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Evelyn Nesbit, a chorus singer and artist’s model in New York, was involved in a notorious murder case after her lover, millionaire Stanford White, was shot by her husband Harry Kendall Thaw. Nesbit’s life was marked by poverty, abuse, drug and alcohol addiction, and depression. She overcame her addiction issues and died in 1967.
Evelyn Nesbit, sometimes called the world’s first supermodel, was a chorus singer and artist’s model in turn-of-the-century New York who was involved in one of the most infamous murder cases of the time. The crime, in which Nesbit’s husband Harry Kendall Thaw shot her former lover, millionaire Stanford White, in public, has added notoriety to Nesbit’s beauty. Evelyn Nesbit starred in a few silent films and was allegedly immortalized in the illustrations for Charles Dana Gibson’s “Gibson Girl,” but nothing about her would ever earn her as much fame as her role in the Stanford White murder case.
Born on Christmas Day 1884, Evelyn Nesbit had a difficult childhood, as her father died when she was eight, leaving the family in poverty. When Evelyn Nesbit reached her teens, she began to support her mother and younger brother by modeling for an artist. She moved to New York City with her mother at age 16 and secured more prestigious modeling jobs and worked on Broadway as a backup singer.
Stanford White, a local architect and millionaire, noticed Evelyn Nesbit on Broadway and decided to seduce her. He invited her to his Madison Square Garden apartments to pose for photographs and to do somersaults on his infamous red velvet swing. Such games, soaked in champagne, eventually led to the loss of Evelyn’s virginity.
Evelyn Nesbit’s relationship with Stanford White was short-lived, though they continued to be friendly towards each other. Evelyn moved on to a relationship with actor John Barrymore, but she rejected his marriage proposal after becoming pregnant and she secretly had an abortion instead. While in hospital, Evelyn Nesbit began receiving visits and gifts from admirer Harry Kendall Thaw.
Thaw was a shady character, a cocaine and morphine addict who had repeatedly dropped out of school, with a dangerous streak of jealousy to boot. He had known Stanford White through their mutual appreciation of chorus girls, but he already considered White a rival even before Evelyn Nesbit entered the scene. Although White warned Evelyn Nesbit not to get involved with Harry Kendall Thaw, she was touched by his generosity to her and allowed him to woo her.
Thaw romanced Evelyn Nesbit by taking her and her mother on a lavish trip to Paris. Evelyn rejected her offer at first, but he wouldn’t take no for an answer. Eventually, he admitted he lost his virginity to Stanford White. Thaw was enraged by this news and his dark streak first appeared in their relationship. He sent Evelyn’s mother home, then repeatedly raped and beat Evelyn. He refused to let her go and the two were married in 1905.
A year later, Harry Thaw and Evelyn Nesbit ran into Stanford White at a rooftop performance of a new musical in Madison Square Garden, and Thaw shot White three times in the face. Thaw was tried for the murder, but the jury deadlocked. In a second trial, in which Evelyn Nesbit testified on his behalf, Thaw pleaded insanity. Evelyn was granted a divorce.
Thaw was placed in an institution for the criminally insane, but with very low security. Thaw escaped the hospital in 1913 and fled to Canada. He was extradited two years later, but was allowed to retain his freedom.
After the Stanford White scandal, Evelyn Nesbit’s life was marked by drug and alcohol abuse and severe depression. Although she got a job in the cinema, she opened a cafe and had a son in 1910, she Evelyn she was unable to fully devote herself to life and attempted suicide several times. She remarried in 1916 to her dancing partner Jack Clifford, but he left her two years later.
In her later life, Evelyn Nesbit overcame her addiction issues. She taught pottery and served as a technical consultant on The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing, a 1955 film about her love triangle with Thaw and White. Evelyn Nesbit died on January 17, 1967 in Santa Monica. Her son, Russell William Thaw, was a famous American pilot in World War II.
