Ann Dvorak

Ann Dvorak

Birth : 1911-08-02, New York City, New York, USA

Death : 1979-12-10

History

Ann Dvorak (born Anna McKim) 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 of silent film actress Anna Lehr. 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. In 1959, she and her husband moved to Hawaii, which she had always loved.

Profile

Ann Dvorak
Ann Dvorak
Ann Dvorak
Ann Dvorak
Ann Dvorak
Ann Dvorak

Movies

Thou Shalt Not: Sex, Sin and Censorship in Pre-Code Hollywood
Vivian Revere Kirkwood (archive footage)
A look at the forces that shaped Pre-Code Hollywood and brought about the strict enforcement of the Hays Code in 1934.
Bogart: The Untold Story
Self (archive footage)
Stephen H. Bogart narrates the rise to fame of his father, Humphrey Bogart through the use of film clips, written material and interviews of friends and co-workers.
The Secret of Convict Lake
Rachel Schaeffer
After a group of convicts escapes from prison, they take refuge in the wilderness. While most of the crew are ruthless sociopaths, Jim Canfield is an innocent man who was jailed under false pretenses. When Canfield and his fellow fugitives reach an isolated farming settlement where the men are all away, it creates tension with the local women. Things get direr when rumors of hidden money arise, and Canfield discovers that the man who framed him is part of the community.
I Was an American Spy
Mrs. Claire 'High Pockets' Phillips
An American nightclub singer in 1940's Singapore becomes a spy for America in an effort to get back at the invading Japanese army. Based on a true story.
Mrs. O'Malley and Mr. Malone
Connie Kepplar
Harriet O'Malley tries to solve a murder aboard a train en route to New York.
A Life of Her Own
Mary Ashlon
A young woman from Kansas moves to New York City, becomes highly successful at a prestigious modeling agency, and falls in love with a married man.
The Return of Jesse James
Sue Ellen Younger
Frank James resents and tries to stop a ruthless drifter who has adopted the name of his dead brother in order to duplicate his crimes.
Our Very Own
Mrs. Gertrude "Gert" Lynch
Gail discovers the shocking news that she is adopted during a heated argument with her sister, Joan. With the reluctant support of her adoptive parents and baby sister, Penny, Gail goes in search of her biological mother and true identity.
The Walls of Jericho
Belle Connors
In a small town in Kansas, a county attorney in an unhappy marriage falls in love with another woman.
The Long Night
Charlene
City police surround a building attempting to capture a suspected murder. The suspect knows there is no escape but refuses to give in.
The Private Affairs of Bel Ami
Madeleine Forestier
A self-serving journalist uses influential women in late-1800s Paris and denies the one who truly loves him.
Out of the Blue
Olive Jensen
Set in an apartment building whose occupants include Arthur Earthleigh, a meek and mild type married to the beautiful-but-domineering Mae; a Bohemian artist, David Galleo and his always-there model, Deborah Tyler; and Olive Jensen, a Greenwich Village type who is always slightly-but-continuously inebriated, and whose motto is "love and let love." She calls on George while his wife is out, and when she passes out during his attempts to get her out before his wife returns, he thinks she is dead and deposits her on Galleo's terrace. Galleo takes advantage of the situation by using it in a blackmail scheme against Arthur, which is shaky, at best, as Olive refuses to stay dead.
The Bachelor's Daughters
Terry Wilson
A department store floor walker is persuaded by four husband-seeking salesgirls to pose as their father in a Long Island mansion which they have rented by pooling resources and pretending to be wealthy themselves.
Abilene Town
Rita
Marshall Dan Mitchell, who is the law in Abilene, has the job of keeping peace between two groups. For a long time, the town had been divided, with the cattlemen and cowboys having one end of town to themselves, while townspeople occupied the other end. Mitchell liked it this way, it made things easier for him, and kept problems from arising between the two factions. However…
Masquerade in Mexico
Helen Grant
An American singer stranded in Mexico is hired by a banker to distract a Mexican matador who is making a play for the banker's wife. They hatch a scheme whereby she pretends to be a Spanish countess.
Flame of Barbary Coast
Ann 'Flaxen' Tarry
