{{short description|American actress and writer}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}} {{Infobox person | name = Eden Gray | image = Eden Gray.png | caption = Gray in a 1925 publication | birth_name = Priscilla Pardridge | birth_date = {{Birth date text|June 9, 1901}} | birth_place = Chicago, Illinois, US | death_date = {{death date and age|January 14, 1999|June 9, 1901}} | death_place = Vero Beach, Florida, US | occupation = Actress, writer | spouse = Lester Cohen | known_for = Tarot cards | signature = }} '''Eden Gray''' (June 9, 1901 – January 14, 1999) was the professional name of '''Priscilla Pardridge''', an American actress, and writer on the esoteric meanings of tarot cards and their use in fortune-telling. Born into a wealthy family in Chicago, she was educated at a girl's boarding school in Connecticut. Against the wishes of her parents she pursued a career as an actress in New York where she married the novelist and screenwriter Lester Cohen. She had an active career as an actress on Broadway from 1920-1933 after which she settled in Buck County, Pennsylvania where she occasionally performed locally into the early 1940s. She made a few silent films in the mid 1920s, and appears in two sound films in the early 1940s. In her later life to she operated a book store specializing in the occult and metaphysical materials in Florida.
==Early life== The daughter of Albert J Pardridge and Florence Myers Pardridge, Priscilla Pardridge was born in Chicago on June 9, 1901.<ref>Priscilla Pardridge in the Cook County, Illinois, U.S., Birth Certificates Index, 1871-1922</ref><ref>Priscilla Pardridge Cohen in the U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007</ref> Her father was a wealthy real estate broker in that city,<ref>{{cite news|title=Chicago Society Girl Earns Her Own Living|work=Reno Gazette-Journal|date= December 1, 1919|page= 1}}</ref> and the son of prominent Chicago businessman Charles Wellington Pardridge.<ref name="Kansas"/> The family was part of Chicago's upper class and resided in the wealthiest neighborhood in the city.<ref name="Kansas">{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-kansas-city-star-a-rich-girl-revolte/195643752/|title=A Rich Girl Revolted|work=The Kansas City Star|date= April 22, 1921| page= 18}}</ref>
Priscilla was educated at Wykeham Rise School, a girl's boarding school in Washington, Connecticut.{{sfn|Decker| Dummett|2013|loc=Chapter 20: Eden Gray and the Waite/Smith Tarot}} As a child she became interested in acting after attending many performances at the Garrick Theater which was owned by her family.{{sfn|Decker| Dummett|2013|loc=Chapter 20: Eden Gray and the Waite/Smith Tarot}} In 1915 she performed with an amateur theatre group in Chicago, the Golf Lane Players.<ref>{{cite news|title=Society and Entertainments|work=Chicago Tribune|date= August 13, 1915|page=11}}</ref> She fought with her parent over her desire to become an actress, and in 1919 asserted her independence by taking a job at a department store in Denver, Colorado.<ref>{{cite news|title=Society Girl Goes to Work in Denver Department Store|work=The Albuquerque Tribune|date= December 1, 1919|page= 1|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-albuquerque-tribune-society-girl-goe/195637341/}}</ref> There she worked under the name Elsie Gray for a short period before returning to Chicago.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/evening-times-republican-society-belle/195638226/|title=Society Belle Loses Job|work=Evening Times-Republican|date= December 5, 1919|page= 1}}</ref>
After further arguments with her parents, Priscilla's mother relented and allowed her to move to New York City to study acting in 1920. There she lived with her aunt,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune/21459915/|title=Miss Pardridge Dodges Debut For the Stage|work=Chicago Tribune|date= October 5, 1920|page= 1}}</ref> and changed her name to Eden Gray at the time.<ref name="obit">{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune-obituaries-eden-gray/195621583/|title=Obituaries: Eden Gray|work=Chicago Tribune|date=January 25, 1999|page= 5, section 2}}</ref> She married poet, screenwriter, and novelist Lester Cohen<ref>{{cite news|title=Society Girl Weds Poet|work=The New York Times|date= January 25, 1921|page= 11}}</ref> on January 3, 1921 in Manhattan.<ref>Eden Gray in the ''New York, New York, U.S., Marriage License Indexes, 1907-2018''</ref> Their marriage ended in divorce in 1946.<ref>Eden G Cohen in the ''Florida, U.S., Divorce Index, 1927-2001''</ref> They had a son, the muralist Peter Gray Cohen.<ref name=IRPJObit>{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/indian-river-press-journal-eden-gray/166640965/ |title=Eden Gray |newspaper=Indian River Press Journal |publication-place=Vero Beach, Florida |page=6 |date=1999-01-17 |access-date=2025-02-25 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/newsday-suffolk-edition-lest-cohen-no/195644992/|title=Lester Cohen, Novelist, at 61|work=Newsday|date= July 19, 1963| page= 32}}</ref>
