Ann Doran
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (April 2018) |
Ann Doran | |
|---|---|
 Doran in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946) | |
| Born | Ann Lee Doran July 28, 1911 Amarillo, Texas, U.S. |
| Died | September 19, 2000 (aged 89) Carmichael, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1922–1988 |
| Mother | Rose Allen |
Ann Doran (July 28, 1911 – September 19, 2000) was a prolific American character actress, who worked in more than 1500 motion pictures and television episodes. Today's audiences know her as Carol Stark, the mother of James "Jim" Stark (James Dean) in Rebel Without a Cause (1955),[1] and as a featured actress in short comedies with The Three Stooges and Charley Chase. She was an early member of the Screen Actors Guild and served on the board of the Motion Picture & Television Fund for 30 years.[2]
Early years
[edit]Ann Lee Doran was born in Amarillo, Texas to silent-film actress Rose Allen (born Carrie A. Barnett) and John R. Doran. She attended high school in San Bernardino, California.[3]
Film career
[edit]According to a 1979 interview, the actress made her debut at 11 years old.[4] Seldom cast in leading roles, Doran appeared in more than 500 motion pictures and 1,000 episodes of television series, such as the American Civil War drama Gray Ghost.
Doran entered the field of motion pictures as a stand-in, then bit player, then incidental supporting player. In 1936 she was featured in two of the last feature films produced by independent studio Chesterfield Pictures, Missing Girls and Red Lights Ahead (the latter film a rare lead for Columbia Pictures' short-subject star Andy Clyde).
Columbia Pictures
[edit]Red Lights Ahead led to a contract with Columbia, where Doran became a familiar face. Columbia's company policy was to use the members of its stock company as often as possible. Thus, Doran appears in Columbia's serials (such as The Spider's Web and Flying G-Men), B features (including the Blondie, Five Little Peppers and Ellery Queen series), and major feature films. She became a favorite of Columbia director Frank Capra and appeared in many of his productions, notably You Can't Take It With You, in which she leads a group of neighbors battling a tycoon who evicted them. Most of these appearances were supporting roles, although she had the ingenue lead in the Charles Starrett western Rio Grande (1938) and was featured in the Boris Karloff thriller The Man They Could Not Hang (1939).
She was most prominent in Columbia's two-reel comedies, which had smaller casts and accordingly gave supporting players more to do. She worked with The Three Stooges, Andy Clyde, Harry Langdon, Tom Kennedy, Walter Catlett. Roscoe Karns, Vera Vague, and especially Charley Chase. Her first appearance with Chase was as a gangster's moll in Time Out for Trouble (1938); Chase admired her comic timing and gave her ingenue leads in his subsequent shorts.
Freelance career
[edit]Ann Doran's tenure at Columbia ended when Frank Capra angrily left the studio to make Meet John Doe (1941), and cast Doran as the wife of soda jerk-turned-John Doe Club activist Bert Hansen. Though her character speaks some of the film's most pivotal lines of dialogue, including an impassioned suicide-preventing plea in the final scene, her appearance in the film is uncredited. It is possible that Columbia studio chief Harry Cohn resented Ann Doran's following Capra, and dropped her from his contract roster.
Now away from Columbia, Ann Doran began freelancing and worked steadily for other companies. Her first freelance job after Columbia was for the low-budget Producers Releasing Corporation, where she had the ingenue lead in Criminals Within (1941). Never a glamour-girl ingenue, Doran always projected a sensible, down-to-earth quality that suited her plain-Jane looks, and she was always content to play supporting roles. "I'm happy in the leak light," she told the Los Angeles Times in 1981. With the spotlight on the star, "whatever leaked over the side, that's what I got."[5] She continued to play character roles, large and small (including one as a Nazi agent in the 1942 Michael Shayne mystery Blue, White and Perfect).
When Columbia needed a comic actress to fill out a girls' baseball team in the Andy Clyde short Lovable Trouble (1941), Ann Doran got the call. This renewed her affiliation with the Columbia shorts department, where she was always welcome. She continued to work at Columbia off and on for the next several years, but never again under contract and always on a freelance basis.