Duke Fergus falls for Ann 'Flaxen' Tarry in the Barbary Coast in turn-of-the-century San Francisco. He loses money to crooked gambler Boss Tito Morell, goes home, learns to gamble, and returns. After he makes a fortune, he opens his own place with Flaxen as the entertainer; but the 1906 quake destroys his place.
Escape to Danger
Joan Grahame
During the Second World War a British schoolteacher working in Denmark is caught up when the Germans invade.
Squadron Leader X
Barbara Lucas
Equipped with an RAF uniform, an English accent, a photograph of his "wife" and a packet of Players (cigarettes), a German agent is parachuted into occupied Belgium to create anti-British propaganda. Unfortunately for him he chooses a night when the Belgian resistance are smuggling the crew of a British bomber home across the channel. Before he knows it he is landing on the south coast of England. With MI5 hot on his trail, the fugitive tries to contact his old German émigré friends in London. But they have all been interned on the Isle of Man. How will he escape back to Germany ?
This Was Paris
Ann Morgan
British agents operate in Paris during the Second World War.
Girls of the Road
Kay Warren
A story of the great-depression era about women hobos, tramps, job-seekers, fugitives and runaways running from or toward something as they hitch-hiked their way across the United States, dodging the police, do-gooders, lustful men and pursuing-husbands in a bad mood. One of them is a killer, another is a girl hitch-hiking to her wedding in order to afford a wedding gown, and there is also the Governor's daughter who crusades on their behalf, while hitch-hiking along with them.
Cafe Hostess
Jo
A dancehall girl meets a sailor and they fall in love, but the club’s owner doesn’t want the girl to leave.
Stronger Than Desire
Eva McLain
An attorney handling a murder case in unaware his own wife played a crucial role in the killing.
Blind Alley
Mary
A gangster takes a doctor and his family hostage.
Gangs of New York
Connie Benson
An undercover cop infiltrates a powerful New York based crime syndicate.
Merrily We Live
Minerva Harlan
Society matron Emily Kilbourne has a habit of hiring ex-cons and hobos as servants. Her latest find is a handsome tramp who shows up at her doorstep and ends up in a chauffeur's uniform. He also catches the eye of Geraldine.
Manhattan Merry-Go-Round
Ann Rogers
In this musical comedy, a crooked record producer uses his mob connections to force performers to do their stuff. The trouble really begins when the gangster's strong-arm tactics nearly cause a singer to lose his fiancée. A wide variety of entertainers appear including cowboy crooner Gene Autry, baseball hero Joe DiMaggio, and big band stars Cab Calloway, Ted Lewis, and the Kay Thompson Singers. Songs include "Mamma I Wanna Make Rhythm," "Manhattan Merry-Go-Round," "Heaven?," "I Owe You," and "It's Round-up Time in Reno."
She's No Lady
Jerry
Alden "Bill" Carter III sees a beautiful woman, Jerry, dining alone at the Park Savoy in New York, and after a brief flirtation, introduces himself. After he entreats her to be his "mystery woman" to make his girl friend jealous, Jerry agrees to attend a reception that night with him at the Douglas home. This plays right into Jerry's plans, as she is a jewel thief who intends to steal the Douglas jewels with her cohorts, Uncle John and Jeff...
The Case Of The Stuttering Bishop
Della Street
A Bishop from Australia comes to Perry to ask him to take a case of a woman wrongly accused of manslaughter 22 years before. The case would involve the wealthy Mr. Brownley and the fact that his alleged granddaughter may be an imposter. With that, the Bishop leaves and is clubbed in his hotel room. Soon after, he leaves on a boat and Perry meets the woman - Ida Gilbert. Perry goes to see Mr. Brownley, but gets nowhere. Later that night, Brownley is to meet Ida, but he is shot by a woman who drops Ida's gun. Ida is arrested for the murder of Mr. Brownley and Perry gets involved.
Midnight Court
Carol O'Neill
After losing his bid for district attorney, an aspiring young lawyer agrees to defend a ring of car thieves.
Racing Lady
Ruth Martin
A shrewd millionaire who owns races horses for publicity for his automobile business, claims ownership of a female horse trainer's thoroughbred in order to get the trainer.
We Who Are About to Die
Connie Stewart
John Thompson is kidnapped by mobsters after quitting his job. Then he is arrested, tried, and sentenced to death for murders they committed. A suspicious detective thinks he is innocent and works to save his life.
Breakdowns of 1936
Herself
Time marches on.
Thanks a Million
Sally Mason