==Acting career== Gray made her Broadway debut at the Belasco Theatre in December 1920 as The Lady with the Lorgnette in Harley Granville-Barker's English language adaptation of Sacha Guitry's French play ''Deburau''.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/new-york-tribune-great-performances-by-l/195645367/|title=Great Performances by Lionel Atwill in ''Deburau''|first=Heywood|last= Broun|work=New-York Tribune|date= December 24, 1920| page= 6}}</ref> She appeared in her first Broadway musical in 1922 as Regina Marnac in Victor Herbert's ''Orange Blossoms'' at the Fulton Theatre.{{sfn|Dietz|2019|page=122}}<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-new-york-times-the-play/195647426/|title=The Play|first=Alexander|last= Woollcott|work=The New York Times|date= September 20, 1922|page= 18}}</ref> She performed in only one more musical, the part of Ninette in Rudolf Friml's musical ''Cinders'' (1923, Dresden Theatre).{{sfn|Dietz|2019|page=157}} In 1923 she toured with Helen Hayes in Sophie Treadwell's ''Loney Lee''.<ref>{{cite news|title=''Lonely Lee'' Slight, Sweet Little Play|work=The Morning Union|date= November 20, 1923|page= 8}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Helen Hayes in ''Loney Lee'' at the Apollo|work=Atlantic City Gazette-Review|date= November 6, 1923|page= 10}}</ref>
Gray remained active in plays on the New York stage into the early 1930s. Her other Broadway credits included Miss Doolittle in Edward Laska's ''We've Got to Have Money'' (1923, Playhouse Theatre),<ref>{{cite news|title=''We've Got to Have Money''|work=The Brooklyn Daily Times|date= August 21, 1923|page=6}}</ref> Angela in Edwin Justus Mayer's ''The Firebrand'' (1924),<ref>{{cite news|title=The New Play|work=The Brooklyn Daily Times|date= October 16, 1924| page= 6|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-brooklyn-daily-times-the-new-play/195648569/}}</ref> Nora in Joseph Jefferson Farjeon's ''Number 7'' (1926),<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/brooklyn-eagle-number-7-melodrama/195648795/|title=''Number 7'', Melodrama, Sometimes Almost New|work=Brooklyn Eagle|date=September 9, 1926|page= 30}}</ref> the Office Nurse in ''What the Doctor Ordered'' (1927),<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-what-the-doctor-ordered/195649012/|title=''What the Doctor Ordered''; ''Greenwich Villagers'' Frolic|work=New York Daily News|date= August 19, 1927| page= 33}}</ref> May van der Luyden in ''The Age of Innocence'' (1928-1929),<ref>{{cite news|title=Empire: ''Age of Innocence''|work=Billboard|page=79|date=September 7, 1929|volume=41|number=36}}</ref> and Mavis in ''Doctor X'' (1931).<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-brooklyn-daily-times-doctor-x-a/195649857/|title=''Doctor X'', a Play of Many Thrills, At the Hudson|author=N.T.B.|work=The Brooklyn Daily Times|date= February 10, 1931| page= 65}}</ref> Her final appearance on Broadway was as Olwen Peel in the revival of ''Dangerous Corner'' (1933);<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-smooth-revival-of-murder-dram/195651590/|title=Smooth Revival of Murder Drama|first=John|last= Chapman|work=New York Daily News|date= July 19, 1933|page= 37}}</ref> a play she also toured in the United States in 1934.<ref>{{cite news|title=The Theatre|first=Len G.|last=Shaw|work=Detroit Free Press|date= January 8, 1934|page= 6}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=''Dangerous Corner''|work=Brooklyn Eagle|date= January 23, 1934|page= 9}}</ref> After this she and her husband lived at a farm they bought in Lumberville, Pennsylvania.<ref>{{cite news|title=Celebrities Lured To Restfulness of Bucks County Life|work=The Philadelphia Inquirer|date= February 21, 1937|page= 32}}</ref> She occasionally appeared in plays at the nearby Bucks County Playhouse in the late 1930s<ref>{{cite news|title=The Bucks County Theatre|work=The Philadelphia Inquirer|date= August 9, 1939|page= 18}}</ref> and early 1940s.<ref>{{cite news|title=Effie Shannon Returns to Bucks County in ''Kind Lady''|work=The Bristol Daily Courier|date= June 26, 1940|page=3}}</ref>
