Evans Evans

Evans Evans
Evans in Window on Main Street (1962)
Born
Evans White Greenstreet

(1932-11-26)November 26, 1932
Bluefield, West Virginia, U.S.
DiedJune 16, 2024(2024-06-16) (aged 91)
Sherman Oaks, California, U.S.
EducationSt. Anne's-Belfield School
Randolph-Macon Women's College
Yale Drama School
OccupationActress
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1963; died 2002)​

Evans Evans (born Evans White Greenstreet; November 26, 1932 – June 16, 2024) was an American actress who played the character Velma Davis in the 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde.

Early life and career

Born Evans White Greenstreet on November 26, 1932 in Bluefield, West Virginia,[1][2][3][4][5] she was the daughter of Clyde Elmo Greenstreet and Eleanor "Billie" Evans.[6] Following her parents' divorce in the winter of 1937,[3][4] Evans' formative years were divided between boarding school–St. Anne's-Belfield School–and summers spent in Bluefield with her maternal grandparents, Eleanor and John Clark Evans[2][7] In 1948, her mother married James Rufus Richardson.[8][9] Evans later attended Randolph-Macon Women's College and Yale Drama School, graduating in 1957.[6]

Evans appeared in more than 25 feature film and television projects, including the 1961 Twilight Zone episode "A Hundred Yards Over the Rim", the 1961 Gunsmoke episode “Harpe’s Blood”, the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode "The Big Score", The Alfred Hitchcock Hour episode "I Saw the Whole Thing" as Penny Sanford (1962),[10] as well as Wagon Train episode “The Hollister John Garrison Story” as Melody Drake (1963), Virginian episode "Strangers at Sundown" as Phyllis Carter (1963), and, in the short-lived Richard Egan series Redigo, as Hope in "Man in a Blackout" (1963).[11]

Evans appeared as Flirt Conroy in The Dark at the Top of the Stairs at the Music Box Theatre on Broadway in 1957, working with Teresa Wright, Pat Hingle and Eileen Heckart.[12]

Evans was cast in an uncredited role in her husband's 1966 film Grand Prix. Four years later her maternal grandfather, John Clark Evans (1880–1978[13][14]), credited as J.C. Evans, portrayed the protagonist's father in Frankenheimer's I Walk the Line.[7][15]

Personal life and death

Evans married director John Frankenheimer on December 13, 1963, and they remained married for nearly 40 years until his death on July 6, 2002. Evans died on June 16, 2024, at the age of 91.[5][16]

