Ann Dvorak

Little remembered Ann Dvorak as photographed by Elmer Fryer for “The Strange Love of Molly Louvain” (1932). She was born as Anna McKim on August 2, 1911 in New York City, NY, the only child of silent film actress Anna Lehr and director Edwin McKim. She made her film debut when she was five years old in the silent film version of “Ramona” (1916). She continued in children's roles in “The Man Hater” (1917) and “Five Dollar Plate” (1920), but then stopped acting in films. In the late 1920s, Dvorak worked as a dance instructor and gradually began to appear on film as a chorus girl. Success eventually came with “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. With her then-husband, Leslie Fenton, Dvorak travelled to England where in the 1940s 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” (1946) with Randolph Scott and the following year adeptly handled comedy in “Out of the Blue” (1947). In 1948, she gave her only performance on Broadway in “The Respectful Prostitute”. 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. Several weeks before her death, she suffered severe stomach pains. She was diagnosed with cancer that had metastasized beyond cure. She passed away on December 10, 1979, aged 68.

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