Veteran character actress Anne Revere became another in the long line
of talented artists whose careers would crash under the weight of the
"Red Scare" hysteria that tore through Hollywood in the 1940s and
1950s. Born in Manhattan and a direct descendant of Revolutionary War
figure Paul Revere, Anne graduated from Wellesley College, then trained
for the stage at the American Laboratory Theatre.
She made her Broadway bow in 1931 with "The Great Barrington" and her
film debut in a version of another Broadway play,
Double Door (1934). Returning to
Broadway after receiving no other film offers, she would not make
another movie until 1940...then she stayed. She went on to epitomize
the warm, wise and invariably stoic mother to a number of great "golden
age" stars, her understated power and intensity capturing the hearts of
critics and war-torn audiences alike. Her plain, freckled, careworn
looks appeared equally at home on the frontier or in a tenement
setting. Anne was nominated three times for an Oscar for her strong,
matriarchal figures -- as
Jennifer Jones' mother in
The Song of Bernadette (1943),
Elizabeth Taylor's in
National Velvet (1944) and
Gregory Peck's in
Gentleman's Agreement (1947), winning the Oscar on her second try
for
National Velvet (1944).
A versatile talent, she extended her range to include a number of
brittle, neurotic and even crazy ladies. This all ended abruptly in
1951 when her name appeared as one of 300 on the infamous "Hollywood
blacklist". She had just completed a major role as
Montgomery Clift's Salvation
Army mom in
A Place in the Sun (1951). She stood on her Fifth Amendment rights before the
Communist-obsessed House Un-American Activities Committee and, as a
result, her part in that film was reduced to a glorified cameo. She did
not appear in another film for nearly 20 years (a starring role in a
new TV series was also taken from her).
In the interim, she and husband Samuel Rosen, a stage actor, writer and
director, ran an acting school in Los Angeles before relocating to New
York, where she managed to find employment in stock productions and
under the Broadway lights. She received the Tony Award during the
1960-1961 season for her fine portrayal of a spinster sister in
Lillian Hellman's "Toys in the Attic," a part that went to British actress
Wendy Hiller when it transferred to film. TV jobs began coming her way again
in the mid-1960s, and by 1970 she was working sporadically on such
daytime soaps as
Search for Tomorrow (1951) and
Ryan's Hope (1975). She appeared briefly in
Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon (1970)
starring
Liza Minnelli, and then earned a showier part in
Birch Interval (1976).
Anne passed away after contracting pneumonia at age 87 and was survived
by a sister. She had no children. Although a victim of "Cold War"
paranoia, she always persevered, showing the same kind of grit and
courage that embodied her gallery of characters on film.
Ryan's Hope(1975)as Marguerite Beaulac
Birch Interval(1976)as Mrs. Tanner
Baretta(1975)as Dragon Lady
The Six Million Dollar Man(1974)as Madame Salka Pal-Mir
Two for the Money(1972)as Mrs. Gap
The Inheritance(1964)as Voice
The 14th Annual Tony Awards(1960)as Self - Winner
Omnibus(1967)
20th Century-Fox: The First 50 Years(1997)as Actress 'Song of Bernadette'
