Mary Caswell Orr (December , â€" September , ) was an American
actress and author whose short story "The Wisdom of Eve", published in
the May issue of Cosmopolitan, was the basis of the Academy
Award-winning film All About Eve (). In private life, Orr used her
married name, Mary Orr Denham.Orr was born in Brooklyn, New York. She
and her family relocated to Canton, Ohio when she was a girl. She
studied at Syracuse University and the American Academy of Dramatic
Arts in Manhattan.According to Orr’s obituary in the New York Times,
"The Wisdom of Eve" was loosely based upon an unnamed woman who had
been the secretary of Viennese actress Elisabeth Bergner. Orr wrote a
radio adaptation that aired on NBC in , and that led to the movie
being made. While she did not receive screen credit for All About Eve
(she had sold the story to Twentieth Century Fox for $,), she did
receive a Screen Writers Guild award for her original story. An
alternative hypothesis to the Martina Lawrence-Elizabeth Bergner
origin was the rivalry between Tallulah Bankhead and Lizabeth Scott
(her understudy) during the production of Thornton Wilder's The Skin
of Our Teeth. Broadway legend had it that Bankhead was being
victimized by Scott, who was supposedly the real-life Eve
Harrington.In , Orr and her husband, director-playwright Reginald
Denham, adapted the short story into a play of the same name, which
was produced off-Broadway in . In , a hit Broadway musical, Applause,
was based on All About Eve and gave a credit to Mary Orr for the
original story. She wrote a sequel to "The Wisdom of Eve" titled "More
About Eve", which was published in Cosmopolitan in July .
actress and author whose short story "The Wisdom of Eve", published in
the May issue of Cosmopolitan, was the basis of the Academy
Award-winning film All About Eve (). In private life, Orr used her
married name, Mary Orr Denham.Orr was born in Brooklyn, New York. She
and her family relocated to Canton, Ohio when she was a girl. She
studied at Syracuse University and the American Academy of Dramatic
Arts in Manhattan.According to Orr’s obituary in the New York Times,
"The Wisdom of Eve" was loosely based upon an unnamed woman who had
been the secretary of Viennese actress Elisabeth Bergner. Orr wrote a
radio adaptation that aired on NBC in , and that led to the movie
being made. While she did not receive screen credit for All About Eve
(she had sold the story to Twentieth Century Fox for $,), she did
receive a Screen Writers Guild award for her original story. An
alternative hypothesis to the Martina Lawrence-Elizabeth Bergner
origin was the rivalry between Tallulah Bankhead and Lizabeth Scott
(her understudy) during the production of Thornton Wilder's The Skin
of Our Teeth. Broadway legend had it that Bankhead was being
victimized by Scott, who was supposedly the real-life Eve
Harrington.In , Orr and her husband, director-playwright Reginald
Denham, adapted the short story into a play of the same name, which
was produced off-Broadway in . In , a hit Broadway musical, Applause,
was based on All About Eve and gave a credit to Mary Orr for the
original story. She wrote a sequel to "The Wisdom of Eve" titled "More
About Eve", which was published in Cosmopolitan in July .
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