Mary Orr, 94; Actress’ Short Story Evolved Into the Film ‘All About Eve’

Mary Orr, an actress and writer whose first published short story, “The Wisdom of Eve,” was the basis for the Academy Award-winning movie “All About Eve” and the Tony award-winning musical “Applause,” died of pneumonia Sept. 22 in New York City.

She was believed to be 94, although various biographical sources give conflicting information.

She began her stage career as an actress and with director Reginald Denham coauthored a number of Broadway and off-Broadway plays starting with “Wallflower” in 1944. The play was made into a movie, with Orr and Denham among the film’s four scriptwriters, in 1948. The couple married in 1947.

Orr was born in Brooklyn, raised in Ohio, attended Syracuse University for two years and attended the American Academy of Dramatic Art in New York City.

She wrote a number of short stories that were published in popular magazines, but her first became a classic. The story was published in Cosmopolitan magazine in 1947 and tells of a seasoned Broadway actress who is betrayed by the fledgling actress she tries to help.

Bette Davis starred in the 1950 movie. Twenty years later, Lauren Bacall starred in the Broadway musical based on Orr’s story.