Columbia filmed two boy-and-his-dog stories with juvenile star Ted Donaldson in 1945–46. When the Donaldson films became a full-fledged series (featuring the dog Rusty) in 1947, Doran was cast as Donaldson's mother in the next six films. Her maternal roles led to her being cast as James Dean's mother in Rebel Without a Cause (1955).
Television
[edit]Doran played Charlotte McHenry, the housekeeper on Shirley,[6]: 962 Agnes Haskell, Eddie Haskell's mother and, in a separate appearance, Mrs. Bellamy, in Leave It to Beaver[6] and Mrs. Kingston, the housekeeper, on Longstreet.[6]: 621–622
Doran guest-starred on television programs including three appearances in the role of Bonnie Landis in Public Defender, starring with fellow Texan Reed Hadley. She appeared in the anthology series Crossroads in the 1956 episode "The White Carnation", along with Elinor Donahue, James Best and J. Carrol Naish. In 1952, she appeared in an episode of The Lone Ranger titled "Hidden Fortune".
Doran was cast in the children's Western series My Friend Flicka, the story of a boy and his horse on a ranch in Wyoming. She also appeared in episodes of Ray Milland's sitcom Meet Mr. McNutley and Kenneth Tobey's aviation adventure series Whirlybirds. Doran guest-starred on Perry Mason in "The Case of the Prodigal Parent" (1958), "The Case of the Lurid Letter" (1962) and "The Case of the Drowsy Mosquito" (1963) as well as in Rawhide in the episode "Incident of the Challenge".
Doran was cast twice in 1959–1960 in episodes of the series Colt .45, starring Wayde Preston. In 1960, she was cast as Martha Brown, the mother of horse rider Velvet Brown (Lori Martin) in the family drama National Velvet.[6]: 746 She made one appearance on McHale's Navy as Mrs. Martha "Pumpkin" Binghamton, wife of Captain Binghamton (Joe Flynn). In 1963 Doran appeared as Minerva Lewis on The Virginian in the episode "Run Away Home."[7] Doran was cast twice as Mrs. Elliott and Hugh Beaumont as Mr. Elliott, parents of Steve Elliott (Mike Minor), in Petticoat Junction.
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Three years later, she appeared in the first episode of The Legend of Jesse James as Zerelda James Samuel, the mother of Jesse and Frank James.[6] She also appeared in M*A*S*H as Nurse Meg Cratty, who runs an orphanage in Korea. In the episode "The Kids", Cratty and her charges bunk with the M*A*S*H unit after having to evacuate when the orphanage was shelled.[8]
Death
[edit]Doran died at age 89 on September 19, 2000,[9] at a senior-citizens complex in Carmichael, California. Following her death, her remains were cremated and scattered at sea.[10]
Ann Doran was a tireless worker for the motion picture industry. In 1960 she became the recording secretary for the Screen Actors Guild,[11] and in 1990 she received the guild's Ralph Morgan Award, named after one the organization's founders, for distinguished service. During her long career she saved most of her salaries, and she bequeathed $400,000 to the Motion Picture Country House, the industry's retirement home in Woodland Hills, California.
