CINEFILER

Ann Dvorak

Born
August 2, 1911
Died
December 10, 1979
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 vor'shack. 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. Catherine's 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 children's 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 pre-Code films as Scarface (1932) as Paul Muni's 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 co-star from The Strange Love of Molly Louvain (1932), and they married on March 17, 1932. They left for a year-long 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 then-husband, 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. Dvorak's marriage to Fenton ended in divorce in 1946. In 1947, she married Igor Dega, a Russian dancer who danced with her briefly in The Bachelor's 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.
Known For
Scarface
(1932)
Cesca Camonte
Sweet Music
(1935)
Bonnie Haydon
Abilene Town
(1946)
Rita
Three on a Match
(1932)
Vivian Revere
A Life of Her Own
(1950)
Mary Ashlon
Full Filmography
Acting
Ramona
(1916)
Ramona (age 4)
The Man Hater
(1917)
Phemie's Sister
The Hollywood Revue of 1929
(1929)
Chorus Girl from Omaha (uncredited)
The Song Writers' Revue
(1929)
Member of the Chorus (uncredited)
It's a Great Life
(1929)
Chorus Girl
Devil-May-Care
(1929)
Chorine (uncredited)
So This Is College
(1929)
Student (uncredited)
The Doll Shop
(1929)
Doll
The Woman Racket
(1930)
Chorus Girl
The March of Time
(1930)
Chorus Girl (uncredited)
The Devil's Cabaret
(1930)
Chorine in Black (uncredited)
Estrellados
(1930)
Chorine (uncredited)
Children of Pleasure
(1930)
Chorus Girl (uncredited)
Our Blushing Brides
(1930)
One of the 'Quartet' of Models with Tony (uncredited)
Way Out West
(1930)
Carnival Show Girl (uncredited)
Good News
(1930)
Student
Chasing Rainbows
(1930)
Chorus Girl (uncredited)
Free and Easy
(1930)
Chorine (uncredited)
Madam Satan
(1930)
Zeppelin Reveler (uncredited)
Lord Byron of Broadway
(1930)
Chorus Girl
Dance, Fools, Dance
(1931)
Chorus Girl (uncredited)
The Guardsman
(1931)
Fan Saying "There He Is" (uncredited)
Politics
(1931)
Rally Audience Extra (uncredited)
This Modern Age
(1931)
Party Guest (Uncredited)
A Tailor-Made Man
(1931)
Bit (uncredited)
Son of India
(1931)
Dancer (uncredited)
Stranger in Town
(1931)
Marian Crickle
The Crowd Roars
(1932)
Lee Merrick
Love Is a Racket
(1932)
Sally Condon
Three on a Match
(1932)
Vivian Revere
Scarface
(1932)
Cesca Camonte
Crooner
(1932)
Judith 'Judy' Mason
Sky Devils
(1932)
Mary Way
The Strange Love of Molly Louvain
(1932)
Madeleine Maude 'Molly' Louvain
Hello Pop
(1933)
Dancer
The Way to Love
(1933)
Madeleine
College Coach
(1933)
Claire Gore
Side Streets
(1934)
Marguerite Gilbert
Massacre
(1934)
Lydia
Midnight Alibi
(1934)
Joan
Housewife
(1934)
Nan Reynolds
Friends of Mr. Sweeney
(1934)
Miss Beulah Boyd
I Sell Anything
(1934)
Barbara
Gentlemen Are Born
(1934)
Susan Merrill
Murder in the Clouds
(1934)
Judy Wagner
Heat Lightning
(1934)
Myra
Roast-Beef and Movies
(1934)
Chorine (archive footage) (uncredited)
Sweet Music
(1935)
Bonnie Haydon
Bright Lights
(1935)
Fay Wilson
Thanks a Million
(1935)
Sally Mason
A Trip Thru a Hollywood Studio
(1935)
Herself (uncredited)
'G' Men
(1935)
Jean Morgan
Dr. Socrates
(1935)
Josephine
Breakdowns of 1936
(1936)
Self
Midnight Court
(1937)
Carol O'Neill
Manhattan Merry-Go-Round
(1937)
Ann Rogers
The Case of the Stuttering Bishop
(1937)
Della Street
Racing Lady
(1937)
Ruth Martin
She's No Lady
(1937)
Jerry
We Who Are About to Die
(1937)
Connie Stewart
Merrily We Live
(1938)
Minerva Harlan
Gangs of New York
(1938)
Connie Benson
Stronger Than Desire
(1939)
Eva McLain
Blind Alley
(1939)
Mary
Girls of the Road
(1940)
Kay Warren
Cafe Hostess
(1940)
Jo
This Was Paris
(1942)
Ann Morgan
Squadron Leader X
(1943)
Barbara Lucas
Escape to Danger
(1943)
Joan Grahame
Masquerade in Mexico
(1945)
Helen Grant
Flame of Barbary Coast
(1945)
Ann 'Flaxen' Tarry
The Bachelor's Daughters
(1946)
Terry Wilson
Abilene Town
(1946)
Rita
Out of the Blue
(1947)
Olive Jensen
The Long Night
(1947)
Charlene
The Private Affairs of Bel Ami
(1947)
Madeleine Forestier
The Walls of Jericho
(1948)
Belle Connors
Our Very Own
(1950)
Gert Lynch
The Return of Jesse James
(1950)
Sue Ellen Younger
A Life of Her Own
(1950)
Mary Ashlon
Mrs. O'Malley and Mr. Malone
(1950)
Connie Kepplar
I Was an American Spy
(1951)
Mrs. Claire 'High Pockets' Phillips
The Secret of Convict Lake
(1951)
Rachel Schaeffer
Bogart: The Untold Story
(1997)
Self (archive footage)
Thou Shalt Not: Sex, Sin and Censorship in Pre-Code Hollywood
(2008)
Vivian Revere Kirkwood (archive footage)
Crew
Data provided by TMDB