Cast
Ann Dvorak
Acting
Cast
Ann Dvorak
Known for
Acting
Born
1911-08-02
From
New York City, New York, USA
Died
1979-12-10
Also known as Anna McKim, Ann McKim, Baby Anna Lehr
Biography
Ann Dvorak (born Anna McKim; August 2, 1911 – December 10, 1979) was an American stage and film actress. Asked how to pronounce her adopted surname, she told The Literary Digest: "My fake name is properly pronounced vor'shack. The D remains silent." Dvorak was the daughter and only child of silent film actress Anna Lehr and director Edwin McKim. While in New York, she attended St. Catherine's Convent. After moving to California, she attended Page School for Girls in Hollywood. She made her film debut when she was five years old in the silent film version of Ramona (1916), credited as "Baby Anna Lehr". She continued in children's roles in The Man Hater (1917) and Five Dollar Plate (1920), but then stopped acting in films. Her parents separated in 1916 and divorced in 1920; she did not see her father again until 13 years later, when she made a public plea to the press to help her find him. In the late 1920s, Dvorak worked as a dance instructor and gradually began to appear on film as a chorus girl. Her friend, actress Karen Morley, introduced her to billionaire movie producer Howard Hughes, who groomed her as a dramatic actress. She was a success in such pre-Code films as Scarface (1932) as Paul Muni's sister; in Three on a Match (1932) with Bette Davis and Joan Blondell as the doomed, unstable Vivian; in The Crowd Roars (1932) with James Cagney; and in Sky Devils (1932) opposite Spencer Tracy. Known for her style and elegance, she was a popular leading lady for Warner Bros. during the 1930s, and appeared in numerous contemporary romances and melodramas. At age 19, Dvorak eloped with Leslie Fenton, her English co-star from The Strange Love of Molly Louvain (1932), and they married on March 17, 1932. They left for a year-long honeymoon in spite of her contractual obligations to the studio, which led to a period of litigation and pay disputes during which she discovered she was making the same amount of money as the boy who played her son in Three on a Match. She completed her contract on permanent suspension, then worked as a freelancer. Although she worked regularly, the quality of her scripts declined sharply. She appeared as secretary Della Street to Donald Woods' Perry Mason in The Case of the Stuttering Bishop (1937). With her then-husband, Leslie Fenton, Dvorak traveled to England where she supported the war effort by working as an ambulance driver and acted in several British films. She appeared as a saloon singer in Abilene Town with Randolph Scott and Edgar Buchanan, released in 1946. The following year she adeptly handled comedy by giving an assured performance in Out of the Blue (1947). In 1948, Dvorak gave her only performance on Broadway in The Respectful Prostitute. Dvorak's marriage to Fenton ended in divorce in 1946. In 1947, she married Igor Dega, a Russian dancer who danced with her briefly in The Bachelor's Daughters. The marriage ended two years later. Dvorak retired from the screen in 1951, when she married her third and last husband, Nicholas Wade, to whom she remained married until his death in 1975. She had no children.
★7.4
MOVIE1932
Scarface
as Francesca 'Cesca' Camonte
★6.0
MOVIE1937
Racing Lady
as Ruth Martin
MOVIE1916
Ramona
as Ramona Phail (age 4)
★7.3
MOVIE1934
Housewife
as Nan Reynolds
★6.6
MOVIE1935
'G' Men
as Jean Morgan
★6.9
MOVIE1938
Merrily We Live
as Minerva Harlan
★5.4
MOVIE1932
Love is a Racket
as Sally Condon
★4.6
MOVIE1930
Lord Byron of Broadway
as Chorus Girl
★7.3
MOVIE1934
Gentlemen Are Born
as Susan Merrill
★4.7
MOVIE1929
So This Is College
as Student (uncredited)
★6.2
MOVIE1947
The Private Affairs of Bel Ami
as Madeleine Forestier
★5.5
MOVIE1945
Flame of Barbary Coast
as Ann 'Flaxen' Tarry
★5.8
MOVIE1947
The Long Night
as Charlene
★5.6
