Anne Shirley (actress)

Anne Shirley
File:Anne Shirley in Vigil in the Night trailer.jpg 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	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.

Beginning her career as a child actress under the name Dawn O'Day, Shirley adopted the name of the character she played in Anne of Green Gables in 1934, 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.

Early life

Born as Dawn Evelyeen Paris, in New York City, she began acting under the name of Dawn O'Day. As a baby she began modeling, and made her film debut with a featured role in 1922's Moonshine Valley. 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 the 1930 version of 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."

Personal life

Her first husband was the actor John Payne, and their daughter is 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. 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

File:Alice's Egg Plant (1925).png

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

File:AnneShirleyMurderMySweetTrailerScreenshot1955.jpg

Shirley in Murder, My Sweet (1944)

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1922	The Hidden Woman	Girl	as Dawn O'Day
	Moonshine Valley	Nancy	as Dawn O'Day
1923	The Rustle of Silk	Girl	as Dawn O'Day
	The Spanish Dancer	Don Balthazar Carlos	as Dawn O'Day
1924	The Man Who Fights Alone	Dorothy	as Dawn O'Day
	The Fast Set	Little Margaret	as Dawn O'Day
1925	Riders of the Purple Sage	Fay Larkin	uncredited
	Alice's Egg Plant	Alice	as Dawn O'Day
1927	Night Life	Daughter of War Profiteer	as Dawn O'Day
	The Callahans and the Murphys	Mary Callahan	as Dawn O'Day
1928	Mother Knows Best	Sally, as a child	as Dawn O'Day
	4 Devils	Marion, as a girl	as Dawn O'Day
	Sins of the Fathers	Mary, as a child	as Dawn O'Day
1930	City Girl	Marie Tustine	as Dawn O'Day
	Liliom	Louise	as Dawn O'Day
1931	Gun Smoke	Horton's Daughter	as Dawn O'Day
	Hello Napoleon	The Little Girl	as Dawn O'Day
	Howdy Mate	-	as Dawn O'Day
	Rich Man's Folly	Anne, as a child	as Dawn O'Day
1932	Emma	Isabelle as a Child	uncredited
	Young America	Girl	as Dawn O'Day
	So Big!	Selina Peake, as a Child	uncredited
	The Purchase Price	Sarah Tipton, the Daughter	uncredited
	Three on a Match	Vivian Revere as a Child	as Dawn O'Day
	Rasputin and the Empress	Princess Anastasia	uncredited
1933	The Life of Jimmy Dolan	Mary Lou	uncredited
1934	This Side of Heaven	Flower Girl	as Dawn O'Day/Scenes deleted
	Picture Palace	Dawn	as Dawn O'Day
	School for Girls	Catherine Fogarty
	Finishing School	Billie	as Dawn O'Day
	Private Lessons	Dawn	as Dawn O'Day
	The Key	Flower Girl	as Dawn O'Day
	Bachelor Bait	Miriam Ann Johnson, Marriage License Applicant	uncredited
	Anne of Green Gables	Anne Shirley
1935	Chasing Yesterday	Jeanne Alexandre
	Steamboat Round the Bend	Fleety Belle
1936	Chatterbox	Jenny Yates
	M'Liss	M'liss Smith
	So and Sew	-
	Make Way for a Lady	June Drew
1937	Too Many Wives	Betty Jackson
	Meet the Missus	Louise Foster
	Stella Dallas	Laurel "Lollie" Dallas	Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
1938	Condemned Women	Millie Anson
	Law of the Underworld	Annabelle Porter
	Mother Carey's Chickens	Nancy Carey
	Girls' School	Natalie Freeman
	A Man to Remember	Jean Johnson
1939	Boy Slaves	Annie
	Sorority House	Alice Fisher
	Career	Sylvia Bartholomew
1940	Vigil in the Night	Lucy Lee
	Saturday's Children	Bobby Halevy
	Anne of Windy Poplars	Anne Shirley
1941	West Point Widow	Nancy Hull
	Unexpected Uncle	Kathleen Brown
	The Devil and Daniel Webster	Mary Stone
1942	Four Jacks and a Jill	Karanina 'Nina' Novak
	The Mayor of 44th Street	Jessey Lee
1943	Ona zashchishchayet rodinu	Pasha	English voice
	Lady Bodyguard	A.C. Baker
	The Powers Girl	Ellen Evans
	Bombardier	Burton Hughes
	Government Girl	May Harness Blake
1944	Man from Frisco	Diana Kennedy
	Music in Manhattan	Frankie Foster
	Murder, My Sweet	Anne Grayle

External links

• 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