The newest additions to each section below are listed first

• Nancy's daughter Patricia Kirkland Bevan described her mother as " The Bravest of the brave. " , who was excited by dangerous feats. Additionally, she was unfazed by earthquakes. In 1933, Nancy was attending a theatre performance when a major earthquake errupted. As panic set in, Nancy took the stage and proceeded to use humor to calm the audience so they could be evacuated safely.
  

• A a youngster Nancy lived in the tenements that stood where Lincoln Center is now. She used to refer to Tenth Avenue as " Double Fifth Avenue ".
  

• Some of Nancy's earlier stage performances include such dandies as " Loose Ankles ", "Undesirable Lady ", and " Chicago ".
  

• The role of Nora in " I Will Love You Always " was written especially for Nancy.
  

• Had Nancy remained in Hollywood, she may have become a motion picture director.
  

• Nancy loved to travel. Whenever she wasn't working and had the chance to travel, she did so!
  

• Nancy was a talented artist and painted enough pieces to have her paintings exhibited.
  

• Although several recipes have been attributed to Nancy in celebrity cookbooks, she wasn't as good a cook as the Hollywood publicity machine led fans to believe. Not only was Nancy a terrible cook, so was Mother Lahiff. When Nancy's daughter Patricia Bevan was interviewed by film historian Dan Van Neste in 2000, she told him " My grandmother and my mother could not cook worth a damn. Everything was boiled or stuck in the oven in hopes that the oven would do the job! " * another myth perpetuated by Hollywood
  

• Nancy was known to have a phenomenal memory. She was capable of repeating speeches verbatim that she had heard only once!
  

• Nancy is alleged to have had a short, but torrid affair with Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. Read about it HERE
  

• Nancy was forced to wear a wig when she filmed " Undercover Man " with George Raft. Her hair was damaged, actually burned, by a hairdresser!
  

• Both Nancy and her daughter were attracted to literary, scholarly men. Nancy's first two husbands were writers, and Patricia Kirkland married Donald Bevan, author of Stalag 17.
  

• While still a stage chorine, Nancy had many wealthy admirers. She ignored them all. Instead, she favored the affections of talented, but modestly salaried newspaperman Jim Kirkland. Kirkland later became Nancy's first husband and the father of her only child.
  

• At one point in Nancy's life she had to surround herself with bodyguards as a result of extortion attempts made against her. She was one of several stars terrorized by mobsters.
  

• Nancy's favorite form of exercise was dancing.
  

• Despite the fact that Nancy was a delicate, fair-skinned redhead, she adored the beach and the sun! According to Nancy's daughter this is another fabrication. When telling Dan Van Neste about Nancy's passions, Nancy's daughter Patricia said, "But deep sea fishing she just adored and was damned good at, as long as she stayed out of the sun. Redheads, sunburn!" -- so much for sun-loving, eh ?
  

• Nancy was an ardent lover of all sports. She rarely missed a football or baseball game. She personally played tennis and golf quite well and also enjoyed horseback riding. She was also an excellent swimmer.
  Ouch! Baseball she liked, football perhaps, but the rest is simply not true -- more Hollywood bunk. Ms. Bevan set the record straight with film historian-writer Dan Van Neste. She said this about her mother and sports, " Being a city girl, she didn't play tennis, golf, or swim. None of those things!"
  

• Nancy suffered a " nervous breakdown " when she was still married to James Kirkland and went to Honolulu to rest.
  

• During Nancy's Hollywood years,she often challenged magazine writers to *prove* she was " temperamental ".
  

• In California, Nancy worshiped at "The Church of the Good Shepherd ", and in New York, at " St. Patrick's Cathedral " .
  
  
  
• In 1935, Nancy received her mail at 806 N. Camden Dr. Beverly Hills, California.
  

• Nancy was 5'4" tall and weighed in at 118 lbs.
  

• Nancy had a dog named " Socky ".
  

• Gary Cooper once said that he hoped to find the kind of delicate expression and charm of Nancy, in his dream girl.
  

• Word that Nancy could be " difficult ", first surfaced during the filming of the movie " Sweetie" in 1929!
  

• Nancy was a dog-lover. A Wire-hair terrier was among her favorites. Nancy's philosophy was " Love me, love my dog!"
  