Filmography
[edit]Films
[edit]| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1922 | Robin Hood | Page to Richard | Uncredited |
| 1934 | One Exciting Adventure | Girl | |
| Servants' Entrance | Marie, the Maid | Uncredited | |
| 1935 | Night Life of the Gods | Girl in Pool | |
| Way Down East | Rosie – Hired Girl | ||
| Case of the Missing Man | Dental Nurse | Uncredited | |
| Bad Boy | Telegraph Clerk | ||
| Mary Burns, Fugitive | Newspaper girl | ||
| 1936 | Dangerous Intrigue | Floor Nurse | Uncredited |
| Ring Around the Moon | Kay Duncan | ||
| Lady of Secrets | Reporter | Uncredited | |
| The Little Red Schoolhouse | Mary Burke | ||
| Mr. Deeds Goes to Town | Girl on Bus | Uncredited | |
| Let's Sing Again | Alice Alba | ||
| Palm Springs | Schoolgirl | Uncredited | |
| Missing Girls | Ann Jason | ||
| Red Lights Ahead | Mary Wallace | ||
| 1937 | The Devil's Playground | Bit Part | Uncredited |
| When You're in Love | Secretary | ||
| The Go Getter | Maizie – the Maid | ||
| Girls Can Play | Alice, Secretary | ||
| Marry the Girl | Marge, a Secretary | ||
| It's All Yours | Stewardess | Uncredited | |
| Stella Dallas | Minor Role | ||
| I'll Take Romance | Opera Cast | ||
| Nothing Sacred | Telephone Girl | ||
| She Married an Artist | Model | ||
| Paid to Dance | Rose Trevor | Alternative title: Hard to Hold | |
| The Shadow | Shaw Sister | ||
| 1938 | Little Miss Roughneck | Girl | Uncredited |
| Penitentiary | Blanche Williams | ||
| Women in Prison | Maggie | ||
| Start Cheering | Green's Secretary | Uncredited | |
| Extortion | Margie Blake | ||
| Holiday | Kitchen Maid | Uncredited | |
| The Main Event | Telegraph Clerk | ||
| Highway Patrol | Estelle | ||
| City Streets | Nurse | Uncredited | |
| You Can't Take It with You | Maggie O'Neill | ||
| The Spider's Web | Mason's Secretary | Serial | |
| The Lady Objects | Miss Hollins | ||
| Blondie | Elsie Hazlip | ||
| Rio Grande | Jean Andrews | Lead role | |
| Smashing the Spy Ring | Madelon Martin | ||
| 1939 | Homicide Bureau | Nurse | Uncredited |
| Flying G-Men | Hamilton's Secretary | Serial | |
| My Son Is a Criminal | Taxicab Company Secretary | Uncredited | |
| Let Us Live | Secretary Juror | ||
| Romance of the Redwoods | |||
| Blind Alley | Agnes | ||
| Good Girls Go to Paris | Bridesmaid | Uncredited | |
| Coast Guard | Nurse | ||
| The Man They Could Not Hang | Betty Crawford | ||
| A Woman Is the Judge | Luella | Uncredited | |
| Mr. Smith Goes to Washington | Paine's Secretary | ||
| Three Sappy People | Countess | Short, Uncredited | |
| 1940 | The Green Hornet | Josephine Weaver Allen | Serial, [Ch. 3], Uncredited |
| His Girl Friday | Newspaper Office Worker | Uncredited | |
| Five Little Peppers at Home | Nurse | ||
| Forgotten Girls | Inmate | ||
| Untamed | 1st Nurse | ||
| Manhattan Heartbeat | Shop Girl's Friend | ||
| Girls of the Road | Jerry | ||
| Glamour for Sale | Myrtle | Uncredited | |
| Her First Romance | Student | ||
| 1941 | Murder Among Friends | Dr. Turk's Nurse | Uncredited |
| Meet John Doe | Bert Hansen's wife | ||
| Ellery Queen's Penthouse Mystery | Sheila Cobb | ||
| Penny Serenade | Dotty "Dot" | ||
| Criminals Within | Linda | ||