Partial filmography

References

  1. ↑ Chapman, Jesse (March 7, 1970). "Roanoke Man Has Film Role (Continued From Page 1)". The Roanoke Times. p. E15. Retrieved March 31, 2026. "Evans Evans was formerly Evans Greenstreet, but changed her name to Evans Evans when she came to live as a young girl with her grandparents. [...] Mr. Evans first worked with a coal mining equipment manufacturing firm, later with a supply company and still later in Bluefield with American Cynamid, retiring in 1949. He became trial justice in Bluefield after retirement and later was justice of the peace in Tazewell County, Va. He and his wife moved to Roanoke last year. Evans will be a guest of Kathy Thornton on 'Panorama,' Wednesday at 1 p.m. on Ch. 7."
  2. 1 2 "United States, Census, 1940", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K7ZW-X93 : Fri Jun 21 06:48:32 UTC 2024), Entry for John C Evans and Eleanor Evans, 1940. "Name: Evans White Evans. Sex: Female. Age: 7. Birth Date: 26 November 1932. Birthplace: West Virginia. [...] Residence Place (1935): Same House. Marital Status: Single. Race: White. Relationship to Head of Household: Granddaughter."
  3. 1 2 "Princeton Paragraphs: SUITS INSTITUTED". Bluefield Daily Telegraph. January 28, 1937. p. 7. Retrieved March 31, 2026. "Suit was instituted circuit court yesterday by Eleanor Evans Greenstreet against Clyde Elmo Greenstreet, in chancery, returnable to February rules."
  4. 1 2 "PRINCETON---25 Divorce Decrees Entered in Circuit Court". Bluefield Daily Telegraph. March 1937. p. 3. Retrieved March 31, 2026. "A divorce was granted in the case of Eleanor Evans Greenstreet against Clyde Elmo Greenstreet, and custody of infant daughter was given to plaintiff. The defendant is to pay $50 permanent alimony."
  5. 1 2 "Evans Evans Frankenheimer". Neptune Society. Retrieved June 19, 2024.
  6. 1 2 "New Broadway Star Has Beckley Background". The Raleigh Register. April 30, 1958. p. 6. Retrieved March 31, 2026. "so good to hear someone from West Virginia [..] I'd love to talk someone from home...Actually we're not living there any more. But my parents and grandparents lived in Beckley-Judge and Mrs. John Clark Evans, and mother was "Billie" Evans. I guess Grandpa wasn't "Judge" when he was there - I think be was with a mining company - or American Cyanide. They've moved to Bluefield, Va., now. [...] I Have SO many friends in Beckley and Bluefield, though I went away to school at St. Anne's in Charlottesville, Va., and then to college at Randolph-Macon, then three years at Yale School of Drama - I just graduated in June and this is my first year here."
  7. 1 2 Chapman, op. cit., p. E1. "Gregory Peck plays a sheriff in Tennessee and is in love with a moonshiner's daughter in a motion picture made last October and November near Nashville and in the Sacramento Valley of California. Portraying Peck's father in the movie, "I Walk the Line," is J. Clark Evans of Roanoke. Evans is 89 years of age, a spry man who looks more like he is in his late 60e, the age of the character he portrays in the picture A native West Virginia, with years of experience that it in several positions in state, including one as trial justice in Bluefield, Evans is retired and living with his daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. J. R. Richardson, [...] Other than his newfound 'career' as an actor, Evans has another claim to fame. He is the grandfather of actress Evans Evans, the former Roanoker now residing in California: Evans Evans is the wife of film director John Frankenheimer, producer-director of 'I Walk the Line.'"
  8. ↑ "Virginia, Marriage Certificates, 1936-1989", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QV1M-CY4F : Sat Jul 06 03:44:02 UTC 2024), Entry for James Rufus Richardson and James Colen Richardson, 12 Aug 1948.
  9. ↑ "Obituaries: Richardson". The Roanoke Times. p. 18. Retrieved March 31, 2026. "James Rufus, 89, of Roanoke, died Tuesday, December 21, 1999. [...] He was the retired owner of Blue Ridge Gardens Nursery and the Pancake House on Apperson Drive and Williamson Road. He was a member of the First Church, Christ Scientist, Roanoke. He is survived by his wife, Eleanor "Billie" Evans Richardson; a daughter, Evans Evans Frankenheimer, Beverly Hills, Calif.;"
  10. ↑ "In Evidence". Oklahoma City Advertiser. October 4, 1962. p. 16. Retrieved April 1, 2026. "Evans Evans, as Penny Sanford, is one of five witnesses quizzed by writer Mike Barnes, played by John Forsythe, who handles his own defense when charged with a vehicular death on THE ALFRED HITCHCOCK HOUR Thursday at 9 p. m. on KWTV. [...] ALFRED HITCHCOCK (9 p.m., Ch. 9) "I Saw the Whole Thing.' John Forsythe stars as a novelist who decides to handle his own defense against a charge of manslaughter and then must prove the fallibility of hostile witnesses."
