Beulah Irene Herwick (1909-98) married and divorced very young, and was a single mother when a screen test secured her a contract with MGM. She made her debut in King Vidor’s The Stranger’s Return (1933), and was the loyal daughter of an accused murderer in The Women in His Life (1933).
Hervey went on to act in almost fifty pictures, most often as the second female lead. Notable appearances included as Valentine to Robert Donat’s The County of Monte Cristo (1934), Destry Rides Again (1939) and The Boys from Syracuse (1940), in which she and then-husband Allen Jones sang ‘Falling in Love with Love’.
Later, Hervey played second fiddle to a fish as William Powell’s wife in the sad little comedy Mr Peabody and the Mermaid (1948).
From 1952 onwards, Herney worked predominantly in television, her last appearance on the big screen being as the owner of the radio station in Play Misty for Me (1971).
After retiring from acting, Hervey apparently took a job with a travel company, which somehow enabled her to see her son, Jack Jones, in appearances all over the world.
Irene Hervey made an unconfirmed appearance in MGM’s Hollywood Party. She had already played featured roles in several films, but it is possible that the studio assigned her to play a show girl as part of her development as a potential star.
Leave a Reply