| Dive Bomber | Helen – Joe's Date | Uncredited | |
| Sun Valley Serenade | Waitress | ||
| Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day | Nurse at Party | ||
| The Kid from Kansas | Julie 'Smitty' Smith | ||
| Sing Another Chorus | Bronx Dame | Uncredited | |
| Buy Me That Town | Woman | ||
| New York Town | Demonstrator in Department Store | ||
| 1942 | Blue, White and Perfect | Miss Hoffman | |
| Mr. Wise Guy | Dorothy Melton | ||
| Yankee Doodle Dandy | Receptionist | Uncredited | |
| They All Kissed the Bride | Helene – the Drew's Maid | ||
| Beyond the Blue Horizon | Margaret Chase | ||
| My Sister Eileen | Receptionist | ||
| Street of Chance | Miss Peabody | ||
| Smith of Minnesota | Uncredited | ||
| 1943 | The Hard Way | Dorshka | |
| Air Force | Mrs. Mary Quincannon | ||
| Slightly Dangerous | Salesgirl | ||
| The More the Merrier | Miss Bilby | ||
| So Proudly We Hail! | Lt. Betty Peterson | ||
| Gildersleeve on Broadway | Matilda Brown | ||
| Old Acquaintance | Music Store Saleslady | Uncredited | |
| True to Life | Radio Kitty | ||
| 1944 | The Story of Dr. Wassell | Praying Woman | |
| Mr. Skeffington | Maria, a nursemaid | ||
| Henry Aldrich's Little Secret | Helen Martin | ||
| I Love a Soldier | Jenny Butler | ||
| Here Come the Waves | Ruth | ||
| 1945 | Roughly Speaking | Alice Abbott | |
| Pride of the Marines | Ella Mae Merchant | Alternative title: Forever in Love | |
| 1946 | The Strange Love of Martha Ivers | Bobbi St. John | |
| Our Hearts Were Growing Up | Monica Lonsdale | Uncredited | |
| 1947 | The Perfect Marriage | Secretary Ellen | |
| My Favorite Brunette | Miss Rogers | ||
| Seven Were Saved | Mrs. Rollin Hartley | ||
| Fear in the Night | Lil Herlihy | ||
| For the Love of Rusty | Ethel Mitchell | ||
| The Crimson Key | Paris Wood | ||
| Second Chance | Doris Greene | ||
| The Son of Rusty | Ethel Mitchell | ||
| Variety Girl | Hairdresser | Uncredited | |
| Magic Town | Mrs. Weaver | ||
| Road to the Big House | Agnes Clark | ||
| 1948 | Reaching from Heaven | Martha Kestner | |
| The Return of the Whistler | Sybil Barkley | Uncredited | |
| My Dog Rusty | Ethel Mitchell | ||
| Hazard | Nurse | ||
| The Babe Ruth Story | Reporter | Uncredited | |
| The Walls of Jericho | Gossip | ||
| Pitfall | Maggie | ||
| Rusty Leads the Way | Ethel Mitchell | ||
| Sealed Verdict | Ellie Blaine, Red Cross date | ||
| The Snake Pit | Valerie | ||
| No Minor Vices | Mrs. Faraday | Uncredited | |
| He Walked by Night | Dispatcher | ||
| 1949 | The Accused | Miss Rice – Nurse | |
| Rusty Saves a Life | Ethel Mitchell | ||
| The Clay Pigeon | Miss Collins – Naval Nurse | Uncredited | |
| Big Jack | Sarah Oakes | ||
| The Fountainhead | Wynand's Secretary | ||
| One Last Fling | Vera Thompson | ||
| Air Hostess | Virginia Barton | ||
| Calamity Jane and Sam Bass | Mrs. Lucy Egan | ||
| The Kid from Cleveland | Emily Barrows Novak | ||
| Holiday in Havana | Marge Henley | ||
| Beyond the Forest | Edith Williams | Uncredited | |
| Rusty's Birthday | Ethel Mitchell | ||
| 1950 | Riding High | Nurse | Uncredited |
| No Sad Songs for Me | Louise Spears | ||
| Never a Dull Moment | Jean Morrow | ||
