Helen Avis Drexel

Helen Avis Drexel (November 19, 1911 – November 20, 1974) was an American silent-film actress and heiress. She rose to prominence through her appearance in the John Berendt non-fictional novel Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1994), in which she was a composite character named Serena Dawes.

Helen Avis Drexel
Born
Helen Avis Howard

November 19, 1911
Atlanta, Georgia, United States
DiedNovember 20, 1974(1974-11-20) (aged 63)
Savannah, Georgia, United States

Life and career
Drexel lived at 17 West Gordon Street in Savannah's Monterey Square

Helen Avis Howard was born on November 19, 1911, in Atlanta, Georgia, the only child of Clinton Chappell Howard and Belle Allen Barber.[1]

She attended Washington Seminary in Atlanta and the Finch School in New York City.[1]

On August 19, 1933, Howard married Anthony Joseph Drexel III, son of Anthony Joseph Drexel II, whom she met in Nassau, Bahamas.[1] He died on January 14, 1948, at his Wappaoola Plantation,[2] in Charleston, South Carolina, after a souvenir pistol accidentally discharged. He was struck in an artery in his right shoulder. He was 34.[3] The couple had three children: Anthony J. Drexel IV (1934–2020), Clinton Howard Drexel and Helen Diana Drexel.[3] Anthony IV went on to become a major in the United States Air Force. He gave his sister away in her marriage to Gerald Raibourn in 1961. Their brother was an usher.[4] Anthony IV died in 2020, aged 85.

In 1964, Drexel moved to Savannah,[5][6] where she spent the rest of her life. She was often seen having a drink at The Olde Pink House, [7] and lived at 17 West Gordon Street in Monterey Square, adjacent to Jim Williams' Mercer House.[7][8]

Cecil Beaton called Drexel "one of the most perfect natural beauties I've ever photographed."[9]

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
Dorothy Loudon portrayed Serena Dawes in the film adaptation of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

In 1994, John Berendt included a composite version of Drexel, whom he named Serena Dawes, in his cast of characters in his bestselling non-fiction novel Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Berendt's interactions with her were fictitious,[10] however, as she died over a decade before he moved to Savannah.[11] Dorothy Loudon portrayed her in Clint Eastwood's 1997 film adaptation.[12] (Prentiss Crowe's lines about Danny Hansford being "a good time not yet had by all" were instead spoken by Dawes in the film.)

Death

Drexel died on November 20, 1974, aged 63. She is buried beside her husband in Bluffton Cemetery, Bluffton, South Carolina.

References
  1. "HELEN A. HOWARD ENGAGED TO MARRY; Is to Be Bride of Anthony J. Drexel 3d of Philadelphia Banking Family". The New York Times. 16 August 1933. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  2. "Wappaoola Plantation - Berkeley County, South Carolina SC". south-carolina-plantations.com. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
  3. "A.J. DREXEL 3D DIES IN PISTOL ACCIDENT; Member of Banking Family Is Killed in Carolina Showing German Souvenir to Guest". The New York Times. 16 January 1948. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  4. "Helen Diana Drexel Is Married Here; '60 Debutante Wed, to Gerald Raibourn, Princeton 1957". The New York Times. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
  5. "Booked Up in Savannah" - Los Angeles Times, January 8, 1995
  6. "Obituary of Helen Avis Howard". The Atlanta Constitution. 1974-11-23. p. 41. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
  7. "SAVANNAH DAYDREAMS". Orlando Sentinel. 20 August 2000. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
  8. Savannah and Charleston, Fodor's Travel Publications (2002), p. 23 ISBN 9780679008989
  9. "Voodoo Justice". archive.nytimes.com. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
  10. Fishman, Jane. "A new look at lilies and magnolias and collecting". Savannah Morning News. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
  11. "MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF FACT AND FICTION". Washington Examiner. 1996-12-30. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
  12. "The Museum Next Door". Garden & Gun. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
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