Evelyn Case(1906-2006)
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Evelyn Case was born in San Antonio,
Texas, the daughter of Ellen Herff and Alfred Duerler. Her father was
President of the Gustav A. Duerler Manfuacturing Company, a
confectionery and pecan-shelling business founded by Evelyn's
grandfather. She attended Bonn-Avon School in San Antonio, The Ogontz
School in Philadelphia, and the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. She
began singing in San Antonio before pursuing a singing career in New
York City under the name of Evelyn Case, singing in operas, musicals,
and on numerous radio broadcasts. She appeared in a few film shorts,
notably as the lead in a Roy Mack short, "Projection Room" (1939),
which seems to have also been the first film appearance for a teen-aged
Gower Champion. When "Projection Room" came out, her hometown paper
said it was her fourth film appearance. For several years she was a
featured soloist at Radio City Music Hall. During World War II she
toured the British Isles for the USO. She sang in the first opera
televised by NBC, "La Boheme." In 1951 she married George F. Handel and
the they lived in New York City and spent winters in Boerne, Texas.
After his death she settled in Texas, living at Boerne and San Antonio.
In 1971 she married Henry Stearns, a rancher. She became an ardent
painter, exhibiting and selling landscapes of scenes from around
Boerne. She died December 19, 2006 in San Antonio, survived by her
husband. She had no children. She is buried at Mission Burial Park
(South) in San Antonio, Texas.