Avonne Taylor

Avonne Taylor (born Evangeline Taylor; February 12, 1899 – March 20, 1992) was an American showgirl and actress.

Early years Avonne Taylor was born Evangeline Taylor in Springfield, Ohio, She and her family moved to Cleveland, Ohio, The day after she had an interview with Florenz Ziegfeld she began appearing in his Midnight Frolic production. Career Taylor appeared in the 1920, 1921, and 1922 versions of the Ziegfeld Follies and in Ziegfeld Midnight Frolic . She was designated the most beautiful of the 85 showgirls in the 1922 Follies, In 1923, Taylor was the model for advertising for Yeast Foam Tablets. Text of the newspaper ad quoted Florenz Ziegfeld as saying, "I believe Miss Avonne Taylor, of the Follies, is the most perfect type of the natural girl of 1923." Also in 1923, the San Francisco Chronicle printed a full-page feature article in which Taylor presented tips to help women to look better.

Taylor said in March 1923, "I do not care for the stage." By October 1923 she had left the Follies and joined the Famous Players–Lasky motion picture company. Films in which she appeared included Zaza (1923), My Best Girl (1927), Honor Among Lovers (1931), and Money and Marriage (1931). She stopped working in films in 1931. She earned — and lost — $500,000 in the stock market.

Personal life and death Taylor's first marriage was in 1917 to Leslie B. Rosecrans, a man whose name she later said that she could not remember. They were divorced around 1920. The wedding occurred in secret, but word soon spread to the couple's Broadway associates. They were divorced in 1928. Taylor and Manville had renewed their old acquaintance in Paris, and they attempted to marry in Europe. However, "discouraged at the demands for certified copies of divorce decrees and other legal documents in Paris and other centers", they came to the United States and were married by a city clerk in a municipal wedding chapel. They were divorced on November 28, 1931. She married actor Carlyle Blackwell on March 25, 1933, in Reno, Nevada. They were divorced in 1936. When she was in her 80s she married George Robb, a longtime friend. That marriage ended with his death in 1986.

Over many years Taylor lived in Europe, New York City, and Palm Springs, California, before she returned to Cleveland in 1989, living with relatives before moving to Hamlet Manor in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. She died there on March 20, 1992, aged 93.