In addition to working on the stage, Gray periodically worked as a film actress. She appeared in three silent films in the mid 1920s: ''Lovers in Quarantine'' (1925),<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1925/10/13/archives/the-screen-humorous-hazing.html|title=THE SCREEN; Humorous Hazing.|work=The New York Times|first=Mordaunt|last= Hall|date=October 13, 1925}}</ref> ''A Kiss in the Dark'' (1925),<ref>{{cite news|title=News Notes From Movieland|work=The Morning Call|date= March 8, 1925|page= 18}}</ref> and ''The Sorrows of Satan'' (1926).<ref>{{cite news|title=A Busy Lady|work=The Brooklyn Citizen|date=October 6, 1926|page= 5}}</ref> She later appeared in two sound films in the early 1940s: ''The Man Who Lost Himself'' (1941, as Venetia Scott){{sfn|Kear|Rossman|2016|page=176}} and ''King's Row'' (1942, as Mrs. Tower).{{sfn|Soister| Wioskowski|2015|page=114}}
==Women's Army Corp and tarot author== Her acting career was temporarily put on hold during World War II when she became a lab technician with the Woman's Army Corps; enlisting on June 2, 1944 while living in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.<ref>Priscilla P Cohen in the ''U.S., World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946''</ref>
She also earned a Doctorate of Divinity degree from the First Church of Religious Science in New York. She opened a bookstore in the 1950s called Inspiration House Publishing, selling books on the occult and metaphysical issues. In the 1950s she wrote ''Tarot Revealed'' which was an introductory work to the tarot. She moved to Vero Beach, Florida in 1971. She was a member of the Vero Beach Art Club, Riverside Theater and Theater Guild.<ref name="obit"/> In the 1960s, through her books, Gray had an integral part in the creation of the contemporary interest in esoteric Tarot in general, and the Waite–Smith Tarot deck and the Fool's Journey interpretation of the Tarot trump cards in particular.{{sfn|Decker| Dummett|2013|loc=Chapter 20: Eden Gray and the Waite/Smith Tarot}}
==Death== She was 97 years old when she died at IRM Hospital in Vero Beach on January 14, 1999.<ref name="obit"/><ref name=IRPJObit/>
==Works== * ''Tarot Revealed: A Modern Guide to Reading the Tarot Cards''. Inspiration House, New York, 1960. reprinted, Signet Books 1969 * ''Recognition: Themes on Inner Perception'', Inspiration House, 1969 * ''A Complete Guide to the Tarot''. Bantam Books and Crown Publishers, New York, 1970 * ''Mastering the Tarot: Basic Lessons in an Ancient, Mystic Art''. Crown Publishers, New York, 1971
===Dutch editions=== *''Het geheim van de Tarot: de magische kaarten die verleden en toekomst onthullen'', translated by Wim Gijsen, Kosmos-Z&K, 1996
===Spanish editions=== *''Guía completa para el Tarot'', Editorial Diana, Mexico, 1976
==References== ===Citations=== {{Reflist}}
===Bibliography=== *{{cite book|url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_History_of_the_Occult_Tarot/4nSiDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%C2%A0%22Priscilla+Pardridge%22&pg=PA20-IA2&printsec=frontcover|title=The History of the Occult Tarot|first1=Ronald|last1= Decker|first2= Michael|last2= Dummett|year= 2013|publisher=Gerald Duckworth & Company|isbn=9780715647059}} *{{cite book|first1=Dan|last1=Dietz|title=The Complete Book of 1920s Broadway Musicals|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|year=2019|isbn=9781442245280|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LRmGDwAAQBAJ}} *{{cite book|title=Occult America: White House Seances, Ouija Circles, Masons, and the Secret Mystic History of Our Nation|last= Horowitz|first=Mitch|year=2010|publisher=Random House|url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Occult_America/QXaJDQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22Occult+America%22%C2%A0%22Priscilla+Pardridge%22&pg=PA249&printsec=frontcover|isbn=9780553385151}} *{{cite book|title=The Complete Kay Francis Career Record: All Film, Stage, Radio and Television Appearances|first=Lynn|last= Kear|first2= John|last2= Rossman|year= 2016|isbn= 9781476602875|publisher=McFarland & Company}} *{{cite book|title=Claude Rains: A Comprehensive Illustrated Reference to His Work in Film, Stage, Radio, Television and Recordings|first= John T.|last= Soister|first2= JoAnna|last2= Wioskowski|year=2015|isbn=9781476612782 |publisher=McFarland & Company}}
==External links== *{{IMDb name|0336597}} *{{IBDB name|id=42896}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gray, Eden}} Category:1901 births Category:1999 deaths Category:20th-century American actresses Category:20th-century American women writers Category:20th-century American writers Category:Actresses from Chicago Category:American film actresses Category:American musical theatre actresses Category:American occultists Category:American silent film actresses Category:American stage actresses Category:People associated with tarot Category:People from Vero Beach, Florida