Ann Rutherford

Ann Rutherford
as Polly Benedict in Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938)
Born	Therese Ann Rutherford November 2, 1920 (1920-11-02) (age 89) Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1935–1976
Spouse(s)	David May (1942-1953) William Dozier (1953-1991)

Ann Rutherford (born November 2, 1920) is a Canadian-American actress in film, radio, and television. She has had a long career starring and co-starring in films, playing Polly Benedict on the big screen of the 1930s and 1940s, and on The Bob Newhart Show as Newhart's character's mother-in-law.

Her first film role was in Waterfront Lady in 1935. She appeared in eighteen films between 1935 and 1937. It was in 1937 that her first notable role came as Andy Hardy's girlfriend, Polly Benedict, in You're Only Young Once. In the long-running, Academy Award-winning Andy Hardy film series, she played Polly twelve times, with the last appearance being in Andy Hardy's Double Life in 1942.

She was born Therese Ann Rutherford to a former Metropolitan Opera tenor and an actress in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. At an early age, she performed in various radio shows. She began her film career in starring roles in Waterfront Lady for Mascot Pictures in 1935. Mascot merged with Republic Pictures, and Miss Rutherford soon established herself as a popular leading lady of Westerns with Gene Autry and John Wayne. Afterward, she was placed under contract with MGM. At MGM, she appeared in such films as A Christmas Carol (1938) and Pride and Prejudice (1940). She was loaned to Selznick International to appear as Carreen O'Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939).

From 1937 until 1942, she portrayed Polly Benedict in the very successful Andy Hardy series. She also starred in a series of mystery/comedies with Red Skelton, Whistling in the Dark (1941), Whistling in Dixie (1942), and Whistling in Brooklyn (1943).

In Washington Melodrama (1941)

She left MGM to freelance in the early 1940s, starring in such films as Orchestra Wives (1942), Two O'Clock Courage (1945) and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947).

Rutherford was the heroine of a novel, Ann Rutherford and the Key to Nightmare Hall (1942, by Katherine Heisenfelt), where "the heroine has the same name and appearance as the famous actress but has no connection ... it is as though the famous actress has stepped into an alternate reality in which she is an ordinary person." The story was probably written for a young teenage audience and is reminiscent of the adventures of Nancy Drew. It is part of a series known as "Whitman Authorized Editions", 16 books published between 1941-1947 that featured a film actress as heroine.^[1]

She retired from films in 1950, but returned to her old studio in 1972 to make They Only Kill Their Masters. Ironically (given the film's grisly name), the film was shot on the old Andy Hardy set.

On radio, Ann Rutherford replaced Penny Singleton as Blondie.

She was supposed to make a comeback out of retirement to play Rose Calvert in the 1997 blockbuster movie Titanic (1997), but turned down the role, which went to Gloria Stuart.

In October 2004, she made a guest appearance with many fans at the Margaret Mitchell Birthday in Jonesboro, Georgia, to honor Gone With the Wind, and she even signed autographs and reminisced old times at this historic event. She was the guest star at the Marietta, Georgia "Gone With the Wind Museum" in June, 2007 entitled "The Heart and History of Hollywood." TCM host Robert Osborne emceed the event. She is scheduled to return to Marietta July 4, 2008 to be reunited with 4 costars from GWTW Cammie King, Fred Crane, Mickey Kuhn, and Patrick Curtis.

On November 2, 2005, Rutherford celebrated her 85th birthday surrounded by her fans & friends at a luncheon in Beverly Hills, California. Neither Evelyn Keyes (who was suffering from Alzheimer's disease) nor Olivia de Havilland, two of her surviving Gone with the Wind co-stars, was able to attend.

Rutherford was married twice. On Christmas Eve, 1942, she married David May, and the couple had a girl, Gloria May, in 1943. They were divorced in 1953, and in that same year, she married William Dozier, who went on to produce the Batman TV series. Dozier died in 1991.

Filmography

Features

Short Subjects

• Annie Laurie (1936)
• Carnival in Paris (1937)
• Andy Hardy's Dilemma (1938)
• Angel of Mercy (1939)
• Screen Snapshots: Sports in Hollywood (1940)
• Unusual Occupations: Film Tot Holiday (1947)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ann Rutherford

• Ann Rutherford at the Internet Movie Database

References