| Lonely Heart Bandits | Nancy Crane | ||
| The Jackpot | Miss Alice Bowen | Uncredited | |
| 1951 | Gambling House | Della | |
| Tomahawk | Mrs. Carrington | ||
| The Painted Hills | Martha Blake | ||
| Her First Romance | Mrs. Foster | ||
| The People Against O'Hara | Betty Clark, Policewoman | ||
| Starlift | Mrs. Callan – Nurse | Uncredited | |
| 1952 | Here Come the Nelsons | Clara Randolph | |
| Love Is Better Than Ever | Mrs. Levoy | ||
| Rodeo | Mrs. Martha Durston | Uncredited | |
| Paula | Mrs. Smith, welfare worker | ||
| The Rose Bowl Story | Mrs. Addie Burke | ||
| 1953 | So This Is Love | Mrs. James Moore | |
| Island in the Sky | Moon's wife | Uncredited | |
| The Eddie Cantor Story | Lillian Edwards | ||
| I Love Lucy | Audience Member | ||
| 1954 | The High and the Mighty | Mrs. Joseph | |
| Them! | Child Psychiatrist | Uncredited | |
| The Bob Mathias Story | Mrs. Lillian Mathias | ||
| 1955 | The Desperate Hours | Mrs. Walling | Uncredited |
| Rebel Without a Cause | Carol Stark | ||
| 1957 | Shoot-Out at Medicine Bend | Sarah Devlin | |
| The Man Who Turned to Stone | Mrs. Ford | ||
| Shoot-Out at Medicine Bend | Sarah Devlin | Uncredited | |
| Band of Angels | Mrs. Morton | ||
| Young and Dangerous | Mrs. Clara Clinton | ||
| Bombers B-52 | Sylvia Slater | Uncredited | |
| 1958 | The Deep Six | Elsie – Mike's Wife | |
| The Female Animal | Nurse | ||
| The Rawhide Trail | Mrs. Cartwright | ||
| Day of the Badman | Martha Mordigan | ||
| Violent Road | Edith Miller | ||
| Life Begins at 17 | Virginia Peck | ||
| Voice in the Mirror | Mrs. Devlin | ||
| It! The Terror from Beyond Space | Mary Royce | ||
| The Badlanders | Stagecoach Passenger – Mother | Uncredited | |
| Step Down to Terror | Mrs. Duprez | ||
| Joy Ride | Grace | ||
| 1959 | Warlock | Mrs. Richardson | Uncredited |
| Riot in Juvenile Prison | Bess Monahan | ||
| Cast a Long Shadow | Charlotte Calvert | ||
| The FBI Story | Mrs. Ballard | Uncredited | |
| A Summer Place | Mrs. Talbert | ||
| 1963 | Captain Newman, M.D. | Mrs. Pyser | |
| 1964 | The Carpetbaggers | Reporter | |
| The Brass Bottle | Martha Kenton | ||
| Where Love Has Gone | Mrs. Geraghty | ||
| Kitten with a Whip | Mavis Varden | ||
| 1965 | Mirage | Tenant in Apartment 3R | Uncredited |
| 1966 | Not with My Wife, You Don't! | Doris Parker | |
| 1967 | The Hostage | Miss Mabry | |
| Rosie! | Old Lady | ||
| 1968 | Live a Little, Love a Little | Landlady | Uncredited |
| 1969 | Once You Kiss a Stranger | Lee's Mother | |
| The Arrangement | Nurse Costello | Uncredited | |
| Topaz | Mrs. Forsyth | ||
| 1970 | There Was a Crooked Man... | Mrs. Lomax | |
| 1971 | The Hired Hand | Mrs. Sorenson | |
| 1976 | The Gumball Rally | Mrs. Ontley | |
| Flood! | Emma Fisher | TV movie | |
| 1981 | All Night Long | Grandmother Gibbons | |
| First Monday in October | Storekeeper | ||
| 1986 | Wildcats | Mrs. Chatham | Alternative title: First and Goal |
Television
[edit]| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1952 | Adventures of Superman | Mrs. King | 1 episode |
| 1953 | The Danny Thomas Show | Teacher | |
| 1954 | Ramar of the Jungle | Irene Loring | |
| 1955 | Brave Eagle | Whispering Grass | |
