Frederick Joseph McEvoy (abt. 1907 - 1951)

Born about 12 Feb 1907 in Saint Kilda, Victoria, Australia

Ancestors

Husband of Beatrice Mai (Benjamin) Cartwright — married May 1940 (to about 1942) in Paris, Paris, Ile-de-France, France

Husband of Irene Margaret (Wrightsman) Cernadas — married 15 Feb 1943 in California, United States

Died 7 Nov 1951 at about age 44 in At Sea

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Ken McEvoy [send private message] and Leigh Taffe [send private message]

Biography

Frederick McEvoy is Notable.

Frederick Joseph McEvoy was born in St Kilda, Victoria, Australia on 12 February 1907, the son of New Zealand-born Violet Healy and Melbourne native Frederick Aloysius McEvoy. Online birth records have his middle name as Jas which is short for James.

After the death of his father the family moved to England early in his life. McEvoy was given the nickname of "Suicide Freddie" because of his love of danger both in life and in sport. He was a rival of fellow racing driver and playboy Porfirio Rubirosa.

He was a multi-discipline sportsman and socialite. He had most sporting success as a bobsledder in the late 1930s, winning several medals including three golds at the FIBT World Championships and a bronze medal at the 1936 winter Olympic games. He married three wealthy heiresses and was a close friend of Errol Flynn. He usually shortened his name to Freddie McEvoy and was nicknamed "Suicide Freddie".

McEvoy was married several times:

• In 1940 he married Beatrice Cartwright, a member of the Pratt family and heir to a fortune from Standard Oil; she was twice his age and had lived with McEvoy for several years before their marriage. The union did not last, and in 1942 Cartwright accused McEvoy of being unfaithful with "three well-known society women";
• In February 1943, McEvoy married Irene Margaret Wrightsman, the daughter of Charles B. Wrightsman, the president of Standard Oil of Kansas. Wrightsman was 18 at the time of their wedding, nearly half his age. Wrightsman was disinherited by her father after she eloped and the marriage lasted just two years;
• In 1945 he met Barbara Hutton, another wealthy heiress who had just divorced third husband Cary Grant. The couple were never wed, though Hutton bought a chalet at a ski resort in Franconia, New Hampshire and they lived together for a time;
• McEvoy went on to marry Claude Stephanie Filatre, a French fashion model, in 1949.

McEvoy, his wife, and several others were sailing from Tangier to the Bahamas on his 104-ton schooner, Kangaroo, on 7 November 1951. Just off the coast of Morocco a storm wrecked the ship and McEvoy swam to shore to look for help, leaving Claude Stephanie afloat on the mast. He was unable to find any assistance and returned to his wife. The pair tried to swim back to land but the waves were too strong. Their bodies and those of four others were discovered the following day.

Sources

• Victoria BDM records. Birth reg 6449/1907.
• wikipedia:Frederick_McEvoy
• This WikiTree profile is referenced from Wikidata: Item Q3433453, en:Wikipedia
• Walker, Frank, The Scandalous Freddie McEvoy, Hachette Australia, Sep 25, 2018, ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07D1338FG
• Fred McEvoy on IMDB
• "Suicide Freddie McEvoy" Biography at Olympedia

See also:

• https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmXoypizjW3WknFiJnKLwHCnL72vedxjQkDDP1mXWo6uco/wiki/Frederick_McEvoy.html
• https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/mc/freddie-mcevoy-1.html
• Ancestry.com. Australia, Birth Index, 1788-1922 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.
• Marriage Record of Frederick J Mcevoy and Irene M Wrightsman, 15 Feb 1943, California, County Birth, Marriage, and Death Records, 1830-1980. California Department of Public Health, courtesy of www.vitalsearch-worldwide.com. Digital Images.
• "Australia, Victoria, Index to Probate Registers, 1841-1989," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JVHY-DYX : 9 March 2018), Frederick J Mcevoy, 23 Jul 1968; citing Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, series 673, record 901, Public Record Office, Victoria; FamilySearch digital folder 004105318.