Anne Gwynne
Anne Gwynne (born Marguerite Gwynne Trice; December 10, 1918 – March 31, 2003) was an American actress and model who was known as one of the first scream queens because of her numerous appearances in horror films. Gwynne was also one of the most popular pin-ups of World War II. She is the grandmother of actor Chris Pine.
Anne Gwynne | |
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Gwynne in the 1940s | |
Born | Marguerite Gwynne Trice December 10, 1918 Waco, Texas, U.S. |
Died | March 31, 2003 84) | (aged
Occupation | Actress |
Years active | 1939–1970 |
Spouse(s) | Max M. Gilford
( m. 1945; died 1965) |
Children | 2, including Gwynne Gilford |
Relatives |
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Career
Gwynne was born in Waco, Texas, the daughter of Pearl (née Guinn) and Jefferson Benjamin Trice, an apparel manufacturer.[1] After her family moved to St. Louis, Missouri, she attended Stephens College, where she studied drama.[2]
While accompanying her father to a convention in Los Angeles, Gwynne obtained a job modeling for Catalina Swimwear. She soon began acting in small theaters and appeared in a newsreel and a charity short. In June 1939, she signed a contract with Universal and was immediately put to work in Unexpected Father.[2]
Universal cast her in a variety of genres including film noir and musical comedy. She made a number of Westerns at the studio, including two she numbered among her favorite projects; Men of Texas with Robert Stack and Broderick Crawford and Ride 'Em Cowboy with Abbott and Costello (both 1942).[3] She is remembered by fans of horror for her work in several pictures made in the 1940s. Her first horror film was Black Friday (1940) in which she played Boris Karloff's daughter. House of Frankenstein (1944) was the last horror picture she did at Universal.[4]
Gwynne was a television pioneer, appearing in TV's first filmed series, Public Prosecutor (1947–48); she was a member of the regular cast, playing Pat Kelly, the district attorney's secretary.[5]
Personal life
Gwynne married Max M. Gilford in 1945. The couple had two children, Gregory and Gwynne, an actress. Gwynne Gilford and her husband, actor Robert Pine, have two children, actress Katherine Pine and actor Chris Pine. Gwynne died March 31, 2003 of a stroke following surgery at the Motion Picture Country Hospital in Woodland Hills, California.[1] She was cremated and her ashes scattered at sea.[6]
Gwynne was a Democrat and endorsed Adlai Stevenson for president in the 1952 presidential election.[7]
Partial filmography
- Unexpected Father (1939) - Kitty - showgirl
- Oklahoma Frontier (1939) - Janet Rankin
- Little Accident (1939) - Blonde Girl (uncredited)
- Man from Montreal (1939) - Doris Blair
- The Big Guy (1939) - Joan's Friend (uncredited)
- Charlie McCarthy, Detective (1939) - Miss Larkin, Charlie's Nurse (uncredited)
- The Green Hornet (1940, Serial) - Josephine Weaver [Ch. 3] (uncredited)
- Honeymoon Deferred (1940) - Cecile Blades
- Framed (1940) - Girl (uncredited)
- Black Friday (1940) - Jean Sovac
- It's a Date (1940) - Society Girl (uncredited)
- Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (1940, Serial) - Sonja [Chs. 2, 6-12]
- Sandy Is a Lady (1940) - Millie
- Bad Man from Red Butte (1940) - Tibby Mason
- Spring Parade (1940) - Jenny
- Give Us Wings (1940) - Julie Mason
- Nice Girl? (1941) - Sylvia Dana
- Washington Melodrama (1941) - Mary Morgan
- The Black Cat (1941) - Elaine Winslow
- Tight Shoes (1941) - Ruth
- Mob Town (1941) - Marion Barker
- Melody Lane (1941) - Patricia Reynolds
- Road Agent (1941) - Patricia Leavitt
- Keeping Fit (1942) - Nurse
- Don't Get Personal (1942) - Susan Blair
- Jail House Blues (1942) - Doris Daniels
- Ride 'Em Cowboy (1942) - Anne Shaw
- Broadway (1942) - Pearl
- The Strange Case of Doctor Rx (1942) - Kit Logan Church
- You're Telling Me (1942) - Kit Bellamy
- Men of Texas (1942) - Jane Baxter Scott
- Sin Town (1942) - Laura Kirby
- We've Never Been Licked (1943) - Nina Lambert
- Frontier Badmen (1943) - Chris Prentice
- Top Man (1943) - Pat Warren
- Ladies Courageous (1944) - Gerry Vail
- Weird Woman (1944) - Paula Reed
- Moon Over Las Vegas (1944) - Marion Corbett
- South of Dixie (1944) - Dixie Holister
- Babes on Swing Street (1944) - Frances Carlyle
- Murder in the Blue Room (1944) - Nan
- House of Frankenstein (1944) - Rita Hussman
- I Ring Doorbells (1946) - Brooke Peters
- Fear (1946) - Eileen Stevens / Cathy Stevens
- The Glass Alibi (1946) - Belle Martin
- The Ghost Goes Wild (1947) - Phyllis Beecher
- Killer Dill (1947) - Judy Parker
- Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome (1947) - Tess Trueheart
- Panhandle (1948) - June O'Carroll
- The Enchanted Valley (1948) - Midge Gray
- Arson, Inc. (1949) - Jane Jennings
- The Blazing Sun (1950) - Kitty
- Call of the Klondike (1950) - Nancy Craig
- King of the Bullwhip (1950) - Jane Kerrigan
- Breakdown (1952) - Candy Allen
- Teenage Monster (1958) - Ruth Cannon
- Adam at 6 A.M. (1970) - Mrs. Gaines (final film role)
References
- Oliver, Myrna (April 8, 2003). "Anne Gwynne, 84; World War II Pinup Played Spunky All-American Girl in Horror Movies". Los Angeles Times.
- Mank, Gregory William (2005). Women in Horror Films, 1940s. McFarland. pp. 150–162. ISBN 978-0-7864-2335-4.
- Magers, Boyd; Fitzgerald, Michael G. (2004). Westerns Women: Interviews with 50 Leading Ladies of Movie and Television Westerns from the 1930s to the 1960s. McFarland. pp. 99–103. ISBN 978-0-7864-2028-5.
- Weaver, Tom (2004). It Came from Horrorwood: Interviews with Moviemakers in the SF and Horror Tradition. McFarland. pp. 147–160. ISBN 978-0-7864-8216-0.
- Erickson, Hal (2009). Encyclopedia of Television Law Shows: Factual and Fictional Series About Judges, Lawyers and the Courtroom, 1948–2008. McFarland. pp. 236–237. ISBN 978-0-7864-3828-0.
- Wilson, Scott (16 September 2016). "Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed". McFarland – via Google Books.
- Motion Picture and Television Magazine, November 1952, page 33, Ideal Publishers
External links
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