The actress who would become known as The Queen of the Horrors, arrived at Universal in 1941 following a brief contractual obligation to MGM, which yielded not a single film role. Evelyn Ankers would be much more fortunate with her new employer, becoming one of the studio’s most prolific players of the period.

Ankers was born in Valparaiso, Chile, on August 17, 1918. The daughter of British parents, she was brought up in England, and later attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. Appearances in British-made films soon followed, and in 1940 she traveled to the United States to further pursue her acting career.

Her first success on American soil came on the Broadway stage in "Ladies In Retirement," which starred Flora Robson. However, when Columbia Pictures purchased the film rights to the play, Ankers was not awarded the privilege of recreating her role for the screen version.

The contract with MGM followed, after which she began her tenure at Universal. She would appear in 27 features for the studio, eleven of those containing horror elements. To this day her name is synonymous the studio’s thrillers of the golden age.

One of her first assignments was the Abbott and Costello comedy classic "Hold That Ghost." The 1941 farce also starred The Andrews Sisters, comedienne Joan Davis, Richard Carlson, Marc Lawrence and Mischa Auer. As popular as this film was, her first entry in the horror genre would perhaps contain the role that would define the rest of her career.

With the success of the 1941 release, "Man Made Monster," Universal was seeking another project for actor Lon Chaney, Jr. and director George Waggner. The result of that search was to be one of the great classics of the horror film. "The Wolf Man" featured Chaney in the title role, and Waggner was given the task of producing and directing. Ankers was awarded the female lead and gave a truly endearing performance as the woman in love with the tragic hero. In addition to Chaney and Ankers, Maria Ouspenskaya, Claude Rains, Ralph Bellamy, Bela Lugosi, Fay Helm and Warren William served to round out the cast. Rains, who leapt to stardom eight years earlier in James Whale’s superb "The Invisible Man," was excellent as Chaney’s father. Ouspenskaya gained cinematic immortality as well with her portrayal of Maleva, the old gypsy woman.

 

 

Ouspenskaya, one of the most respected character actresses in Hollywood, would reprise her role in the film’s sequel, "Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man" in 1943. After surviving such mayhem on the screen, the talented performer’s life came to an end as the result of a calamitous accident. She fell asleep in her bed with a lit cigarette in November 1949, and died of the injuries a few days later. The Russian born actress was 73 years old at the time.

In 1942, Ankers joined Chaney again for the fourth installment in the continuing saga of Universal’s greatest monster. "The Ghost of Frankenstein" reunited several of the players from "The Wolf Man" in what was an entertaining if somewhat overlooked classic of the genre. Chaney, Ankers, Bellamy, and Lugosi had each been cast in featured roles in the previous film. Joining them were Sir Cedric Hardwicke and Lionel Atwill, both quite well known to fans of the genre by this time. George Waggner again produced, with the director’s duties being assumed by Erle C. Kenton.

Critics complained about the picture’s "B" status, and it was the first of the mighty Frankenstein series to fall into that category. Despite the lower budget, the film was a successful one, and today stands as a true classic.

Also that year, Ankers joined Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce in "Sherlock Holmes and The Voice of Terror." Rathbone and Bruce had appeared as Holmes and Watson in two features at Twentieth Century Fox prior to coming to Universal to continue the adventures of the screen’s most famous detective. This was their first pairing at Universal, and would be followed by eleven more titles.

Some of Ankers other notable films of 1942 included Walter Wanger’s "Eagle Squadron" with Robert Stack, and "The Great Impersonation." She was reunited with her leading man from "The Ghost of Frankenstein," Ralph Bellamy, for the latter production.

Probably Ankers’ greatest triumph that year was not a screen role at all. On September 6th, she married actor Richard Denning. It was to be a long and successful union. With her new husband serving in the armed forces, Ankers was to continue her film work unimpeded for yet a while longer.

By 1943, the blonde beauty was firmly established as Universal's number one horror film heroine. She was menaced by the "shockingly savage" Acquanetta in "Captive Wild Woman," an unusual yet entertaining film that ultimately spawned two sequels. In "Son of Dracula," she was cast in a supporting role as the sister of a morbid Louise Allbritton, who marries the undead Count to gain immortality. Ankers then held the female lead in yet another shocker, "The Mad Ghoul," which co-starred George Zucco and David Bruce.

The following year she was featured in "The Invisible Man’s Revenge," the last of the Invisible Man series made by the studio. Ankers also joined Acquanetta once again for the sequel to their previous year’s entry, this time entitled "Jungle Woman," and made her first Inner Sanctum film, "Weird Woman," with Chaney and her dear friend Anne Gwynne.