Women We Love: Eve Arden

Movie Dearest continues a month long look at our favorite classic character actresses.

Object of our affection: Eve Arden, actress.

- Over her 60 years in show business, she did it all -- film, television, radio, theater -- receiving an Academy Award nomination and an Emmy Award along the way.

- Her film debut (under her given name, Eunice Quedens) as a wisecracking showgirl in Song of Love set the tone for her lasting screen persona; she perfected it in the classic Stage Door, followed by her Oscar nominated turn as Joan Crawford's pal in Mildred Pierce (in which she delivered the classic line "Personally, Veda's convinced me that alligators have the right idea. They eat their young.").

- Other film favorites on her résumé include At the Circus, That Uncertain Feeling, Ziegfeld Girl (which she actually was on Broadway in the 1930's), Cover Girl, Night and Day, One Touch of Venus, Anatomy of a Murder and The Dark at the Top of the Stairs.

- Her most famous (and Emmy winning) creation was as Our Miss Brooks, the witty high school English teacher she embodied on film, television and radio.

- Years later, she gained new fans as the put-upon Principal McGee of Rydell High in Grease; she was one of the few original cast members to repeat her role in the sequel Grease 2, her final movie appearance.