Brent was born in Tampa, Florida and known as "Betty." When she was 10 years old, her mother Eleanor (née Warner) died, leaving her father, Arthur, to raise her alone. She moved to New York City as a teenager, and her good looks brought modeling jobs that led to an opportunity to become involved in movies.
After World War I, she traveled to Europe, where she visited France before settling in London, England. She had a role in The Ruined Lady, where her co-stars in the play were future Hollywood stars C. Aubrey Smith and Nigel Bruce.
She remained in England for four years, performing on stage and in films, then she moved to Hollywood in 1922.
Paramount launched her tenure at the company with the lead in the popular shopgirl comedy Love 'Em and Leave 'Em, where her screen impact overshadowed by the appearance of Louise Brooks as Brent's younger sister.
Josef Von Sternberg, an acquaintance from her time in British films and a fan of her FBO series of crook pictures, cast her as "Feathers" (over the objections of Paramount executives, who preferred Estelle Taylor for the role) in the gangster epic Underworld (1927).
In-between and after her series of films with Von Sternberg, Paramount cast Brent in a string of pictures that sustained her popularity, including a sequel to 1926's hit Beau Geste called Beau Sabreur, the melodrama His Tiger Wife, and her last silent film The Mating Call for director James Cruze.
Brent was later cast as the female lead in Paramount's first all-talking picture Interference. She was then loaned out to Universal Pictures for the musical-drama Broadway, which ran for two years. Her Paramount contract had about a year left to run, and she appeared in Paramount on Parade.
Brent played major roles in several features, most notably The Silver Horde.
By the early part of the 1930s, she was working in secondary roles in a variety of films as well as touring with vaudeville shows. In 1936, she played William Boyd's love interest/femme fatale in Hopalong Cassidy Returns. However, by 1941, she was no longer in demand by major studios, and she found work at smaller, low-budget studios.
She returned to acting in television's Wagon Train for one episode in 1960, "The Lita Foladaire Story", starring Ward Bond and Diane Brewster. Brent played a housekeeper and her appearance had changed radically.[7]
Personal life and death
Evelyn Brent was married three times: to movie executive Bernard P. Fineman, to producer Harry D. Edwards, and finally to the vaudeville actor Harry Fox. They were married until he died in 1959.[8]
In 1960, Brent was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame with a motion pictures star for her contributions to the film industry. Her star is located at 6548 Hollywood Boulevard.[10]
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