Evelyn Nesbit
Evelyn Nesbit was an American artists' model, chorus girl, and actress. She is best known for her career in New York City, as well as the obsessive and abusive fixation of her husband, railroad scion Harry Kendall Thaw on both Nesbit and architect Stanford White, which resulted in White's murder by Thaw in 1906. As a model, Nesbit was frequently photographed for mass circulation newspapers, magazine advertisements, souvenir items and calendars. When in her early teens, she had begun working as an artist's model in Philadelphia. Nesbit continued after her family moved to New York, posing for artists including James Carroll Beckwith, Frederick S. Church and notably Charles Dana Gibson, who idealized her as a "Gibson Girl". She began modeling when both fashion photography and the pin-up were beginning to expand. Nesbit entered Broadway theatre, initially as a chorus line dancer before becoming a featured star. A variety of wealthy men vied for her company including Stanford White, 32 years her senior. In 1905, Nesbit married Thaw, a multi-millionaire about 14 years her senior with a history of mental instability and abusive behavior. The next year, on June 25, 1906, Thaw shot and killed White at the rooftop theatre of Madison Square Garden. The press called the resulting court case the "Trial of the Century", coverage of which was sensational. Nesbit testified that White had befriended her and her mother, but had drugged and then raped her when she was unconscious. Nesbit and White had also begun an ongoing relationship after the alleged rape incident. Thaw was said to have killed White in retaliation for his actions with Nesbit, based on his own obsession with her. Nesbit visited Thaw while he was confined to mental asylums. She toured Europe with a dance troupe, and her son, Russell Thaw, was born there. Later she took the boy with her to Hollywood, where she appeared as an actress in numerous silent films. Nesbit wrote two memoirs about her life, published in 1914 and 1934. She died in Santa Monica, California, in 1967.
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