Anne Gwynne
During the summer of 1939, a photogenic twenty-year old vision of loveliness came to Universal seeking a contract. Following a thirty-minute interview, she got her wish. Over the next five years, she would be featured in some thirty-eight Universal films, and become one of the studio’s most recognizable stars. Universal was indeed fortunate to have signed Anne Gwynne.
Gwynne was born December 10, 1918, in Waco, Texas. While a teenager, her family moved to Missouri, where she later attended Stephens College in Columbia. It was there, under the tutorage of Maude Adams, that her interest in acting began to bloom. In 1939, she accompanied her father on a business trip to Los Angeles and, through his connections with the company, acquired a job modeling for Catalina Swimwear. She also began appearing in local theater productions, and her talent and stunning beauty quickly brought her to the attention of Universal executives.
In fact, it was not just Universal that was interested in the 5’5" beauty. On that same fateful day that she came to Universal City, Gwynne was scheduled for a meeting at Warner Brothers as well. She never made it to Warners, an omission that she perhaps later came to regret after appearing in a succession of Universal’s "B" features. Yet, arguably, those same films are probably much better remembered today, and have attained a larger fan following, than most "A" pictures Warner Brothers was producing during the same period.
Following her debut in "Unexpected Father" with Baby Sandy, Gwynne was to make her mark very quickly in the studio’s western films. She costarred with Johnny Mack Brown and sidekick Fuzzy Knight in "Oklahoma Frontier" in 1939 and "Bad Man from Red Butte" in early 1940. Brown joined Gwynne again in 1941 for the Abbott and Costello comedy classic, "Ride ‘Em Cowboy," along with Dick Foran. The film was released in 1942, and was one of the top grossing pictures of the year. Another 1941 western, "Road Agent," also paired Gwynne with Foran, along with Andy Devine and Leo Carrillo.
Gwynne appeared with Johnny Mack Brown, Bob Baker and Fuzzy Knight in
"Bad Man from Red Butte" in 1940.
She was later featured in a series of the studio’s higher budgeted western films. In 1942, she was cast with Broderick Crawford and Robert Stack in "Men of Texas," and followed that assignment by appearing with Crawford in "Sin Town." George Waggner, whose stock was riding high at Universal at the time due to his highly successful horror films, was the producer of these two efforts. In 1943, she joined Robert Paige and Diana Barrymore for another class "A" western, "Frontier Badman," which also featured Lon Chaney, Jr. as the villain.
Gwynne made a brief unbilled appearance as a telephone operator in the 1940 Deanna Durbin vehicle, "It’s a Date." She was used to greater advantage in Durbin’s next two releases. The 1940 musical comedy "Spring Parade" found Gwynne featured as the second female lead. The cast also included Robert Cummings, Mischa Auer, S. Z. "Cuddles" Sakall, Samuel S. Hinds and Peggy Moran. Directed by Henry Koster and produced by Joe Pasternak, "Spring Parade" is considered to be one of Durbin’s best films.
Gwynne’s beauty is showcased in this studio publicity photo from
"Spring Parade" (1940).
"Nice Girl?" followed in 1941, with Gwynne portraying Durbin’s sister. Others in the cast were Franchot Tone, Robert Stack, Walter Brennan, Robert Benchley and Ann Gillis. Pasternak again produced, with William A. Seiter directing.
Gwynne would become the studio’s number two "lady in distress" in the 1940’s, second only to Evelyn Ankers. She appeared as the evil Lady Sonja in the science fiction serial "Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe" in 1940. It was the third and final installment of the studio’s Flash Gordon series, all featuring serial king Buster Crabbe in the title role. Gwynne’s first foray into the realm of horror films came later that same year in the classic "Black Friday," with Boris Karloff, Stanley Ridges, Bela Lugosi and Anne Nagel.
In 1941, Gwynne’s talent was put to good use in the horror-comedy "The Black Cat." She held the female lead in a cast that included Broderick Crawford, Basil Rathbone, Hugh Herbert, Gale Sondergaard, Gladys Cooper and Bela Lugosi. Crawford and Gwynne were to become very good friends, in spite of the fact that she and Ankers had "taken" Crawford and Chaney’s dressing trailer. Universal executives made the switch after their two burly male leads kept drinking and brawling inside of it after repeated warnings to stop.