A show troupe is engaged by Judge Culliman, who is running for Governor, to enhance his political campaign. When the inebriated Judge has to be replaced in doing his campaign speech by the troupe crooner, Eric Land, his political backers decide that they want him to run for Governor in the Judge's place. Romance, music, political corruption and the election results follow.
Dr. Socrates
Josephine
Dr. Socrates gave up his brilliant career as surgeon in a prominent hospital because his betrothed died under his knife. He is now a struggling doctor in a small town that has a gangster's hideout.
Bright Lights
Fay Wilson
Husband-and-wife vaudeville stars separate when success goes to his head.
'G' Men
Jean Morgan
James “Brick” Davis, a struggling attorney, owes his education to a mobster, but always has refused to get involved with the underworld. When a friend of his is gunned down by a notorious criminal, Brick decides to abandon the exercise of the law and join the Department of Justice to capture the murderer.
Sweet Music
Bonnie Haydon
A midwest band leader and his lead singer share a love-hate relationship as they try for success in New York.
A Trip Thru a Hollywood Studio
Herself (uncredited)
This short shows the entrances of the various Hollywood studios, then specifically visits Warner Bros. / First National Studios. We start at the casting office, then see Busby Berkeley and choreographer Bobby Connolly working with chorus girls on production numbers. Then come some candid shots of several contract stars. Finally we see comedian Hugh Herbert filming a scene for an upcoming release, then the various behind the scenes steps that transition the raw film in the camera into the finished product.
Murder in the Clouds
Judy Wagner
Bob Halsey is a first-rate pilot who's in love with stewardess Judy Wagner. He's ordered to deliver a secret formula to Washington, D.C., but a spy hears about the assignment and sabotages it by murdering Bob's fellow flyers and making off with the liquid. While the government conducts a vast search for the formula, the spies entangle Judy in their web of deceit, causing Bob to set off on his own in an effort to save his sweetheart and retrieve the missing mixture.
Gentlemen Are Born
Susan Merrill
A well-cloistered and protected-against-reality group of college students get their diplomas in the heart of the Great Depression, and quickly learn that the piece of paper the diploma is written on is worth about eighteen-dollars-a-week in the job-market...for the lucky ones. Some of them fare even worse.
I Sell Anything
Barbara
Auctioneer Spot Cash Cutler is planning the scam of a lifetime, but will he get burned?
Side Streets
Marguerite Gilbert
A spinster dressmaker falls for a ne'er-do-well.
Housewife
Nan Reynolds
Nan Reynolds encourages her copywriter husband Bill to open his own agency. Nearly out of business, he finally gets a client. Former girlfriend Patricia Berkeley writes a very successful commercial for the client and neats up their old romance. Wife and girlfriend struggle over Bill.
Friends Of Mr. Sweeney
Miss Beulah Boyd
Asaph (Charles Ruggles) is a meek, mild-mannered homebody who occasionally shows some backbone to his prudish, overbearing boss, only to be beaten down again. With the encouragement of his secretary Beulah (Ann Dvorak), his old college team-mate Wynn (Eugene Pallette) and some liquor, Asaph regains some of his wild-man soul. Watch out world!
Midnight Alibi
Joan
An elderly woman provides an alibi to a man she scarcely knows who is on trial for murder of his girlfriend's racketeer father.
Heat Lightning
Myra
A lady gas station attendant gets mixed up with escaped murderers.
Roast-Beef and Movies
Chorine (archive footage) (uncredited)
A trio of amateur film makers try to persuade a group of studio executives to exhibit their new movie.
Massacre
Lydia
Upon the death of his father, who was the tribal chieftain, Joe Thunder Horse returns to the reservation of his youth, only to discover that his people are dying of various diseases and are being systematically cheated of their possessions and basic rights by crooked Indian agents. He heads to Washington in hopes of righting these wrongs, only to experience prejudice and hatred all along the way.
College Coach
Claire Gore
Ruthless Coach Gore creates turmoil at a college by hiring players and alienating students. Along the way, the coach loses his wife Claire Gore to a grandstanding player. Inside look at college football of the 1930s replete with fake grades, non-student players, and the importance of football to a college's reputation.
The Way to Love
Madeleine