| 1956 | Father Knows Best | Dorothy Tyler | |
| 1957 | December Bride | Miss Moore | |
| 1958 | M Squad | Mrs. Rainey | |
| Perry Mason | Mrs. Claire Durrell in "The Case of the Prodigal Parent" | ||
| Official Detective | Charlotte | Episode: "The Cover-Up" | |
| 1959 | Frontier Doctor | Ma "Dallas" Bell | 1 episode |
| Bourbon Street Beat | Mary Dumont | 1 episode, "The Tiger Moth" | |
| The Donna Reed Show | Mrs Adams | 1 Episode: "The Report Card" | |
| 1960 | General Electric Theater | Tourist | Episode: "Adam's Apples" |
| Wagon Train | Aunt Lizzie | 1 episode | |
| 1960–1962 | National Velvet | Martha Brown | 58 episodes |
| 1963–1970 | The Virginian | Various | 5 episodes |
| 1965 | McHale's Navy | Mrs. Binghamton | 1 episode |
| 1966–1967 | Hey, Landlord | Marcy Banner | 2 episodes |
| 1967, season 5 | Petticoat Junction | Mrs. Elliott | |
| 1966–1968 | Bonanza | Lisa Stanley / Mrs. Walker | |
| 1968 | The Guns of Will Sonnett | Margaret Stover | 1 episode |
| 1970 | The Bold Ones: The Lawyers | Mrs. Grimbi | |
| Ironside | Dora Copeland | ||
| 1971–1972 | Longstreet | Mrs. Kingston | 23 episodes |
| 1972 | The Odd Couple | Loretta Spoon | 1 episode |
| 1973 | Emergency! | Mrs. Perigrew and Hannah | 2 episodes |
| Barnaby Jones | Nurse Nora Randall | 1 episode | |
| 1974 | The Rookies | Mrs. Coleman | 1 episode |
| Little House on the Prairie | Mrs. Tyler | 1 episode | |
| 1975 | M*A*S*H | Nurse Meg Cratty | 1 episode |
| 1977 | Peter Lundy and the Medicine Hat Stallion | Grandma Lundy | TV movie |
| 1978 | Fantasy Island | Emma Howard | 1 episode |
| 1979 | Eight Is Enough | Ms. Ryder | 1 episode |
| 1980 | Shirley | Charlotte McHenry | 13 episodes |
| 1982 | Father Murphy | Abby | 1 episode |
| 1983 | Tales of the Unexpected | Mary Deacon | |
| 1984 | Knots Landing | Mercy | |
| 1985 | Highway to Heaven | Mrs. Bradley | 2 episodes |
| 1986 | The A-Team | Nora | 1 episode |
| Trapper John, M.D. | Mrs. McAndrew | ||
| 1987 | The Twilight Zone | Mrs. Clark | |
| 1988 | Hunter | Mrs. Rawling | 1 episode (final appearance) |
References
[edit]- ^ "Ann Doran, 89, Character Actress". The New York Times. October 3, 2000.
- ^ Vernon Scott, United Press International (syndicated), July 25, 1979.
- ^ San Bernardino County Sun, "Ann Doran, Mother Are Greeted by Old Friends", Mar. 28, 1948, p. 35.
- ^ Vernon Scott, 1979.
- ^ Los Angeles Times, Oct. 1, 2000, p. B35.
- ^ a b c d e Terrace, Vincent (2011). Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010. McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7864-6477-7. P. 591.
- ^ "The Virginian – Season 1, Episode 29: "Run Away Home"". Plex. Retrieved August 26, 2025.
- ^ "M*A*S*H series regulars and episode guide". Ultimate70s.com. Retrieved August 26, 2025.
- ^ Myrna Oliver, Los Angeles Times, Oct. 2, 2000, p. A10.
- ^ Wilson, Scott (August 19, 2016). Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed. McFarland. ISBN 9781476625997.
- ^ Variety. Sept. 21, 1960, p. 21.
External links
[edit]
- Ann Doran at IMDb
- Ann Doran at Turner Classic Movies
- All Time Rebel {1955–2005 | 50th Anniversary}( Archived April 21, 2006, at the Wayback Machine 2009-10-25)
- Interview