Gale Sondergaard, Brod Crawford and Anne Gwynne react to the appearance of the title character in a scene from Universal’s 1941 production of "The Black Cat."
The next year would find her appearing with Patric Knowles, Lionel Atwill, Samuel S. Hinds and Mantan Moreland in "The Strange Case of Doctor Rx," a murder mystery involving a defense attorney that kills his clients after attaining their acquittal. Following this production, it would be some two years before she would do another Universal horror film. Fans need not have worried, though. Between her appearances in the studio’s westerns, musicals, dramas and comedies, she was constantly at work on some project. Among those films were two highly prestigious pictures by Academy Award winning producer Walter Wanger, "We’ve Never Been Licked" in 1943 and "Ladies Courageous" with Loretta Young in 1944. The former told the story of the Fighting Sons of Texas A & M University, and was a patriotic offering for wartime audiences.
Also costarring with Gwynne in "Ladies Courageous" was David Bruce. He would be her leading man in two other releases that year, "South of Dixie" and "Moon over Las Vegas." When Bruce auditioned at Universal in 1942, Gwynne, already an established star, participated in his screen test. Interestingly enough, so striking was Gwynne’s visual appeal, a screen test was not required before she signed her contract with the studio three years earlier!
David Bruce and Anne Gwynne make a lovely couple on the title lobby card
for "South of Dixie" (1944).
The war years at Universal found Gwynne at her peak. Billed as the TNT girl (trim, neat, terrific), she became a popular pin up, and was voted "The Girl We Would Most Like to Corral" by a regiment of the U.S. Calvary. Her image, as portrayed by Universal’s publicity department, was that of a wholesome young lady. It was said that she did not smoke or drink alcohol, enjoyed playing tennis, and by 1944 had been dating the same boyfriend for two years.
Gwynne was indeed kept busy during this period. Besides her feature and publicity work at Universal, she toured military bases with the "Hollywood On Parade" shows, along with other stars such as John Garfield. She also appeared in a national print ad campaign, giving her endorsement to Royal Crown Cola.
1941 pinup for "Miss TNT of Hollywood"
In 1944, following her brief hiatus from the horror films, Gwynne was cast in three of the studio’s thrillers. She was top billed in the B mystery, "Murder in the Blue Room," a remake of the 1933 classic "Secret of the Blue Room" which featured Gloria Stuart. "Murder in the Blue Room" was actually the third retelling of the story, as Universal had previously remade it in 1938 as "The Missing Guest" with Paul Kelly and Constance Moore.
"Weird Woman," also released in 1944, featured Gwynne, Lon Chaney, Jr., Evelyn Ankers and Lois Collier in what was to be the second of the studio’s popular Inner Sanctum mysteries. Being that Anker’s character had to menace Gwynne’s, it was a particularly difficult film for the duo to make, especially so since the two were best friends in real life. In fact, Ankers served as matron of honor when Gwynne married theatrical attorney Max Gilford in 1945, and Gwynne was Ankers character witness when the latter, an English subject born in Chile, applied for U.S. citizenship in 1946.
Gwynne strikes a publicity pose for "Weird Woman" (1944).
The all star monster rally "House of Frankenstein" was Gwynne’s last Universal horror credit, and her last Universal film. At her own request, she was granted a release from her contract following its completion. "House of Frankenstein" was the sequel to the profitable "Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man." With the success of the latter in 1943, the studio decided that more monsters per film meant more earnings. The result of this logic was the final two serious entries in the historic Frankenstein series. What was undoubtedly one of Universal’s most anticipated releases of 1944, "House of Frankenstein" brought together the creature of the title, plus the Wolf Man, Dracula, a mad scientist, and a hunchback! Boris Karloff headed the cast, which included Gwynne, Lon Chaney, Jr., J. Carrol Naish, John Carradine, Elena Verdugo, Peter Coe, Lionel Atwill, Glenn Strange and George Zucco. The next year, Chaney, Carradine, Strange and Atwill returned to finish off the series in "House of Dracula."
