Estelle Evans


Estelle Rolle Evans was a Bahamian-American actress during the 20th century. Some of her more famous appearances were in the movies The Quiet One, To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Learning Tree.
Evans was the older sister of actresses Rosanna Carter and Esther Rolle.

Biography

Evans was born Estelle Rolle on October 1, 1906, in Exuma, Bahamas to parents Jonathan and Elizabeth Iris Rolle. She was the oldest of 18 children. Her father moved to Florida to work for the railway; the family followed in 1920.
Evans attended Florida Memorial College or Florida A&M University and became a teacher at Pompano Beach Elementary School. She married to Walter Evans, an architectural draftsman and the couple moved to New York City in 1935. Evans worked as a teacher at PS 156 in Manhattan.
In New York, Evans studied drama at Hunter College, and at American Negro Theater alongside Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte.
Evans played the mother in The Quiet One and To Kill a Mockingbird characters#Calpurnia|Calpurnia] in the 1962 film version of To Kill a Mockingbird and acted in several other major movies and television shows. For her work in The Learning Tree, she received the NAACP [Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture].
Evans died on July 20, 1985, in New York City, and she was buried in Westview Community Cemetery in Pompano Beach, Florida. She was age 76. She was survived by 1 son and 1 daughter.

Filmography

TitleYearRoleNotes
Daddy-Long-Legs1919Uncredited
The Quiet One1948The Motherdocumentary
To Kill a Mockingbird1962Calpurnia
Naked City1963Crossing GuardTV series
The Learning Tree1969Sarah
The Jeffersons1975MaryTV series
Good Times1975AliceTV series
A [Piece of the Action (film)|A Piece of the Action]1977Alberta Ballard
See China and Die19811st MaidTV movie
The Clairvoyant1982Francine
Tales of the Unknown South1984TV movie, segment "The Half-Pint Flask"