Ann Doran Totally Explained

Everything about Ann Doran totally explained

Ann Doran (July 28, 1911 – September 19, 2000) was an American character actress.
   She was born Ann Lee Doran in Amarillo, Texas. Starting from the age of four, she appeared in hundreds of silent films under assumed names, so that her father's family wouldn't find out. She was 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). She appeared in over 500 motion pictures and 1000 television shows.
   No job was too small for Ann Doran: she 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 Ann Doran appears in Columbia's serials (like The Spider's Web and Flying G-Men), short subjects (including those of The Three Stooges, 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.
   Ann Doran wasn't the glamorous, sexy charmer so often seen in Hollywood movies; rather, her plainer, girl-next-door looks were ideal for down-to-earth character roles. When Columbia launched the boy-and-his-dog Rusty series in 1945, someone had to play the boy's mother, and Ann Doran was ideally cast and prominently featured. Although the actor playing the boy's father changed several times, Ann 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. Doran befriended Dean on the set, and he often confided in her about personal matters.
   Ann 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 movie industry's retirement home.

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