Evelyn Finley (March 11, 1916 – April 7, 1989) was an American B-movie actress and stuntwoman of the 1940s through the 1980s, mostly in western films. Sometimes she is credited as Eve Anderson.
Born in Douglas, Arizona, Finley, an accomplished equestrian, started off as a stuntwoman in the 1936 film The Texas Rangers, playing the stunt double to actress Jean Parker, then later in the 1939 film The Light That Failed. She began acting in the early 1940s, on contract with Monogram Pictures, often starring opposite Tom Keene and Tex Ritter. Her first acting film role was alongside Ritter, in Arizona Frontier, released in 1940. In 1942 she starred opposite Max Terhune and Dave Sharpe in Trail Riders, and in 1943 she again starred alongside Max Terhune, with Ray "Crash" Corrigan, in Cowboy Commandos.
Through the remainder of the 1940s and well into the 1950s, she starred and performed stunts in numerous films, most notably Ghost Guns in 1944 and Sundown Riders in 1948. In Ghost Guns, she starred in the lead role, and also performed her own stunts, a regular event throughout her early career, and she received high praise for her riding stunts in that movie.
She has often been called one of the greatest horseback riders in film history, joining the company of Nell O'Day and Betty Miles. Despite her age, she continued to work in the stunt business, either as an advisor or as an actual stunt performer, into the mid-1980s. Her last film in which she worked as a stunt technical advisor was the 1985 film Silverado, starring Kevin Costner and Scott Glenn. She died of heart failure on April 7, 1989, in Big Bear City, California, at the age of 73.
Stunts
1964
Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (stunts - uncredited)
1964
The Virginian (TV Series) (stunt double - 1 episode) - The Long Quest (1964) - (stunt double: Patricia Breslin - uncredited)
1960
Swiss Family Robinson (stunts - uncredited)
1955
Blood Alley (stunts - uncredited)
1954
The Adventures of Hajji Baba (stunts - uncredited)
1954
Elephant Walk (stunts - uncredited)
1953
The Man from the Alamo (stunt double: Julie Adams - uncredited)
1953
Ambush at Tomahawk Gap (stunt double: Maria Elena Marques - uncredited)
1953
One Girl's Confession (stunts - uncredited)
1952
Woman of the North Country (stunts - uncredited)
1952
Scaramouche (stunts - uncredited)
1951
Westward the Women (stunts - uncredited)
1951
Across the Wide Missouri (stunt double: Maria Elena Marques - uncredited)
1950
Mule Train (stunt double: Sheila Ryan - uncredited)
1949
The Cowboy and the Indians (stunt double: Sheila Ryan - uncredited)
1948
Sheriff of Medicine Bow (stunts - uncredited)
1945
Along Came Jones (stunt riding double: Loretta Young - uncredited)
1944
Sundown Riders (stunts - uncredited)
1944
Ghost Guns (stunts - uncredited)
1944
Take It Big (stunt double: Harriet Hilliard - uncredited)
1944
Valley of Vengeance (stunts - uncredited)
1943
Jack London (stunts - uncredited)
1943
Cowboy Commandos (stunts - uncredited)
1942
Home in Wyomin' (stunt double: Fay McKenzie - uncredited)
1942
Cowboy Serenade (stunt double: Fay McKenzie - uncredited)
1942
Man from Cheyenne (stunt double: Gale Storm - uncredited)
1941
Red River Valley (stunt riding double: Gale Storm - uncredited)
1941
Jesse James at Bay (stunt double: Gale Storm - uncredited)
1939
The Light That Failed (stunts - uncredited)
1936
The Texas Rangers (stunt double: Jean Parker - uncredited)
Actress
1974
Freebie and the Bean as
Old Lady in Bed (uncredited)
1957
The Guns of Fort Petticoat as
Blonde in Combat Practice (uncredited)
1956
Perils of the Wilderness as
Donna Blaine (as Eve Anderson)
1953
The Diamond Queen as
Slave Girl
1952
The Adventures of Kit Carson (TV Series) as
Letty Davis
- Trail to Old Sonora (1952) - Letty Davis
1952
The Roy Rogers Show (TV Series) as
Ruby Barton
- The Hermit's Secret (1952) - Ruby Barton
1951
Westward the Women as
Pioneer Woman (uncredited)
1951
Across the Wide Missouri as
Squaw (uncredited)
1948
Gunning for Justice as
Winnie Stewart
1948
Sheriff of Medicine Bow as
Nan Prentiss
1945
Prairie Rustlers as
Helen Foster
1944
Sundown Riders as
Donna Frazier
1944
Take It Big as
Violet Thompson (uncredited)
1944
Valley of Vengeance as
Helen Miller
1943
Jack London as
Freda's Indian Maid (uncredited)
1943
Black Market Rustlers as
Linda Prescott
1943
Cowboy Commandos as
Joan Cameron
1942
Trail Riders as
Mary Rand
1941
Dynamite Canyon as
Midge Reed
1940
Arizona Frontier as
Honey Lane