Ilka Chase (April 8, 1905 – February 15, 1978)[1] was an American actress, radio host, and novelist whose career spanned stage, film, and television.

Chase also played a significant role in early radio and television, hosting several programs that reached a broad audience.

Her memoirs and novels provide valuable insights into American culture during the mid-twentieth century, making her a subject of lasting interest for both readers and scholars.

Chase was born in New York City and educated at convent and boarding schools in the United States, England, and France.

[3] After graduating from France's Château de Groslay boarding school, Chase made her society debut in December 1923 at a celebrity-studded banquet hosted by Edna at the Cosmopolitan Club in New York City.

[5] Her stage appearances included roles in Days Without End, Forsaking All Others, While Parents Sleep, Small Miracle, On to Fortune, Tampico, Co-Respondent Unknown, Keep Off the Grass, and In Bed We Cry, an adaptation of her novel of the same name.

[citation needed] In 1957, Chase performed the role of the Stepmother in the television production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, which starred Julie Andrews.

The couple met while performing in summer stock with the George Cukor Company in Rochester, New York, married in June 1926, and divorced six months later, in February 1927.

[citation needed] She next wed William Buckley Murray, a former music critic of The Brooklyn Daily Eagle and onetime executive of NBC, in Greenwich, Connecticut, on 13 July 1935.