Evie Hayes

Vina Evelyn Hayes (June 1, 1912- December 26, 1988), better known as Evie Hayes, was an American-born actor and singer, best known for her stage success in Australia. She was once described as "the most popular box office attraction in Australian musical comedy since Gladys Moncrieff."^[1]

Biography

Born in Seattle, she appeared on stage from an early age and worked steadily in vaudeville, radio and nightclubs. She was leading lady for Will Mahoney, in his tour of the United Kingdom and Europe and sang for the BBC appeared in cabaret and made her own recordings, she later married Mahoney, in 1938, in Westminster, London The couple moved to Australia to appear on the Tivoli variety circuit, and proved very popular, eventually deciding to stay in the country permanently. They appeared in the film Come Up Smiling (1939), managed the Cremorne Theatre in Brisbane, presenting everything from revues, pantomimes and musicals and entertained the American and Australasian troops and raising funds for the war effort. On television since its inception, she appeared as a Compere, Singer, Comedian and a Commercial presenter on the Graham Kennedy show IMT. Notable also for theatre an early role saw Evie Hayes playing the lead role in the Australian production of Annie Get Your Gun, which ran for more than three years. She later appeared regularly on television, including as a judge on Young Talent Time, having opened her own talent school, as well as acting in productions of Funny Girl, Kiss me Kate a revival of Oklahoma and Call Me Madam. She died of a heart attack, early in the morning of 26 December 1988, in Melbourne, Victoria.^[2]

References

External links

• Evie Hayes at Australian Dictionary of Biography
• Evie Hayes at the Internet Movie Database
• Evie Hayes Australian Theatre credits at AusStage
• Evie Hayes at National Film and Sound Archive