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- Veteran character actress Anne Revere became another in the long line of talented artists whose careers would crash under the weight of the "Red Scare" hysteria that tore through Hollywood in the 1940s and 1950s. Born in Manhattan and a direct descendant of Revolutionary War figure Paul Revere, Anne graduated from Wellesley College, then trained for the stage at the American Laboratory Theatre.
She made her Broadway bow in 1931 with "The Great Barrington" and her film debut in a version of another Broadway play, Double Door (1934). Returning to Broadway after receiving no other film offers, she would not make another movie until 1940...then she stayed. She went on to epitomize the warm, wise and invariably stoic mother to a number of great "golden age" stars, her understated power and intensity capturing the hearts of critics and war-torn audiences alike. Her plain, freckled, careworn looks appeared equally at home on the frontier or in a tenement setting. Anne was nominated three times for an Oscar for her strong, matriarchal figures -- as Jennifer Jones' mother in The Song of Bernadette (1943), Elizabeth Taylor's in National Velvet (1944) and Gregory Peck's in Gentleman's Agreement (1947), winning the Oscar on her second try for National Velvet (1944).
A versatile talent, she extended her range to include a number of brittle, neurotic and even crazy ladies. This all ended abruptly in 1951 when her name appeared as one of 300 on the infamous "Hollywood blacklist". She had just completed a major role as Montgomery Clift's Salvation Army mom in A Place in the Sun (1951). She stood on her Fifth Amendment rights before the Communist-obsessed House Un-American Activities Committee and, as a result, her part in that film was reduced to a glorified cameo. She did not appear in another film for nearly 20 years (a starring role in a new TV series was also taken from her).
In the interim, she and husband Samuel Rosen, a stage actor, writer and director, ran an acting school in Los Angeles before relocating to New York, where she managed to find employment in stock productions and under the Broadway lights. She received the Tony Award during the 1960-1961 season for her fine portrayal of a spinster sister in Lillian Hellman's "Toys in the Attic," a part that went to British actress Wendy Hiller when it transferred to film. TV jobs began coming her way again in the mid-1960s, and by 1970 she was working sporadically on such daytime soaps as Search for Tomorrow (1951) and Ryan's Hope (1975). She appeared briefly in Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon (1970) starring Liza Minnelli, and then earned a showier part in Birch Interval (1976).
Anne passed away after contracting pneumonia at age 87 and was survived by a sister. She had no children. Although a victim of "Cold War" paranoia, she always persevered, showing the same kind of grit and courage that embodied her gallery of characters on film. - Frances Louise Ward grew up in Kings Point on the "Gold Coast" of Long Island, NY. She was known for her lively personality and cunning sense of humor. Her modeling career began at age fifteen, when she was discovered by the John Robert Powers modeling agency in New York City. She quickly became one of their top models, gracing the cover of Glamour and posing as the "it" girl for various advertisements.
She then enrolled in Finch Junior College in New York City to study theater arts and also participated in summer stock theater in Ogunquit, Maine where Tallulah Bankhead was also performing. Around this time, she was dating then football star, Doc Blanchard, which led to a temporary engagement.
After turning nineteen, she moved to Hollywood to try her hand in motion pictures and was signed under the William Morris Talent agency and soon became under contract with MGM Studios. She was known to agency folks as "the next Carole Lombard" picking up roles in various films such as Old Acquaintance(1943) with Bette Davis and Girl Crazy(1943) with Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland.
In the mid to late 1940's, She created quite a stir as she made headlines for briefly dating the famous actor, Mickey Rooney and befriending the iconic silent actor, Charlie Chaplin along with his son, Sidney. Charlie Chaplin had a giant gong at the entrance of his Beverly Hills home and upon arrival Frances would bang on it and exclaim "Frana's arrived!" She was also teenage friends with Mr.Chaplin's last wife, Oona O'Neill, and claims to have first introduced the couple over the telephone. Another notable childhood and lifelong friend was Carol Marcus who later married the actor Walter Matthau.
Frances also caught the eye of famous artists and was asked to pose for Salvador Dalí while he was visiting New York. The painting depicted her as a female centaur.
While visiting her hometown back east, she met and fell in love with Charles Kohler White, the heir to Kohler & Campbell pianos, and moved back to New York. The couple was soon married and together they had two children, Susan and Charles. She continued in modeling, but soon found her passion for painting and sculpture studying under the renowned sculptor, Max Kalish.
Her husband, Mr. White, died in a tragic accident ten years after they were wed. She eventually met and married Winslow Shelby Coates Jr., a New York attorney. The couple had two children, Winslow and Trevor. Frances remained in Locust Valley, New York for the remainder of her life and was laid to rest near her home on November 22, 2008. - Nelson Doubleday was born on 20 July 1933 in Oyster Bay, New York, USA. He was married to Sandra Pine Barnett and Florence Fitch McKim. He died on 17 June 2015 in Locust Valley, New York, USA.