• Nancy was known as a good cook.(refer to an above tidbit to get the real lowdown on Nancy's cooking). It was said she could cook as well as " kick and trill ". Furthermore, " She juggles spices and sauces with all the sangfroid of a good old-fashioned housekeeper."
  

• Nancy was a smashing success when she played the part of Roxie Hart in the Hollywood Music Box production of " Chicago " She left the show after losing her voice. A short while later she made her first Hollywood movie, " Ladies Must Dress."
  

• Nancy's small, straight nose was considered the most perfect nose in Hollywood.
  

• Nancy did her best to shield her daughter Patricia from the movie magazines and newspapers. She felt strongly that Patricia was entitled to privacy during her childhood.
  

• Nancy's photos and postcards still sell like hotcakes today, 70 years after she secured her place in Hollywood history. During the 1970s,her photos were so popular that memorabilia stores couldn't keep them in stock!
  

• Nancy originally hoped to be a school teacher when she grew up.
  

• Nancy's beautiful face was considered a hindrance in Hollywood. It was felt that it would come across as being too full on screen.
  

• Only weeks before Nancy gave birth to her daughter,she insisted on crossing the Atlantic and returning home from France to New York by ocean liner. What a trouper!!
  

• According to a great~niece of Nancy's, Christin Semprebon, Nancy occasionally affected an accent when she spoke with her relatives.
  

• Many believe the only reason Norma Shearer beat Nancy out for the Academy Award in 1930 is because Norma was married to the powerful studio boy-wonder, Irving Thalberg.
  

• Legend has it Ethel Barrymore once ordered drapes, giving the designer instructions that they were to be the color blue of Nancy Carroll's eyes. They must have been one beautiful set of drapes!
  

• Nancy's Uncle Billy Lahiff, owner of the "Tavern", a popular Manhattan restaurant, recommended Ruby Stevens, for a part in " The Noose ". Ruby later found fame as Barbara Stanwyck.
  

• Cary Grant credits Nancy for having taught him how to act and emote in front of a camera. They did a lot of emoting during the filming of " Hot Saturday ".
  

• The luck 'o the Irish was with Nancy from the beginning, as she was the seventh child of a seventh child.
  

• Nancy and Joan Crawford appeared together in a stage show, " The Passing Show of 1924 ", long before either of them made their way to Hollywood.
  

• Nancy's sister Terry Carroll was also an actress. They played sisters in the movie " Personal Maid "
  

• Nancy took her stage surname from friend " Buddy Carroll " when he helped Terry and Nancy enter an "Amateur Night" contest.
  

• Nancy was forced to drop school in favor of work despite her excellent academic record. Later in life she went on to college and was even asked to teach some courses.
  

  What was happening in the U.S. in 1929, the year Nancy's star began to rapidly ascend ?

  
  

• The President of the U.S. was Herbert Hoover
  

• Construction began on the Empire State Building in NYC.
  

• The infamous " Saint Valentine's Day Massacre " took place in Chicago
  

• The NYSE averages broke previous records and experienced what has been referred to as a " Golden Summer "
  

• The stock market crashed, signaling the beginning of the Great Depression
  

• " Broadway Melody " and " The Hollywood Revue of 1929 " were hit Hollywood musicals of the day.
  

• Actress Audrey Hepburn was born.
  

• " Am I Blue ? " and " Tip-toe Thru the Tulips " were popular songs around the country
  

  So, what was happening around the country in 1927, the year Nancy first made an impression in Hollywood ?

  
  

• The President of the United States was Calvin Coolidge.
  

• The Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences was founded.
  

• Gene Tunney was the Heavyweight Boxing Champion of the World.
  

• With all their appeals denied, Sacco and Vanzetti were executed.
  

• Lita Grey and Charlie Chaplin divorced.
  

• Three million vehicles were sold in the U.S.
  

• The N.Y. Yankees won the World Series and are still considered to be the greatest baseball team of all-time.
  

• The average worker earned approximately $1,400 per year and the average farmer earned $400 per year.
  

• U.S. Aviator Charles Lindbergh made the first non-stop solo transatlantic flight in The Spirit of St. Louis.
  

• The star athletes of the era were Babe Ruth (baseball), Bobby Jones (golf), Bill Tilden and Helen Wills (tennis)
  

• Famous writers of the era were F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemmingway, Sinclair Lewis, Edna St. Vincent Millay ( also a talented poet), Eugene O'Neill and Langston Hughes.
  

• Ford ceased making the Model T.