Francois, a cheerful Parisian bohemian, wants more than anything to be a tour guide in his beloved city. While working the streets, Francois meets Madeleine, who works at a circus.
Hello Pop
Dancer
A stage director is trying to put on a musical/comedy revue, but has to contend with temperamental musicians, an inept stage crew and his three idiot sons.
Three on a Match
Vivian Revere
Although Vivian Revere is seemingly the most successful of a trio of reunited schoolmates, she throws it away by descending into a life of debauchery and drugs.
Crooner
Judith 'Judy' Mason
Fame goes to a priggish singer's head and almost costs him his girlfriend.
Stranger in Town
Marian Crickle
Crickle is a tenacious small-town grocer who stubbornly resists the efforts of a monopolistic chain-store firm to purchase his establishment. The chain manager retaliates by cutting off Crickles' supply of produce, whereupon his friends and neighbors save his business by supplying him with goods from their own farms.
Love Is a Racket
Sally Condon
A gossip columnist helps a Broadway ingenue who's beholden to a penthouse gangster.
The Strange Love of Molly Louvain
Madeleine Maude 'Molly' Louvain
A fast-talking reporter befriends a young woman and her male companion who are wanted for a policeman's shooting.
The Crowd Roars
Lee Merrick
Famous auto racing champion Joe Greer returns to his hometown to compete in a local race, discovering that his younger brother has aspirations to become a racing champion.
Scarface
Cesca Camonte
In 1920s Chicago, Italian immigrant and notorious thug, Antonio "Tony" Camonte, shoots his way to the top of the mobs while trying to protect his sister from the criminal life.
Sky Devils
Mary Way
Wilkie and Mitchell, trying to desert their draft into the army, stow away on a ship which takes them into the war zone. While AWOL, the rivals for Mary's affections accidently destroy an ammunition dump.
The Guardsman
Fan Saying "There He Is" (uncredited)
An acclaimed actor and his equally acclaimed actress wife, who have been married for less than a year, are already showing signs of strain in their marriage. The actor believes his wife is capable of infidelity and sets out to prove this is so. Disguising himself as the kind of man he believes she fancies (a Russian military officer), the actor woos his wife while she believes her husband to be out of town.
This Modern Age
Party Guest (Uncredited)
A Harvard football star disobeys his upper class parents and runs off with his true love.
Son of India
Dancer (uncredited)
An Indian jewel merchant goes from penniless to wealthy in this story about gratitude.
A Tailor-Made Man
Bit (uncredited)
John Paul Bart is just a pants-presser in a tailor's shop, but he has big ambitions. One night, he borrows the clothes of a wealthy client and bluffs his way into a high society party. After meeting wealthy businessman Abraham Nathan, John Paul quickly rises to the top of Nathan's company. Suffering during The Depression, John Paul helps Nathan save his company with a radical program of cooperative ownership between workers and management. Meanwhile, John Paul makes an enemy of Gustav, who is engaged to Tanya - the daughter of Mr. Huber, owner of the tailor shop. John Paul maintains a friendship with Tanya, provoking jealousy in Gustav. Gustav threatens to reveal John Paul's plain origins to Nathan, and John Paul briefly resigns from Nathan's company. However, John Paul's plan is a success, and Nathan hires him back immediately. Tanya leaves Gustav and ends up with John Paul.
Politics
Rally Audience Extra (uncredited)
A widow's decision to run for mayor kicks off a battle of the sexes in a small town.
Dance, Fools, Dance
Choreographer
When misfortune hits hard on the Jordan family of Chicago's upper class, Bonnie Jordan, a dazzling and witty girl, finds a job as an aspiring reporter; however, his naive younger brother Rodney takes a twisted path and gets involved with the wrong people.
Dance, Fools, Dance
Chorus Girl (uncredited)
When misfortune hits hard on the Jordan family of Chicago's upper class, Bonnie Jordan, a dazzling and witty girl, finds a job as an aspiring reporter; however, his naive younger brother Rodney takes a twisted path and gets involved with the wrong people.
The Devil's Cabaret
Chorine in Black (uncredited)
At Satan & Co., Inc., the devil is upset because too many people are going up to Heaven rather than down to Hades. He gives his assistant, Mr. Burns, the task of getting more people to his domain. In front of a nightclub, Mr. Burns invites a crowd of people to come inside to The Devil's Cabaret to be entertained. After they enjoy songs and dancing, the people go willingly to Hades.
