Anne Shirley (actress)

Anne Shirley
from the trailer for the film Vigil in the Night (1940)
Born	Dawn Evelyeen Paris (1918-04-17)April 17, 1918 New York City, New York, U.S.
Died	July 4, 1993(1993-07-04) (aged 75) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Other names	Dawn O'Day
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1922–1944
Spouse(s)	John Payne (1937–1943) (divorced) 1 child Adrian Scott (1945–1948) (divorced) Charles Lederer (1949–1976) (his death) 1 child
Children	Julie Payne Daniel Lederer

Anne Shirley (April 17, 1918 – July 4, 1993) was an American film actress and former child actress.

Beginning her career as a child actress under the stage name Dawn O'Day, Shirley adopted the name of the character she played in the film adaptation of Anne of Green Gables in 1934,^[1] and achieved a successful career in supporting roles. Among her films is Stella Dallas (1937), for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

She retired from acting in 1944, at the age of 26. She remained in Los Angeles, where she died at the age of 75.^[2]

Early life

Born as Dawn Evelyeen Paris, in New York City, she began acting under the name of Dawn O'Day.^[2] As a baby she began modeling, and made her film debut with a featured role in 1922's Moonshine Valley.^[3] She began acting at the age of five, and had a highly successful child star career in Pre-Code movies, appearing in such films as Liliom, Tom Mix's Riders of the Purple Sage, So Big, Three on a Match and Rasputin and the Empress.

Career

In 1934 she starred as the character of Anne Shirley in Anne of Green Gables, and took that character's name as her stage name.

After adopting the name Anne Shirley, she starred in Steamboat 'Round the Bend, Make Way for a Lady and Stella Dallas, for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Later roles were in such movies as Vigil in the Night, Anne of Windy Poplars, The Devil and Daniel Webster and Murder, My Sweet, her final film. Of her portrayal in Saturday's Children, The New York Times commented that she "endows the little wife with heroic integrity and strength of character."^[4]

Personal life

Shirley married actor John Payne August 22, 1937, in Montecito, California.^[5] They had a daughter, former actress Julie Payne.

Her second husband was film producer and screenwriter Adrian Scott. When he was blacklisted and decided to move the family to Europe, at the last minute she wrote him a "Dear John" letter saying she'd rather stay behind and divorce him.^[6] Her third husband was Charles Lederer, nephew of Marion Davies. They had a son named Daniel Lederer. Shirley had also a brief relationship with younger western star Rory Calhoun and another with French movie star Jean-Pierre Aumont.

Shirley died from lung cancer in Los Angeles, aged 75 on July 4, 1993 and was cremated. For her contributions to the motion picture industry, she has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7020 Hollywood Blvd.

Filmography

Shirley as "Alice", with Julius the Cat, in a scene from Alice's Egg Plant (1925)

Shirley in Murder, My Sweet (1944)

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Anne Shirley.

• Anne Shirley at the Internet Movie Database
• Anne Shirley at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
• Anne Shirley at the Turner Classic Movies database
• Anne Shirley at AllMovie
• Anne Shirley at Find a Grave
• Anne Shirley at Virtual History