Mary Shakespeare Mary Shakespeare Mary Shakespeare, née Arden, (c. 1537–1608) was the mother of William Shakespeare. She was the daughter of Wilmcote gentleman farmer Robert Arden, a cadet of the Arden family prominent in Warwickshire since before the Norman Conquest. She was the youngest of eight daughters, and when her father died in 1556 she inherited land at Snitterfield and Wilmcote from her father as a dowry. The house was left to her stepmother Agnes Hill. Richard Shakespeare, the father of John Shakespeare, was a tenant farmer on land owned by her father in Snitterfield. As the daughter of Richard's landlord, she
Eve Arden 1933, she relocated to New York City, where she appeared in multiple Broadway stage productions in supporting parts. In 1934, she was cast in that year's "Ziegfeld Follies" revue. This was the first role in which she was credited as Eve Arden. Told to change her name for the show, she looked at her cosmetics and "stole my first name from Evening in Paris and the second from Elizabeth Arden". Between 1934 and 1941, she would appear in Broadway productions of "Parade", "Very Warm for May", "Two for the Show", and "Let's Face It!". Her film career began in earnest