Ann Dvorak

Ann Dvorak born Anna McKim August 2 1911 December 10 1979 was an American stage and film actress Asked how to pronounce her adopted surname she told The Literary Digest My fake name is properly pronounced vorshack The D remains silent Dvorak was the daughter and only child of silent film actress Anna Lehr and director Edwin McKim While in New York she attended St Catherines Convent After moving to California she attended Page School for Girls in Hollywood She made her film debut when she was five years old in the silent film version of Ramona 1916 credited as Baby Anna Lehr She continued in childrens roles in The Man Hater 1917 and Five Dollar Plate 1920 but then stopped acting in films Her parents separated in 1916 and divorced in 1920 she did not see her father again until 13 years later when she made a public plea to the press to help her find him In the late 1920s Dvorak worked as a dance instructor and gradually began to appear on film as a chorus girl Her friend actress Karen Morley introduced her to billionaire movie producer Howard Hughes who groomed her as a dramatic actress She was a success in such preCode films as Scarface 1932 as Paul Munis 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 Known for her style and elegance she was a popular leading lady for Warner Bros during the 1930s and appeared in numerous contemporary romances and melodramas At age 19 Dvorak eloped with Leslie Fenton her English costar from The Strange Love of Molly Louvain 1932 and they married on March 17 1932 They left for a yearlong honeymoon in spite of her contractual obligations to the studio which led to a period of litigation and pay disputes during which she discovered she was making the same amount of money as the boy who played her son in Three on a Match She completed her contract on permanent suspension then worked as a freelancer Although she worked regularly the quality of her scripts declined sharply She appeared as secretary Della Street to Donald Woods Perry Mason in The Case of the Stuttering Bishop 1937 With her thenhusband Leslie Fenton Dvorak traveled to England 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 with Randolph Scott and Edgar Buchanan released in 1946 The following year she adeptly handled comedy by giving an assured performance in Out of the Blue 1947 In 1948 Dvorak gave her only performance on Broadway in The Respectful Prostitute Dvoraks marriage to Fenton ended in divorce in 1946 In 1947 she married Igor Dega a Russian dancer who danced with her briefly in The Bachelors Daughters The marriage ended two years later 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 She had no children