{{Short description|American actress (1914–1990)}} {{for|the TV producer of a similar name|Helen Whitney}} {{Use American English|date=January 2026}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2026}} {{Infobox person | name = Helene Whitney | image = Actress Helen Fortescue Reynolds, Los Angeles, 1930s, cropped.jpg | caption = Whitney (as Fortescue Reynolds) in Los Angeles, 1930s | birth_name = Kenyon Fortescue | birth_date = {{Birth date|1914|7|4}} | birth_place = Brussels, Belgium | death_date = {{Death date and age|1990|3|28|1914|7|4}} | death_place = Atlantis, Florida, U.S. | years_active = 1939–1948 | other_names = Helen Fortescue<br>Joyce Gardner<br>Helene Reynolds | spouse = J. Louis Reynolds (1936–1939; divorced) | parents = Granville Roland Fortescue<br />Grace Fortescue }}
'''Helene Whitney''' (born '''Kenyon Fortescue''', July 4, 1914 – March 28, 1990) was an American actress who appeared in films in the late 1930s and 1940s. She was known as '''Helene Reynolds''' after her marriage.
==Biography== Whitney was born Kenyon Fortescue in 1914, but was known as Helene.<ref name="OBHS">{{cite news|url=http://www.oysterbayhistory.org/freeres.html|title=Those Other Roosevelts: The Fortescues|last=Spinzia|first=Raymond E.|work=THE FREEHOLDER: Magazine Online|publisher=The Oyster Bay Historical Society|accessdate=2009-01-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081207020930/http://www.oysterbayhistory.org/freeres.html|archive-date=2008-12-07|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=Aoverview>[https://www.ancestry.com/genealogy/records/kenyon-helene-fortescue_32656870 Ancestry.co Historical Person Overview: Kenyon "Helene" Fortescue], accessed May 2017.</ref> Through her mother, Grace Fortescue, she was a grandniece (and cousin twice removed) of Alexander Graham Bell, who invented the telephone. Through her father Granville Roland Fortescue, she was a first cousin once removed of US President Theodore Roosevelt.
She grew up in Washington D.C. where she attended the National Cathedral School for Girls.<ref name="WP90">{{cite news|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/8430485.html?dids=8430485:8430485&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=MAR+31%2C+1990&author=&pub=The+Washington+Post|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120730185356/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/8430485.html?dids=8430485:8430485&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=MAR+31,+1990&author=&pub=The+Washington+Post|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 30, 2012|title=Obituary: Helene Fortescue Reynolds|date=Mar 31, 1990|newspaper=The Washington Post|page=B5|accessdate=October 15, 2010}}</ref> She married Julian Louis Reynolds,<ref name=Aoverview /> son of Richard S. Reynolds, Sr.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Milestones|date=July 27, 1936|magazine=Time|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,847779,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081215075056/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,847779,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 15, 2008|accessdate=October 15, 2010}}</ref> and heir to the Reynolds aluminum and tobacco fortunes, on July 15, 1936, in Washington, becoming Helene Fortescue Reynolds.<ref name="WP032639">{{cite news|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost_historical/access/286990132.html?dids=286990132:286990132&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&date=Mar+26%2C+1939&author=&pub=The+Washington+Post++(1877-1954)&edition=&startpage=5&desc=Helene+Reyonlds+To+Seek+%27Friendly+Divorce%27+in+Reno|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130131183029/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost_historical/access/286990132.html?dids=286990132:286990132&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&date=Mar+26,+1939&author=&pub=The+Washington+Post++(1877-1954)&edition=&startpage=5&desc=Helene+Reyonlds+To+Seek+'Friendly+Divorce'+in+Reno|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 31, 2013|title=Helene Reyonlds To Seek Friendly Divorce in Reno|date=Mar 26, 1939|newspaper=The Washington Post|accessdate=2009-01-03}}</ref> After three years of marriage, they divorced in May 1939.<ref name="WP032639"/><ref>{{cite news|last=Fine|first=Mary Jane|url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=PI&s_site=philly&p_multi=PI&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB296FD74876AA5&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM|title=Reliving a scandalous past|date=January 23, 1984|work=The Philadelphia Inquirer|accessdate=2009-01-03}} "The papers crowed about the wedding, when Helen Fortescue and Julian Reynolds married on July 15, 1936, in Washington, DC, where Helene had grown up. They gloated over the divorce a few years later in story after sparing nary a detail.... The divorce was granted in May of 1939."</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1939/03/28/archives/to-divorce-reynolds-former-helen-fortesque-at-reno-mrs-ch-palmer.html|title=Former Helen Fortesque at Reno to divorce Reynolds|date=March 28, 1939|work=The New York Times|pages=2|accessdate=2009-01-03}} "Mrs. Helen E. Fortesque Reynolds arrived here today by plane from New York, prepared to take up residence to divorce Julian Louis Reynolds, tobacco heir."</ref>
