In later years, Nesbit confirmed that her mother sometimes added several years to her age to circumvent child labor laws. The year of her birth remains unconfirmed, as the local records were destroyed in a fire and Evelyn said she was unsure of the date. She died in Santa Monica, California, in 1967.įlorence Evelyn Nesbit was born in Natrona, Pennsylvania, a small town near Pittsburgh, on December 25 ( Christmas Day) in either 1884 or 1885.

Nesbit wrote two memoirs about her life, published in 19. Later she took the boy with her to Hollywood, where she appeared as an actress in numerous silent films. She toured Europe with a dance troupe, and her son, Russell Thaw, was born there. Nesbit visited Thaw while he was confined to mental asylums. Thaw was said to have killed White in retaliation for his actions with Nesbit, based on his own obsession with her. Nesbit and White had also begun an ongoing relationship after the alleged rape incident. Nesbit testified that White had befriended her and her mother, but had allegedly drugged and then raped her when she was unconscious. The press called the resulting court case the ' Trial of the Century', coverage of which was sensational. The next year, on June 25, 1906, Thaw shot and killed White at the rooftop theatre of Madison Square Garden. In 1905, Nesbit married Thaw, a multi-millionaire with a history of mental instability and abusive behavior. She attracted attention from a variety of wealthy men, including Stanford White, nearly three times her age. Nesbit entered Broadway theatre, initially as a chorus line dancer before becoming a featured star. She began modeling when both fashion photography (as an advertising medium) and the pin-up (as an art genre) were beginning to expand. Church and notably Charles Dana Gibson, who idealized her as a ' Gibson Girl'. Nesbit continued after her family moved to New York, posing for legitimate artists including James Carroll Beckwith, Frederick S.

When in her early teens, she had begun working as an artist's model in Philadelphia.

She is best known for her career in New York City, particularly her involvement in an abusive and ultimately deadly love triangle between railroad scion Harry Kendall Thaw and architect Stanford White, which resulted in White's murder by Thaw in 1906.Īs a model, Nesbit was frequently photographed for mass circulation newspapers, magazine advertisements, souvenir items and calendars. Evelyn Nesbit (born Florence Evelyn Nesbit Decemor 1885 – January 17, 1967) was an American artists' model, chorus girl, and actress.

American eve by paula uruburu