Emily Stevens (actress) - Death

Death

Emily Stevens died in her apartment at 50 West 67th Street, New York City, in 1928. She was 45 and unmarried and childless. She was survived by a brother, Robert Stevens, the first managing director of the Rochester Community Players in Rochester, New York. Stevens was to have begun rehearsals for a revival of Diplomacy, by Victorien Sardou, in the near future. George C. Tyler was play's producer.

A medical examiner, Dr. Charles Norris, said he found indications that Stevens had taken an overdose of a drug. Dr. Milton J. Wilson believed that Stevens had taken a sedative which did not contain an opiate. Wilson was called to Stevens' apartment the day before her death after she was found in a coma. He contended that pneumonia was the cause of the actress' death. Pneumonia developed after she lapsed into a coma.

Stevens was under the care of a neurologist for a year before she died. She had been treated for a nervous breakdown. Wilson attended Stevens over the Christmas and New Year's holidays in the absence of her neurologist. He found Stevens in a highly nervous state about a week before her demise. Wilson administered a hypodermic injection to which Stevens responded successfully.

An autopsy revealed the official cause of death to be congestion of the viscera, which may have occurred from pneumonia that developed suddenly.

Stevens' funeral was conducted from her apartment. She was given an Episcopal service after which her body was taken to New Jersey for cremation.