Madam Satan
Zeppelin Reveler (uncredited)
Angela and Bob Brooks are an upper class couple. Bob is an unfaithful husband. Angela has a plan to win back his affections.
The March of Time
Chorus Girl (uncredited)
Unfinished pre-Code era film consisting of three sections with past performers from the stage and the vaudeville circuit, then-present-day performers and up-and-coming performers. Musical excerpts were later used in Broadway to Hollywood (1933), Nertsery Rhymes (1933), and Roast-Beef and Movies (1934). "The Lock Step" was later used in That's Entertainment! III (1994)
Good News
Student
A college football star falls for his mousy French tutor.
Way Out West
Carnival Show Girl (uncredited)
Wise-guy carnival barker Windy bilks a group of cowboys out of their money, gets caught and is forced into working off the debt on their ranch. He falls in love with Molly, the pretty owner of the ranch, but runs afoul of foreman Steve, who also loves Molly.
Our Blushing Brides
One of the 'Quartet' of Models with Tony (uncredited)
Three department store girls--Connie, Franky, and Gerry--share an apartment on West 91st Street in New York City. Each earns little more than 20 dollars per week. Gerry is the sensible one, but the others throw themselves at amoral rich men in an attempt to hook one and better themselves. They end up being hurt and disappointed despite Gerry's attempts to warn them.
Estrellados
Chorine (uncredited)
A matinée idol and a bumbling manager fight for the love of a would-be starlet. Estrellados is the Spanish version of Free and Easy (1930) with Hispanic/Spanish-speaking actors.
Children of Pleasure
Chorus Girl (uncredited)
A successful songwriter, dazzled by high society, falls for a society girl who is just playing around.
Free and Easy
Chorine (uncredited)
Gopher City Kansas hosts a beauty contest. The winner, Elvira Plunkett, and her mother go to Hollywood. The Chamber of Commerce also provides Elvira with an agent, Gopher City's own Elmer J. Butz. Elmer likes Elvira and the shy Elvira likes him, but Mrs. Plunkett, a formidable woman, has little use for hapless Elmer. On the train west, they meet movie star Larry Mitchell, who takes a shine to Elvira and helps her meet MGM directors once they get to Tinsel Town. Elmer, meanwhile, wants to help Elvira with her career and he also wants to be her man. Movie stardom does come to the Gopher City entourage, but to whom is a surprise. And who will win the lovely Elvira's hand?
Lord Byron of Broadway
Chorus Girl
A talented songwriter gets his inspiration for songs from others and not from within himself. He is oblivious that he may harm other people when he uses their stories or their love for himself.
The Woman Racket
Chorus Girl
During a raid, a cop lets a pretty speakeasy employee escape and later begins dating her. Although she loves him, his salary and dull life leave her wanting.
Chasing Rainbows
Chorus Girl (uncredited)
The road-show troupe of a top Broadway show go cross-country while taking the audience along on the on-stage scenes as well as what happens and is happening back stage of the production. The spectacular dancing ensembles and colorful costumes and pulchritude on-stage offers a contrasting background to the drabness of the backstage, where joy, sorrow, tragedies, deception, and romance are intertwined.
Devil-May-Care
Chorine (uncredited)
A follower of Napoleon escapes the firing squad, flees to a woman's bedroom and winds up butler.
It's a Great Life
Chorus Girl
Casey and Babe are sisters who work in a department store and each year the store puts on a show. As expected, things are going wrong with every act until Casey comes out to help Babe with her song. They are a hit, but in the final act, Casey again comes out and this time the president sees her act and fires both her and Babe on the spot. Benny is able to book Casey, Babe and Dean into Vaudeville and their act is popular. But before they have their shot at stardom, Dean and Babe leave Casey and the act.
The Song Writers' Revue
Member of the Chorus (uncredited)
This short showcases composers and lyricists of songs that are now considered standards of American popular music. For several of these song writers, this is their only known appearance in a theatrically released film.
The Hollywood Revue of 1929
Chorus Girl from Omaha (uncredited)
An all-star revue featuring MGM contract players.
So This Is College
Student (uncredited)
Scheming coed Babs comes between college buddies Eddie and Biff.
The Doll Shop
Doll
Early Vitaphone short.