Ilka Chase

Chase, Ilka (1905–78), actress and writer. She was born in New York and educated at private schools there and in France. Chase made her Broadway debut in 1924 and was soon cast as friends of the heroine or tough, worldly women. Perhaps her archetypal role was the backbiting Park Avenue wife Sylvia in The Women (1936). She served as the London correspondent to Vogue magazine (of which her mother was editor), also wrote plays, a few of which she appeared in, and novels. Autobiographies: Past Imperfect, 1945; Free Admission,1948.