Biography
Born in New York City and educated at convent and boarding schools in the United States, England, and France, she was the only child of Edna Woolman Chase, the editor-in-chief of Vogue magazine, and her first husband, Francis Dane Chase.
Chase made her society debut in 1923 and her Broadway debut a year later, in The Red Falcon. Her stage appearances included roles in Days Without End, Forsaking All Others, While Parents Sleep, On to Fortune, Tampico, Co-Respondent Unknown, Revenge With Music, Keep Off the Grass and In Bed We Cry, which was an adaptation of her novel of the same name. She was in the first Broadway cast of Clare Boothe Luce's play The Women (1938) and subsequently appeared in Neil Simon's Broadway hit Barefoot in the Park.
Her films included Fast and Loose, Once a Sinner, The Animal Kingdom, The Big Knife, and Now, Voyager. For several years, she was host of a radio program, Luncheon at the Waldorf.
In 1957, she performed the role of the Stepmother in the television production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, which starred Julie Andrews. Her last motion picture appearance came in Ocean's 11 (1960) as the mother of the Peter Lawford character. Chase made a rare television sitcom appearance as "Aunt Pauline" on The Patty Duke Show.
Read more about this topic: Ilka Chase
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