Faye Emerson was a famous film, stage actresses, and Television personality. She has been qualified as one of the ‘first ladies of TV glamor and the first lady of the Late-Night show. She rose to prominence as a film actress in the 1940s and moved to television in the 1950s to host her talk show.
Acting career
Her parents divorced when she was in her teens, and she moved to San Diego to live with her mother, where she was eventually put in a convent boarding school. After graduating from high school, she attended San Diego State College and pursued a career in acting, appearing in many Community Players productions. In 1935, Faye Emerson made her stage debut in “Russet Mantle.” In 1941, she signed a contract with Warner Bros. and began acting in their films.
Faye Emerson made her acting debut in the film ‘Lady Gangster,’ in which she played an uncredited role (1942). In “The Mask of Dimitrios,” she played Zachary Scott’s former boyfriend, one of her most memorable roles. In the 1940s and early 1950s, Emerson starred in over thirty films.
Television career
Faye had made the transition to television in 1948 and began appearing in a variety of anthology films. The ‘Faye Emerson Show’ debuted on CBS on October 24, 1949, in local East Coast markets until the network expanded the 15-minute show to the entire country in March 1950. Before committing to the CBS program, she hosted a similar performance on NBC called “Fifteen with Faye” for about six months. Other talk shows that she appeared on included ‘Faye Emerson’s Wonderful Town,’ ‘Author Meets the Critics,’ ‘Faye and Skitch,’ and several others. While appearing on television throughout the 1950s, Emerson also appeared in numerous Broadway productions, including ‘Parisienne (1950)’, ‘The Heavenly Twins (1955)’, ‘Protective Custody (1956)’, and Back to Methuselah (1958).
Faye Emerson’s spouses
Faye Emerson married auto-dealer William Crawford during the early years, but the marriage was short-lived and only lasted for four years. The couple had a son. Two years after the divorce, Emerson married US president Franklin D. Roosevelt’s son Elliott Roosevelt. Her marriage to Roosevelt had started to fall apart, and she attempted suicide by slitting her wrists on Christmas Day, 1948, and was hospitalized. Roosevelt was divorced from her in January 1950. Miss Emerson was often in the news during her five-year marriage to Mr. Roosevelt. On her husband’s travels abroad and at the Roosevelt family home in Hyde Park, N.Y., she met with world leaders.
She married Skitch Henderson, the leader of a famous TV band, shortly after her second divorce was finalized. After that, the pair co-hosted a 15-minute music show called Faye and Skitch (1953). This partnership will continue for seven years.
Faye Emerson’s death
Emerson officially retired from show business in 1963 after her last television performance. She relocated to Europe, living in Switzerland for a period before settling in Spain in 1975. Emerson died of stomach cancer in Spain on March 9, 1983, at the age of 65. She passed away at her home in Deya, an artists’ colony town where she had lived for many years. Her first marriage produced a son, William W. Crawford 3d, who is still alive. He was there when she passed away.
Here below are some glamorous photos of Faye Emerson from her early life and professional career.
