Evelyn Ward Biography

Evelyn Ward started performing in a professional capacity when she was a teenager. She was a dancer affiliated with the Roxyettes at the Roxy Theater. She understudied Mary Martin in the musical ‘Dancing in the Streets’, which concluded its run “out of town” in the spring of 1943. She then performed in her first Broadway play, ‘Early to Bed’. In the next few years, Ward also appeared in ‘The Firebrand of Florence’ (1945), ‘Spring in Brazil’ (1945), ‘Billion Dollar Baby’ (1946), and ‘Along Fifth Avenue’ (1949).

In the 1950s, she was predominantly active in the regional theatre scene. However, she did make her comeback to the Broadway musical stage in the spring of 1958, substituting Gwen Verdon in the role of Anna in ‘New Girl in Town’. In 1967, she worked with David in LA Theater Center’s production of ‘And So to Bed’. In 1996, she came out of retirement to appear in ‘Such a Pretty Face’.

In 1949, Evelyn Ward made her screen debut in the television series ‘Manhattan Showcase’. Two years later, she portrayed the character Janine Carr in the episode ‘Death Spins a Wheel’ of ABC’s ‘The Adventures of Ellery Queen’. In 1953, she starred in the telefilm ‘Mercer Girls’. She played a singer in the episode ‘The American Musical Comedy’ of ABC’s ‘Omnibus’ in 1956. In 1959, she appeared in an episode of ‘The Further Adventures of Ellery Queen’, which was a spinoff show of ‘The Adventures of Ellery Queen’.

Ward’s first and only cinematic appearance was in writer/director Bernard Girard’s 1962 drama film ‘A Public Affair’. She also guest-starred in TV shows like ‘Kraft Mystery Theater’ (1962), ‘Perry Mason’ (1962), ‘Ben Casey’ (1963), ‘Vacation Playhouse’ (1963), ‘Breaking Point’ (1963), and ‘Dr. Kildare (1961-65). In 1963, she essayed the role of Adele Weston in the telefilm ‘The Big Drain’. After playing Farina in a season two episode of NBC’s spy fiction action series ‘The Man from U.N.C.L.E. show’, she bade farewell to television.

Ward made regular appearances as a performer in the nightclubs of New York and Boston. In 1954, she gave a performance in a Las Vegas revue.

Evelyn Ward was born on May 21, 1923, in West Orange, New Jersey, USA, to Frederick and Ethel Laurinda (née Wheeler) Ward. She was a descendant of Colonial Americans and Irish and Swiss immigrants. Her ancestors were one of the original settlers of Newark, New Jersey.

Ward married her first husband, actor Jack Cassidy, on June 28, 1948. The pair had become acquainted while they starred together in the Broadway musical ‘The Firebrand of Florence’ in 1945. Their son, David Bruce Cassidy, was born on April 12, 1950. David grew up to become an actor, singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He gained prominence for playing Keith Partridge, in the 1970s musical-sitcom ‘The Partridge Family’. That role helped him establish himself as a teenage heartthrob of the 1970s.

Ward, Jack, and David lived together in her native West Orange. The couple divorced in Mexico on July 2, 1956. Jack exchanged wedding vows with actress Shirley Jones on August 5, 1956. They had been in a relationship since the previous summer. Jones revealed that Jack and Ward were having marital issues for a long while and parted ways twice and then reunited before she met Jack. Following their divorce, David resided with Ward’s parents in West Orange. That changed when she married film director Elliot Silverstein in 1961. She and Silverstein had met each other years ago, and he had directed her in at least two Boston-area stage productions in 1955 and 1957. They split in 1968. Ward subsequently tied the knot with her third and final husband, Al Williams. They were married until his death on June 25, 2005. Ward was mistakenly believed by some people to be the onetime wife of film director Norman Z. McLeod, who was simply once married to a woman of the same name as Ward.

On December 23, 2012, Evelyn Ward passed away from dementia. Her son, David, passed away after losing his battle to liver failure on November 21, 2017. Through him, Ward had two grandchildren, actress Katie Cassidy and actor Beau Cassidy.