Judith Evelyn may not be the most famous actor or actress to come out of South Dakota, but that doesn't mean she didn't have a career in the movies that most of us would envy.

And Seneca may not be the biggest city in the state of South Dakota, but that doesn't mean it isn't one of the best communities in the state!

So what is this, about this lady named Judith and this town named Seneca?

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Let's take the town first. Seneca is a great little community in Faulk County, up in the North Central...or maybe North-East part of the state, depending on where you're looking at it from. 38 friendly people strong (at least according to the 2010 census), it was 'laid out in 1887 and named after Seneca Falls, New York.

And it was in Seneca, South Dakota that Evelyn Morris was born, some years later to be known as Judith Evelyn in Hollywood. She was raised in Canada and began a career in acting.

True, she's nowhere near as famous as, say, James Stewart or Elizabeth Taylor or as legendary as James Dean. But guess what?

She acted in movies with them all.

According to Wikipedia.com, in 1956 she played Nancy Lynnton in 'Giant' which starred Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, and James Dean. But perhaps most memorably, she was 'Miss Lonleyhearts', the lonely alcoholic spied on by James Stewart in Alfred Hitchcock's 1954 iconic thriller 'Rear Window'.

And by the way, in 1939, she and her husband survived the sinking of the SS Athenia, the first British passenger liner to be sunk by a German submarine in World War II. That was, perhaps, her most important role of all!

Judith passed away from cancer in 1967 at the much too young age of 58. But the next time your motoring around our great state and find yourself in Faulk County, stop in and say hi to the folks of Judith Evelyn's hometown, Seneca. You'll find yourself in another of South Dakota's friendly towns.

Information From Wikipedia Contributed To This Article

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