Just because her tenure at Universal was over didn’t mean that Gwynne was through with horror films. She found herself in peril at the hands of Boris Karloff yet again in RKO’s 1947 release "Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome." That same year she appeared with James Ellison and Edward Everett Horton in Republic's supernatural comedy "The Ghost Goes Wild."
In 1957, Gwynne, along with former Universal makeup artist Jack Pierce, worked on the Howco International production of "Teenage Monster." The recipient of most of Pierce’s handiwork in the film was stuntman/actor Gilbert Perkins. Undergoing makeup transformations at the hands of Jack Pierce was nothing new for Perkins, as he had doubled for Bela Lugosi as the Frankenstein Monster in Universal’s 1943 production of "Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man."
Gwynne seems distraught over the effects a meteor has had on her husband in "Teenage Monster." Just wait until she sees her son!
In addition to the fantasy film credits, Gwynne carried on her work in the western genre after leaving Universal. In 1948, she costarred alongside Rod Cameron in "Panhandle." The Allied Artists release was co-written and produced by Blake Edwards, and is noteworthy for not being your typical Saturday afternoon matinee faire. It was geared for the more discriminating adult audiences of the day, and clocking in with an 84 minute running time, was much longer than the typical "B."
In 1950, Gwynne appeared in Columbia’s "The Blazing Sun" with Gene Autry and Pat Buttram. That same year, she co-starred with her former leading man Kirby Grant in "Call of the Klondike," a Monogram offering based on a story by James Oliver Curwood. Grant had appeared with Gwynne in the musical "Babes on Swing Street" at Universal in 1944.
Kirby Grant protects Gwynne from danger in Monogram’s "Call of the Klondike" (1950).
Her last western film was "King of the Bullwhip," which starred an icon of the 1950’s, Lash LaRue. The 1951 Western Adventure release also featured Al "Fuzzy" St. John and Tom Neal. When asked in the early 1980’s about working with Gwynne in this film, LaRue could only recall that she was always professional and did her job well. However, he commented that she spent most of her time in the limousine provided for the actors and didn’t mingle much. "But then," he added, "I had quite a reputation with the ladies and she was married."
Many performers were attracted to the lure of television during this period, and Gwynne was no different. She did guest appearances on such hit shows as "Death Valley Days" and "Northwest Passage" in the late 1950's. However, she also holds the distinction of starring in what is perhaps the first series produced strictly for the new medium. In 1947-48, she filmed 26 episodes of "Public Prosecutor" for NBC. John Howard and Walter Sande were also featured in this television first.
Apart from her film life, Gwynne and husband Max Gilford busily raised their two children, Gloria Gwynne Gilford and Gregory Maxwell Gilford. Gwynne Gilford began an acting career in the late 1960’s, and is the wife of the respected thespian, Robert Pine. The Pine’s daughter Katie has heeded the call of the acting bug herself. In 1999, the recent college graduate appeared in an episode of "Sunset Beach" and was also cast alongside her father in "CHiPs ’99."
Widowed in 1965, Anne Gwynne resurfaced in the late ‘60’s for some commercial work, and appeared as Michael Douglas’ mother in one of his early features, "Adam at 6 a.m." in 1970. It was her last screen appearance, culminating a film career that spanned thirty-one years.
Health problems in the early 1990’s ultimately forced a move to the Motion Picture Country Home in Woodland Hills, California. However, she still makes appearances at collector’s shows in the Hollywood area and remains a fan favorite.
By the end of her screen career, Gwynne had no less than fifty-five film credits on her resume. Her contribution to both Universal Studios and to the horror film cannot be overlooked. Gwynne’s beauty and elegance were a decided asset to any production in which she appeared. Her career warrants recognition, and thanks to the recent home video release of several of her films, she will continue to acquire and delight new fans as the years press on.
A unique piece of memorabilia from Gwynne’s career, her January 30, 1940
LOOK magazine cover.