Facts

Evelyn Keyes, 89, star of such Hollywood classics as "The Jolson Story, Here Comes Mr. Jordan" and "The Seven Year Itch," was best known as Scarlet O'Hara's jilted sister in "Gone With The Wind."

Artie Shaw was one of the biggest names in the jazz scene in the 1930s and 1940s, together with such artists as Tommy Dorsey and Glenn Miller. In 1954, Shaw gave up the clarinet and never played publicly again. Shaw married eight times the last and longest marriage was to actress Evelyn Keyes. Married from 1957 to 1985, they were separated in 1970.

By then, Artie Shaw, who had earned $60,000 weekly in the 1930s and 1940s, was broke and embroiled in litigation with Paramount Pictures, the Harold Ober Agency, Time/Life Records and RCA Victor, among others. To fund his lawsuits, he convinced Evelyn Keyes to give him her earnings from her years of touring in the musical "No No Nanette." In addition, while she was out of the country, Shaw sold her valuable art collection.

On Nov. 19, 1976, Shaw sent Keyes a two-page Letter Agreement promising to share the proceeds from his lawsuits with her and they mutually agreed to leave each other at least one-half of their estates. Shaw's lawsuits met with only minimal success and few payments were made to Keyes. The parties' marriage was dissolved in an uncontested divorce in June 1985. Shaw cut her out of his will in 1988 and named A. Edward Ezor, his attorney, executor of his estate and primary beneficiary, in trust, for The Artie Shaw Foundation.

Following Shaw's death on Dec. 30, 2004, Evelyn Keyes made her claim to one-half of the estate of Artie Shaw, which Ezor promptly rejected.

CONTENTIONS:
According to plaintiff, Henry Gradstein, Ezor denied any knowledge of the Nov. 19, 1976 Letter Agreement and said that the divorce extinguished any testamentary expectations Keyes may have had. However, the Court ruled that the dissolution of marriage had no legal affect on the Nov. 19, 1976 Letter Agreement.

Result

The jury concluded that Keyes was entitled to enforce Shaw's promise to leave her one-half of his estate. The jury awarded $1,420,000, as requested by plaintiff.

Deliberation

90 minutes

Length

6 days