She became an actress, using the stage names of Joyce Gardner, Helene Whitney and Helene Reynolds, appeared in films in the late 1930s and 1940s and later in stage productions.<ref name="WP90"/> After her acting career ended, she became a Manhattan art gallery proprietor and artist in the 1960s.<ref name="OBHS"/> She died of pneumonia at the John F. Kennedy Medical Center in Atlantis, Florida aged 75 on March 28, 1990.<ref name="WP90"/>
==Filmography== As '''Helene Whitney/Helen Whitney''' {| class="wikitable" ! Year !! Title !! Role !! |- | 1939 || ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame'' || Fleur de Lys ||[https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9E01E3DB133EE23ABC4953DFB766838B659EDE NYT] |- | 1940 || ''The Saint's Double Trouble'' || Anne Bitts ||[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033014 IMDb] |- | 1940 || ''Millionaire Playboy'' aka ''Glamour Boy'' (UK) || uncredited ||[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032795 IMDb] |- | 1940 || ''The Philadelphia Story'' || Main Line Society Woman ||[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032904/ IMDb] |- | 1941 || ''City of Missing Girls'' || Katherine Crawford ||[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033469 IMDb] |- |}
As '''Helene Reynolds''' {| class="wikitable" ! Year !! Title !! Role !! |- | 1941 || ''Confirm or Deny'' || Dorothy ||[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033486 IMDb] |- | 1941 || ''Blue, White and Perfect'' || Helen Shaw ||[https://web.archive.org/web/20121106150140/http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/85534/Blue-White-and-Perfect/overview NYT] |- | 1942 || ''Girl Trouble'' || Helen Martin ||[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034794 IMDb] |- | 1942 || ''Roxie Hart'' || Velma Wall ||[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035272 IMDb] |- | 1942 || ''Tales of Manhattan'' || Actress ||[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035415 IMDb] |- | 1942 || ''Moontide'' || Woman in boat||[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035082 IMDb] |- | 1942 || ''The Man Who Wouldn't Die'' || Anna Wolff||[https://web.archive.org/web/20090518003937/http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/101429/The-Man-Who-Wouldn-t-Die/overview NYT] |- | 1943 || ''Dixie Dugan'' || Jean Patterson||[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035811 IMDb] |- | 1943 || ''Heaven Can Wait'' || Peggy Nash||[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035979 IMdb] |- | 1943 || ''Wintertime'' ||Marian Daly (uncredited)||[https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9C01E2D8103CEE3BBC4850DFBF668388659EDE NYT] |- | 1943 || ''The Meanest Man in the World''{{0}}||Wife (Park Ave. Neighbor)||[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036149 IMDb] |- | 1944 || ''Bermuda Mystery'' ||Angela||[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036638 IMDb] |- |}
==Television== As '''Helene Reynolds''' {| class="wikitable" ! Year !! Title !! Role !! |- | 1945 || ''The Front Page'' || Mollie Malloy||[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0309615/ IMDb] |- | 1948 || ''Mirage in Manhattan'' (Chevrolet Tele-Theatre) || ||[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0540022 IMDb] |- |}
==Stage== *''Oh, Captain!'' (February 4, 1958 – July 19, 1958) *''Happy Hunting'' (December 6, 1956 – November 30, 1957) *''Call Me Madam'' (October 12, 1950 – May 3, 1952) *''Miss Liberty'' (July 15, 1949 – April 8, 1950) *''High Button Shoes'' (October 9, 1947 – July 2, 1949) *''Yours Is My Heart'' (September 5, 1946 – October 5, 1946)
==Family tree== {{Hubbard-Fortestcue family tree}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{IMDb name|0926300}} *{{IBDB name}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitney, Helene}} Category:1914 births Category:1990 deaths Category:20th-century American actresses Category:20th-century American singers Category:20th-century American women singers Category:American film actresses Category:American musical theatre actresses Category:American people of Dutch descent Category:Deaths from pneumonia in Florida Category:National Cathedral School alumni Category:Roosevelt family Category:Gardiner family Category:Schuyler family