hedda Hopper's Hollywood No. 4
as Self · 1942
Hollywood’s Children
as Self · 1982
His Greatest Gamble
as Alice (as a child) · 1934
Stardust on the Sage
as Judy Drew · 1942
Alan Ladd: The True Quiet Man
as Self · 1999
Kid Millions
as Little Girl in Ice Cream Number (uncredited) · 1934
One Way Ticket
as Ellen · 1935
Dinky
as Sally · 1935
Madame X
as Child at Puppet Show (uncredited) · 1929
Her First Romance
as Linda Strong · 1940
Second Hand Kisses
as Orphan girl · 1931
Little Miss Roughneck
as Foxine LaRue · 1938
Daddy Long Legs
as Orphan (uncredited) · 1931
Mush and Milk
as Edith · 1933
Nobody's Children
as Pat · 1940
Girls' Town
as Sue Norman · 1942
Law and Lawless
as Betty Kelley · 1932
Shivering Shakespeare
as Girls Scared of Elephant · 1930
Criminal Investigator
as Ellen · 1942
The Little Adventuress
as Pinky Horton · 1938
Birthday Blues
as Girl with String in Mouth · 1932