Anecdotes

Had a small but memorable role in Citizen Kane (1941) as a tough-talking nurse who orders Joseph Cotten's autocratic character around. After she leaves, he makes a snarky observation about the misconceptions of nurses being attractive.

She was of German and English descent.

Her husband was Morris Otto Evanson, who died in 1975.

Upon her death, she was cremated and her ashes were scattered at sea in the Pacific Ocean.

Was friends with fellow character actresses Alma Kruger and Constance Collier.

Her father was a Protestant minister.

Her first job was as a court reporter in Bellingham.

Director George Cukor, a friend of Evanson, asked her to coach Marilyn Monroe on a Swedish accent for Monroe's role in the unfinished film Something's Got to Give (from which Monroe was eventually fired). Evanson spent several months with Monroe, and spoke to her just days before the troubled actress's death.

Edith Evanson was an American character actress of film, stage and television during the Golden Age of Hollywood.

Evanson was a lifelong Democrat who supported the campaign of Adlai Stevenson during the 1952 presidential election.