1. Evelyn Preer, was an African American pioneering screen and stage actress, and jazz and blues singer in Hollywood during the late-1910s through the early 1930s.
18 Facts About Evelyn Preer
1. 2.
Evelyn Preer was the first Black actress to earn celebrity and popularity.
3.
Evelyn Preer Jarvis was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi, on July 26,1896.
4.
Evelyn Preer was promoted by Micheaux as his leading actress with a steady tour of personal appearances and a publicity campaign, she was one of the first African American women to become a star to the black community.
5.
Evelyn Preer acted in Micheaux's Within Our Gates, in which she plays Sylvia Landry, a teacher who needs to raise money to save her school.
6.
Evelyn Preer continued her career by starring in 19 films.
7.
Evelyn Preer had her talkie debut in the race musical Georgia Rose.
8.
Evelyn Preer was known for refusing to play roles that she believed demeaned African Americans.
9.
In 1926, Evelyn Preer appeared on Broadway in David Belasco's production of Lulu Belle.
10.
Evelyn Preer supported and understudied Lenore Ulric in the leading role of Edward Sheldon's drama of a Harlem prostitute.
11.
Evelyn Preer garnered acclaim in Sadie Thompson in a West Coast revival of Somerset Maugham's play about a fallen woman.
12.
Evelyn Preer rejoined the Lafayette Players for that production in their first show in Los Angeles at the Lincoln Center.
13.
Evelyn Preer sang in cabaret and musical theater where she was occasionally backed by such diverse musicians as Duke Ellington and Red Nichols early in their careers.
14.
Evelyn Preer was regarded by many as the greatest actress of her time.
15.
Evelyn Preer married Frank Evelyn Preer on January 16,1915, in Chicago.
16.
Evelyn Preer met her second husband, Edward Thompson, when they were both acting with the Lafayette Players in Chicago.
17.
Evelyn Preer's husband continued as a popular leading man and "heavy" in numerous race films throughout the 1930s and 1940s, and died in 1960.
18.
Evelyn Preer later entered the Sisters of St Francis of Oldenburg, Indiana, where she became known as Sister Francesca Thompson, OS.