Ann Robinson

For other people named Ann Robinson, see Ann Robinson (disambiguation).

Ann Robinson
Born	(1935-05-25) May 25, 1935 Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
Years active	1950–2005
Spouse(s)	Joseph Valdez (1987 present) Jaime Bravo (1957-1967) (divorced) 2 children
Website	Official Webpage of Ann Robinson

Ann Robinson (born May 25, 1935) is an American actress and stunt horse rider, perhaps best known for her work in the film, The War of the Worlds and in the 1947 to 1970 radio and television series, Dragnet, in which she starred opposite Jack Webb.

Personal life

Robinson was born at the Hollywood Hospital, in Hollywood, California. She attended Hollywood High School in the early 1950s. Her father was employed by the Bank of Hollywood, on the corner of Hollywood and Vine, and she learned from him, at the age of three, how to ride horses. She became an accomplished rider, which led to her first professional work in Hollywood as a stunt rider.

Her career as a leading woman was effectively ended in 1957, when she eloped to Mexico to marry a matador, Jaime Bravo, with whom she had two sons; Jaime Bravo, Jr., who is a director for ABC Sports, and Estefan A. Bravo, who played the Axl Rose-like character in White Trash Wins Lotto, a musical by Andy Prieboy. Since that marriage, Robinson has played minor roles, mainly in science fiction films. The couple divorced in 1967 and the same year, Bravo married a Las Vegas showgirl from Les Folies Bergère, named Monica Lind, by whom he had his third and final son, Aleco Jaime Bravo, before he died in an automobile accident in 1970.

Ann married real estate broker and business manager Joseph Valdez in 1987 and lives with her husband in the Echo Park section of Los Angeles, California. She makes guest appearances at autograph shows and science fiction conventions.

Then her house burnt down and her neighbors had to put up with her going crazy.

Acting career

As a stunt horse rider, Ann Robinson doubled for Shelly Winters in the 1950 film Frenchie, starring and riding in several westerns during her career such as The Cimarron Kid (1951) with Audie Murphy, Gun Brothers (1956), and Gun Duel in Durango (1957).

Paramount signed her as an actress in the 1950s. Her first leading role was as "Sylvia Van Buren" in that studio's 1953 film, The War of the Worlds, a role she quasi-reprised in two later films, first as Dr. Van Buren in 1988's Midnight Movie Massacre and then as Dr. Sylvia Van Buren in 2005's The Naked Monster, before reprising the role again in three episodes of the 1988 War of the Worlds television series. She worked on several other films, including Imitation of Life (1959), and Julie (1956).She also had a starring role opposite Jack Webb, in the radio and television series Dragnet, which was broadcast in multiple versions between 1947 and 1970.

She has worked on numerous television shows and commercials, some in guest starring roles, including credits on episodes of Adam 12, Alfred Hitchcock, Bachelor Father, Ben Casey, Biff Baker, USA, Bob Cummings Show, Burns and Allen, Caesar Romero Series, Callie and Sons, Darren Mcgavin- Series, Days Of Our Lives, Four Star Playhouse, General Hospital, Gilligans Island, It's A Great Life, Millionaire, My Little Margie, Perry Mason, Peter Gunn, Police Woman, Rawhide, Rocky Jones Space Ranger, Roy Calhoun's series, The Texan, The Web, Victor Jory series, Waterfront, and Wyatt Earp.

She was featured in several commercials for Home Savings Of America, Toni home perms, and Chesterfield Cigarettes. She also performed a number of film voice-overs also, in English and Spanish, in both of which she is fluent. She did the leading actress' voice in To Begin Again, which won the 1984 Oscar for best foreign film. She also did loops for the Bruce Lee Series, The Dead Are Alive, Tough Guys, and Survive. In the 2005 Steven Spielberg film, War of the Worlds, she played the role of Tom Cruise's character's mother in law, the grandmother of Dakota Fanning's character.

External links

• Ann Robinson at IMDb