Edith Fellows

This is a beta version of NNDB

Edith Fellows

Edith Fellows AKA Edith Marilyn Fellows

Born: 20-May-1923
Birthplace: Boston, MA
Died: 26-Jun-2011
Location of death: Woodland Hills, CA
Cause of death: Natural Causes

Gender: Female
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Actor

Nationality: United States
Executive summary: 1930s child actor

Edith Fellows appeared in dozens of movies as a child actress, including The Rider of Death Valley with Tom Mix and Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch with W. C. Fields, and a series of films based on the Five Little Peppers children's books. Her mother abandoned her shortly after her presumably illegitimate birth, and she was raised by her grandmother, who was widely described as cruel and domineering, and who oversaw the girl's movie career.

In 1936, at the age of 13, Fellows' mother returned, and sued her grandmother for custody. In a scene that sounds like something from a movie, young Edith was put on the stand and asked to choose between her mother and her grandmother. She requested to remain with her grandmother, and said of her mother, "I might be willing to be friends with her if she'd leave me alone, but I'm not used to loving strangers." The court ordered that she remain with her grandmother, who eventually spent virtually all of Fellows' Hollywood earnings, leaving a trust of only $900 for Fellows to claim when she reached legal age.

Husband: Freddie Fields (producer, m. 1946, div. 1955, one daughter)
Daughter: Kathy Fields Lander (b. 1947, married to Squiggy, David L. Lander)
Husband: Hal Lee (management consultant, m. 1962, div.)

FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
The Woo Woo Kid (Sep-1987) · Mrs. Long, Judy's Mother
The Hills Have Eyes Part II (12-Sep-1985)
Stardust on the Sage (25-May-1942) · Judy Drew
Heart of the Rio Grande (11-Mar-1942) · Connie Lane
Five Little Peppers in Trouble (1-Sep-1940) · Polly Pepper
Out West with the Peppers (30-Jun-1940) · Polly Pepper
Five Little Peppers at Home (8-Feb-1940) · Polly Pepper
Music in My Heart (4-Jan-1940)
Pride of the Bluegrass (7-Oct-1939)
Five Little Peppers and How They Grew (22-Aug-1939) · Polly Pepper
Pennies From Heaven (25-Nov-1936) · Patsy Smith
And So They Were Married (10-May-1936) · Brenda Farnham
She Married Her Boss (19-Sep-1935) · Annabel Barclay
Dinky (11-May-1935)
Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch (19-Oct-1934) · Australia Wiggs
Jane Eyre (15-Aug-1934) · Adele Rochester
His Greatest Gamble (18-Jul-1934) · Alice
The Rider of Death Valley (24-Apr-1932) · Betty Joyce

Do you know something we don't?
Submit a correction or make a comment about this profile