MOVIE1948
The Walls of Jericho
as Belle Connors
★4.3
MOVIE1934
Roast-Beef and Movies
as Chorine (archive footage) (uncredited)
★6.5
MOVIE1946
The Bachelor's Daughters
as Terry Wilson
★5.7
MOVIE1931
Son of India
as Dancer (uncredited)
★5.3
MOVIE1946
Abilene Town
as Rita
★6.3
MOVIE1932
Three on a Match
as Vivian Revere
★5.9
MOVIE1929
The Hollywood Revue of 1929
as Chorus Girl from Omaha (uncredited)
★6.2
MOVIE1930
Free and Easy
as Chorine (uncredited)
★5.9
MOVIE1930
The Devil's Cabaret
as Chorine in Black (uncredited)
★7.2
MOVIE1934
Heat Lightning
as Myra
★6.6
MOVIE1951
The Secret of Convict Lake
as Rachel Schaeffer
★6.1
MOVIE2008
Thou Shalt Not: Sex, Sin and Censorship in Pre-Code Hollywood
as Vivian Revere Kirkwood (archive footage)
★4.5
MOVIE1930
A Lady to Love
★5.9
MOVIE1950
Our Very Own
as Gert Lynch
★5.6
MOVIE1930
Our Blushing Brides
as One of the 'Quartet' of Models with Tony (uncredited)
★5.9
MOVIE1930
Madam Satan
as Zeppelin Reveler (uncredited)
★5.1
MOVIE1935
Bright Lights
as Fay Wilson
MOVIE1997
Bogart: The Untold Story
as Self (archive footage)
★7.0
MOVIE1950
Mrs. O'Malley and Mr. Malone
as Connie Kepplar
★6.5
MOVIE1932
Crooner
as Judith 'Judy' Mason
★6.8
MOVIE1934
Friends of Mr. Sweeney
as Miss Beulah Boyd
★6.1
MOVIE1932
The Crowd Roars
as Lee Merrick
★5.0
MOVIE1929
The Song Writers' Revue
as Member of the Chorus (uncredited)
★6.6
MOVIE1951
I Was an American Spy
as Mrs. Claire 'High Pockets' Phillips
★5.3
MOVIE1950
A Life of Her Own
as Mary Ashlon
★6.4
MOVIE1931
Dance, Fools, Dance
as Chorus Girl (uncredited)
★5.2
MOVIE1931
The Guardsman
as Fan Saying "There He Is" (uncredited)
★5.9
MOVIE1942
This Was Paris
as Ann Morgan
★5.2
MOVIE1934
Side Streets
as Marguerite Gilbert
★5.5
MOVIE1930
Children of Pleasure
as Chorus Girl (uncredited)
★5.5
MOVIE1940
Girls of the Road
as Kay Warren
★6.0
MOVIE1950
The Return of Jesse James
as Sue Ellen Younger
★5.1
MOVIE1934
Murder in the Clouds
as Judy
★6.0
MOVIE1930
The Woman Racket
as Chorus Girl
★6.0
MOVIE1939
Blind Alley
as Mary
★6.5
MOVIE1935
Thanks a Million
as Sally Mason
MOVIE1936
Breakdowns of 1936
as Self
★6.2
MOVIE1929
Devil-May-Care
as Chorine (uncredited)
★5.3
MOVIE1938
Gangs of New York
as Connie Benson
★6.6
MOVIE1935
Dr. Socrates
as Josephine
★6.5
MOVIE1937
Manhattan Merry-Go-Round
as Ann Rogers
★6.4
MOVIE1947
Out of the Blue
as Olive Jensen
★5.1
MOVIE1937
Midnight Court
as Carol O'Neill
★5.0
MOVIE1929
It's a Great Life
as Chorus Girl
★10.0
MOVIE1943
Squadron Leader X
as Barbara Lucas
★5.5
MOVIE1934
Massacre
as Lydia
★7.0
MOVIE1937
We Who Are About to Die
as Connie Stewart
★5.9
MOVIE1931
This Modern Age
as Party Guest (Uncredited)
★6.3
MOVIE1930
Good News
as Student
★7.3
MOVIE1933
Hello Pop
as Dancer
★6.2
MOVIE1930
Way Out West
as Carnival Show Girl (uncredited)
★8.0
MOVIE1933
The Way to Love
as Madeleine
★6.7
MOVIE1934
Midnight Alibi
as Joan
★6.9
MOVIE1931
Politics
as Rally Audience Extra (uncredited)
★4.6
MOVIE1933
College Coach
as Claire Gore
★5.4
MOVIE1940
Cafe Hostess
as Jo
★6.1
MOVIE1932
The Strange Love of Molly Louvain
as Madeleine Maude 'Molly' Louvain
★6.0
MOVIE1930
Chasing Rainbows
as Chorus Girl (uncredited)
★7.0
MOVIE1931
A Tailor-Made Man
as Bit (uncredited)
★7.2
MOVIE1937
The Case of the Stuttering Bishop
as Della Street
★5.0
MOVIE1932
Sky Devils
as Mary Way
★5.0
MOVIE1931
Stranger in Town
as Marian Crickle
★5.0
MOVIE1934
I Sell Anything
as Barbara
★5.9
MOVIE1935
A Trip Thru a Hollywood Studio
as Herself (uncredited)
★6.0
MOVIE1945
Masquerade in Mexico
as Helen Grant
★8.0
MOVIE1937
She's No Lady
as Jerry
★6.8
MOVIE1935
Sweet Music
as Bonnie Haydon
★5.5
MOVIE1939
Stronger Than Desire
as Eva McLain
★4.0
MOVIE1929
Manhattan Serenade
as Chorus Girl (uncredited)
★8.0
MOVIE1943
Escape to Danger
as Joan Grahame
★7.0
MOVIE1930
Estrellados
as Chorine (uncredited)
★7.0
MOVIE1930
The March of Time
as Chorus Girl (uncredited)
★8.0
MOVIE1917
The Man Hater
as Phemie's Sister
★8.0
MOVIE1929
The Doll Shop
as Doll