The little-known story of Dr. Audrey Evans, a trailblazing pediatric oncologist whose work saved generations of children and whose vision birthed the global network of Ronald McDonald House Charities, comes to life in “Audrey’s Children,” starring “Game of Thrones” actress Natalie Dormer.
“When I read the script, I just couldn’t believe that I’d never heard her name before,” the 43-year-old award-winning actress told The Christian Post. “And having read the story, I couldn’t believe that she wasn’t a household name. So I thought any film that is offering me the opportunity to play such a pioneering, incredible human being … I’m going to have to say yes to.”
Directed by Ami Canaan Mann, “Audrey’s Children” unfolds in 1969 Philadelphia, at a time when women in medicine were still anomalies and the survival rate for pediatric cancer hovered at a grim 10%.
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Born in England in 1925, Evans, a devout Christian, overcame the odds before she even set foot in an American hospital.
In an era where British women were discouraged from entering medicine, she became a Fulbright Scholar and crossed the Atlantic, eventually landing at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP).
Over her 40-year career, she developed new methods to diagnose and treat neuroblastoma, served as head of oncology at CHOP and co-founded Ronald McDonald House Charities, now present in more than 60 countries.
By the time of her death in 2022, Evans had changed the lives of millions.
Now, with “Audrey’s Children,” Dormer hopes that legacy will reach even further. “There couldn’t be a better moment for a film that speaks to what the individual can achieve,” she said. “With everything happening in the world at the moment … it just goes to show how much there is in common between the 1960s and now.”
“Audrey’s Children” portrays Evans as fearless, often facing off against bureaucrats and condescending male colleagues, yet always grounded by her faith and unwavering love for her patients — the “children” in the film’s title.
“I was just profoundly impressed by her,” Dormer said. “She’d wanted to be a doctor since she was a little girl in the U.K. In the 50s, there was going to be no chance of that. So she upped sticks, moved to America. … She just came at her passion to help children from every angle until she could make it happen.”
Evans didn’t just make it happen; she transformed the field. As one of the world’s foremost experts on neuroblastoma, a deadly pediatric cancer, Evans developed what became known as the “Evans staging system,” a new method to determine the severity and spread of the disease.
Her work helped pioneer chemotherapy protocols for children, cutting mortality rates dramatically. Later, she co-founded the very first Ronald McDonald House — a place where families of seriously ill children could stay together, free of charge, near the hospital.
“The fact that all these amazing positive results and energy could come from one woman — I was just a bit blown away by, to be honest with you,” Dormer said.
While Dormer shoulders the weight of portraying a medical legend, she’s quick to credit “Audrey’s Children” screenwriter and producer Julia Fisher Farbman — a close family friend of Dr. Evans — for giving the film its intimate heartbeat.
“Julia is, to all intents and purposes, like Audrey’s honorary goddaughter,” Dormer explained. “She’d been a family friend her entire life and childhood. She grew up with this woman.”
Farbman embedded Dormer and the rest of the cast — including Jimmi Simpson as Dr. Dan D’Angio and Brandon Micheal Hall as Dr. Brian — into the broader Philadelphia medical community, Dormer revealed. CHOP, where Evans worked for decades, opened its doors, with colleagues, former patients and friends coming forward to share memories.
“We were really embraced,” Dormer recalled. “It’s like we felt the support of the city. … People sitting down with us, telling us stories, hours and hours of talking about who they were and what they did.”
Dormer also had a rare chance to meet Evans herself. Though the doctor passed away during the film’s production, Dormer was able to sit with her beforehand. “I was able to sit down with Audrey and hold her hand before she passed,” she said. “We were plugged in … mainline plugged into the very, very core of the story.”
In the film, rated PG, Dormer masterfully portrays Evans as both saintly and steely, a woman of deep compassion, spiritual conviction and unrelenting willpower. She is tender with patients, for example, but fierce in meetings with medical boards.
“Audrey … was deeply empathetic and absolutely unafraid to challenge the status quo,” Dormer said.
The actress emphasized that “Audrey’s Children” is, at its heart, a story about resistance: a doctor pushing past red tape and discrimination to get life-saving trials funded and a visionary fighting for families too poor to afford proximity to care.
One recurring thread in the film shows Evans discovering that families were pulling their children from treatment because they had no place to stay in the city, a realization that led to the creation of the Ronald McDonald House. The film culminates in Evans securing funding — first from the Philadelphia Eagles, then from McDonald’s itself — to build the house.
“[Audrey] said to Julia that Julia was only allowed to make the film if it would make a difference to children’s lives,” Dormer said. “She was like, if it will make a difference to children … then go ahead.”
“Still, pediatric cancer needs funding,” she added. “Audrey had hoped that cancer would be licked, as she said, before she left this mortal world. And that has not quite happened. … The work continues.”
Dormer hopes that audiences come away not only with admiration for Evans but also with a challenge to themselves.
“I think it’s a story about what you can do within your lane,” she said. “You can’t fix everything … but you can work out what you can achieve, what is doable, within your remit. … Focus on what you can do for the greater good. Keep asking until they say yes. Don’t take no for an answer.”
“Audrey’s Children” hits theaters on Friday.
Leah M. Klett is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: leah.klett@christianpost.com
