Biography
Florence Eldridge, also credited as Florence McKechnie, was an American actress. Born in Brooklyn, New York, she made her Broadway debut in the chorus of Rock-a-Bye Baby (1918) and went on to appear in numerous stage productions, including The Cat and the Canary (1922) and Six Characters in Search of an Author (1922).
She married actor Fredric March in 1927 and appeared with him in several films and plays. Her film roles include Helen in The Divorcee (1930), Ruby Lemarr in The Story of Temple Drake (1933), Fantine in Les Misérables (1935), Elizabeth Tudor in Mary of Scotland (1936) and Sarah Brady in Inherit the Wind (1960). On stage, she played Mary Tyrone in the original Broadway production of Long Day's Journey into Night (1956), for which she received the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Actress and a Tony Award nomination.