  11. ↑ Lentz, Harris M. (1996). Western and Frontier Film and Television Credits 1903-1995. Jefferson, N.C. : McFarland. pp. 1698, 1739, 1753. ISBN 9780786401581. "'Man in a Blackout' (11-5-63). Albert Salmi (Ward Bennet); Evans Evans (Hope); Harry Carey, Jr. (Harry); Dort Clark (Doc); Don Spruance (Al); Don Diamond (Arturo). [...] 'Strangers at Sundown' (4-3-63). Harry Morgan (Kendall Jones); Skip Homeier (Jed Carter); Paul Richards (Pauk); Arthur Hunnicutt (Tom Croft); Evans Evans (Phyllis Carter). [...] 'The Hollister John Garrison Story' (2-6-63). Charles Drake (John Hollister); Gary Cockrell (Stevenson Drake); Evans Evans (Melody Drake); Peter Whitney (Kempton).
  12. ↑ "Broadway Play: Good Acting Marks 'Dark'". Hollywood Citizen-News. December 19, 1957. p. 15. Retrieved April 1, 2026. "At the Music Box. Rubin Flood - Pat Hingle; Cora Flood - Teresa Wright; Sonny Flood - Charles Saari; Boy Offstage - Jonathan Shawn; Reenie Flood - Judith Robinson; Flirt Conroy - Evans Evans; Morris Lacey - Frank Overton; Lottie Lacey - Elleen Heckart"
  13. ↑ "United States, World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V1K5-C46 : Mon Mar 30 06:26:43 UTC 2026), Entry for John Clark Evans, 1942. "Name: John Clark Evans. Sex: Male. Birth Date: 14 December 1880. Residence Place: Bluefield, Tazewell, Virginia. Employer: John Clark/Evans. Event Type: Draft Registration. Event Date: 1942. Event Place: Bluefield, Tazewell, Virginia, United States. Event Place (Original): Bluefield, Tazewell, Virginia, United States. Affiliate Publication Title: World War II Draft Cards (4th Registration) for the State of Virginia."
  14. ↑ "Virginia, Death Certificates, 1912-1987", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVRH-ZGPX : Fri Oct 10 01:06:35 UTC 2025), Entry for J Clark Evans and Isaac Evans, 27 Sep 1978. "Name: J Clark Evans. Sex: Male. Age: 97. Birth Date: 14 Dec 1880. Death Date: 23 Sep 1978. Death Place: Roanoke, Virginia, United States. Race: White. Event Type: Death Registration. Event Date: 27 Sep 1978. Certificate Number: 78 029340. Registration Number: 223"
  15. ↑ Pratley, Gerald (1998). The Films of Frankenheimer: Forty Years in Film. Bethlehem, Pa. : Lehigh University Press. p. 105. ISBN 0-934223-47-5. "“I remember the role of Gregory Peck’s father was very difficult to cast, and it suddenly occurred to me one night that my wife’s grandfather was the prototype I was looking for. At the time he was ninety-two. The idea came to me — why not use him in the movie? His name was J. C. Evans, and everyone used to call him Daddy Beau. In reality, in the movie, he should have been about eighty years old , I remember calling him up and asking him if he wanted to be in my film, and sent him the script. He called Evans back and said ‘If they want me to play the part of that older man, then they have to put me in make-up because I don't look nearly that old."
  16. ↑ "Evans Evans Dies: 'Bonnie And Clyde' Actor, Widow Of Director John Frankenheimer Was 91". Deadline. June 20, 2024. Retrieved June 20, 2024.
  17. ↑ Howard, Alan R. (October 25, 1973). "MOVIE REVIEW: The Iceman Cometh". The Hollywood Reporter. p. 3. ProQuest 2931996398. Space prevents a fair assessment of supporting performances, many of which are good as the leading actors. Suffice to say that Bradford Dillman is a revelation as the toothless, diseased former aristocrat, probably the bar's most pathetic drunk, Evans Evans is impressive as Cora, the prostitute who dreams of getting married, and Moses Gunn makes O'Neill's language more musical than anybody in the cast as Joe, the barsweep, whose black pride comes and goes with sobriety.
  18. ↑ Johnson, Malcolm L. (October 31, 1973). "MOVIE REVIEW: The Iceman Cometh". The Hartford Courant. p. 59. ProQuest 551875356. All the lesser xharacters are good are good, though some stand out: John McLiam's Jimmy Tomorrow, Tom Pedi's Rocky Pioggi, Evans Evans' Cora, Bradford Dillman's DT-shaken Willie Oben.
  19. ↑ Eliot, John (December 11, 1973). "Film: chilling brilliance in 'The Iceman Cometh'". The Cincinnati Post. p.24. Retrieved April 1, 2026. "Evans Evans is especially endearing as Cora, leader of the three whores whose single goal is to be called 'tarts' instead by the guys."
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