Helen Avis Drexel
Helen Avis Drexel | |
|---|---|
| Born | Helen Avis Howard November 19, 1911 Atlanta, Georgia, United States |
| Died | November 20, 1974 (aged 63) Savannah, Georgia, United States |
Helen Avis Drexel (November 19, 1911 – November 20, 1974) was an American silent-film actress and heiress. She rose to prominence through her appearance in the John Berendt non-fictional novel Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1994), in which she was a composite character named Serena Dawes.
Life and career
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Helen Avis Howard was born on November 19, 1911, in Atlanta, Georgia, the only child of Clinton Chappell Howard and Belle Allen Barber.[1]
She attended Washington Seminary in Atlanta and the Finch School in New York City.[1]
On August 19, 1933, Howard married Anthony Joseph Drexel III, son of Anthony Joseph Drexel II, whom she met in Nassau, Bahamas.[1] He died on January 14, 1948, at his Wappaoola Plantation,[2] in Charleston, South Carolina, after a souvenir pistol accidentally discharged. He was struck in an artery in his right shoulder. He was 34.[3] The couple had three children: Anthony J. Drexel IV (1934–2020), Clinton Howard Drexel and Helen Diana Drexel.[3] Anthony IV went on to become a major in the United States Air Force. He gave his sister away in her marriage to Gerald Raibourn in 1961. Their brother was an usher.[4] Anthony IV died in 2020, aged 85.
In 1964, Drexel moved to Savannah,[5][6] where she spent the rest of her life. She was often seen having a drink at The Olde Pink House,[7] and lived at 17 West Gordon Street in Monterey Square,[8] adjacent to Jim Williams' Mercer House.[7][9]
Cecil Beaton called Drexel "one of the most perfect natural beauties I've ever photographed."[10]
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
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In 1994, John Berendt included a composite version of Drexel, whom he named Serena Dawes, in his cast of characters in his bestselling non-fiction novel Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Berendt's interactions with her were fictitious,[11] however, as she died over a decade before he moved to Savannah.[12] Dorothy Loudon portrayed her in Clint Eastwood's 1997 film adaptation.[13] (Prentiss Crowe's lines about Danny Hansford being "a good time not yet had by all" were instead spoken by Dawes in the film.)
Death
[edit]Drexel died on November 20, 1974, aged 63. She is buried beside her husband in Bluffton Cemetery, Bluffton, South Carolina.
References
[edit]- ^ a b c "HELEN A. HOWARD ENGAGED TO MARRY; Is to Be Bride of Anthony J. Drexel 3d of Philadelphia Banking Family". The New York Times. 16 August 1933. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
- ^ "Wappaoola Plantation - Berkeley County, South Carolina SC". south-carolina-plantations.com. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
- ^ a b "A.J. DREXEL 3D DIES IN PISTOL ACCIDENT; Member of Banking Family Is Killed in Carolina Showing German Souvenir to Guest". The New York Times. 16 January 1948. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
- ^ "Helen Diana Drexel Is Married Here; '60 Debutante Wed, to Gerald Raibourn, Princeton 1957". The New York Times. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
- ^ "Booked Up in Savannah" - Los Angeles Times, January 8, 1995
- ^ "Obituary of Helen Avis Howard". The Atlanta Constitution. 1974-11-23. p. 41. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
- ^ a b "SAVANNAH DAYDREAMS". Orlando Sentinel. 20 August 2000. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
- ^ "Oct 26, 1994, page 41 - The Atlanta Constitution at Atlanta Journal Constitution". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2024-03-28.
- ^ Savannah and Charleston, Fodor's Travel Publications (2002), p. 23 ISBN 9780679008989
- ^ "Voodoo Justice". archive.nytimes.com. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
- ^ Fishman, Jane. "A new look at lilies and magnolias and collecting". Savannah Morning News. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
- ^ "MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF FACT AND FICTION". Washington Examiner. 1996-12-30. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
- ^ "The Museum Next Door". Garden & Gun. Retrieved 2022-03-30.