Ann Doran

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Ann Doran
Born	Ann Lee Doran July 28, 1911(1911-07-28) Amarillo, Texas, U.S.
Died	September 19, 2000(2000-09-19) (aged 89) Carmichael, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1922–88

Ann Lee Doran (July 28, 1911 – September 19, 2000) was an American character actress.

Early life and career

Born in Amarillo, Texas, Doran began acting at the age of four. She appeared in hundreds of silent films under assumed names to keep her father's family from finding out about her work. Rarely in a featured role (with the exceptions of Jean Andrews in Rio Grande (1938) and James Dean's dominating mother in Rebel Without a Cause (1955)), Doran appeared in more than 500 motion pictures and 1,000 episodes of television shows, including the American Civil War drama Gray Ghost.

Doran worked as a stand-in, then bit player, then incidental supporting player. By 1938 she was under contract to Columbia Pictures, where the 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), short subjects (including those of The Three Stooges, Charley Chase, Andy Clyde, and Harry Langdon), 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 appears in many of his productions. Most of these appearances were supporting roles, although she did play leads in Columbia's Charley Chase comedies of 1938-40.

Doran (far right) takes the dignified approach as Curly Howard proceeds to shave a cream pie off her face in the Three Stooges film Three Sappy People.

When Columbia launched the boy-and-his-dog Rusty series in 1945, Doran was cast and prominently featured. Although the actor playing the boy's father changed several times, Doran continued constant as the boy's mother. Her steady, sensible maternal roles led to her being cast as James Dean's mother in Rebel Without a Cause.

Virginia Brissac, Jim Backus, Doran, Edward Platt and James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause.

Doran also guest starred on many television programs, including three appearances in the role of Bonnie Landis in the CBS legal drama The Public Defender, starring with fellow Texan Reed Hadley. She appeared too in the CBS children's western My Friend Flicka, the story of a boy and his horse on a Wyoming ranch. She also guest-starred in Ray Milland's CBS sitcom Meet Mr. McNutley.

In 1960, she was cast as Martha Brown, the mother of horse rider Velvet Brown (played by Lori Martin) in the NBC family drama National Velvet. She also made one appearance on McHale's Navy as Mrs. Martha "Pumpkin" Binghampton, wife of Captain Binghampton (Joe Flynn).

Doran in her later years.

Three years later, she appeared in the 1965-66 season of the 34-episode ABC western series The Legend of Jesse James as Zerelda James Samuel, the mother of Jesse and Frank James.

Later years and death

Doran continued to work in movies and television until shortly before her death of natural causes at the age of 89. She bequeathed $400,000 to the Motion Picture Country House, the retirement home for the movie industry.

Selected filmography

External links

Biography portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ann Doran

• Ann Doran at the Internet Movie Database
• Ann Doran at the TCM Movie Database
• All Time Rebel {1955-2005 | 50th Anniversary} (Archived 2009-10-25)
• "Ann Doran". Find a Grave. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=6808319. Retrieved September 14, 2010.