Evelyn Ward (May 21, 1923 – December 23, 2012) was an American actress known from her stage musical performances and television appearances. Her son is actor/singer David Cassidy.Ward was born and raised in West Orange, New Jersey, the daughter of Ethel Laurinda (née Wheeler) and Frederick Ward. She was of Colonial American, Irish, and Swiss descent. Her ancestors were among the founders of Newark, New Jersey.Ward began her performing career as a teenager dancing with the Roxyettes at the Roxy Theater. After understudying Mary Martin in the musical Dancing in the Streets - which closed "out of town" in the spring of 1943 - Ward made her Broadway debut that summer in the musical Early to Bed. Her subsequent Broadway musical credits include The Firebrand of Florence (1945), Spring in Brazil (1945), Billion Dollar Baby (1946), and Along Fifth Avenue (1949). Wikipedia