Ann Carter
Encyclopedia
Ann Carter is a former American
child actress, who worked with dozens of film stars, compiling an "unimaginably distinguished résumé" despite an acting career which "lasted only slightly more than a decade." She is best known for her starring role as Amy Reed in the 1944
film Curse of the Cat People, and also acted alongside stars including Humphrey Bogart
, Katharine Hepburn
, Bing Crosby
, Fredric March
and Barbara Stanwyck
among others.
, New York
on June 16, 1936
, and at the age of three moved with her mother Nancy to Palm Springs
, California for the benefit of Nancy's health. Her father, Bert Carter, was an executive with "the Dodge
division of Chrysler Corporation" (working there for 38 years) and commuted back and forth between California and Detroit "where he was working for Chrysler on defense-related projects." After briefly residing with her maternal Aunt Stell "(short for Estelle)" and Uncle Jack in "Glendale, on Idlewood," Carter and her mother moved "to a place near Olympic and Robertson in West Los Angeles, with [her father] there again part-time."
Carter's mother "had always been very interested in the theater," but was disallowed from pursuing her own career by her father, Ann's grandfather. According to her mother, Ann was discovered at the age of four while she was living in Los Angeles. As she and her mother were riding on a bus, Carter explains:
Some 60 years later, Carter confesses that she doesn't recall much personally about Last of the Duanes, which was shot in April–May, 1941
, but was subsequently told "exactly what happened" by her "very focused" mother.
In her first fantasy film, and most notable early role, she played Veronica Lake
's young daughter in I Married a Witch
(1942), an experience which "made [a big] impression" on the then-five year old actress. A scene she remembers clearly, which later "ended up on the cutting room floor
," she 'flew' "down a staircase on a broomstick," specially fitted with a "little seat" crafted specifically for her. She also recalls the make-up artists "combing my hair over one eye to make me look like Veronica Lake," known, according to Tom Weaver, for her 'Peek-A-Boo-Bang'.
In one amusing incident, Carter beat out her contemporary Margaret O'Brien
for a part because her mother had dressed her in white gloves. During the interview with the movie's makers, O'Brien became so distracted by Carter's gloves that she muffed the interview.
(1942) playing a young Norwegian girl whose father, (actor Paul Muni
), led a fishing village in resistance to the occupation of the German army during World War II
. Much of the filming took place in Mill Bay, Canada which doubled for the Norwegian fjord
s, during the summer of 1942. Ann and the other cast and crew members stayed at the famous Empress Hotel in Victoria
. Carter recalls:
Although it was clearly a wartime propaganda film, it was based on a story by the noted British writer C.S. Forester with a screenplay by the noted American writer Irwin Lewis. The cast included Sir Cedric Hardwicke
and Lilian Gish, while Carter recalls that the cast filmed some scenes on the Prince David ship, whose crew of British Commandos
"dressed up as Germans" for the purposes of the film. Carter's 'other war movie' The North Star
(1943) saw her appear alongside Ann Harding
and Anne Baxter
acting in "a Russian village... constructed on the Goldwyn
lot." Carter recalls that:
Her most notable film role came in 1944, when the seven-year-old Carter played the part of Amy Reed in the classic fantasy Curse of the Cat People. Curse of the Cat People was produced by Val Lewton
, who was friendly with the nephew of Carter's agent, Earl Kramer: Stanley Kramer
. Carter played the lonely and imaginative child who is unable to relate to the prosaic activities of her schoolmates, in a role described by Weaver as making her "practically the star" after only "a few small, sometimes uncredited parts." It was a role she could identify with, being herself "a little bit of a dreamer" who "enjoyed fantasy" and was, like her character, an only child.
Carter found filming Curse of the Cat People "fascinating... because of the set. It was all shot on a set at RKO" barring a few exterior shots, which was cycled through the seasons by "guys on the catwalks throwing leaves which drifted down" or "throwing gypsum and un-toasted corn flakes out of boxes" (for snow), a novel (and "absolutely beautiful") experience to the young Carter. She recalls of her mother, that:
This knowledge of the "whole story" added to "the fact that I was on a set with a lot of other people" meant that Carter was "never afraid" despite the forbidding and intimidating sets (and cast). Carter worked for 32 of the 33 days of filming, under two directors (Gunther von Fritsch and Robert Wise
), but felt "no pressure" over the exacting schedule. Never expecting or aspiring to be a star, she credits her parents with keeping her "normal" and grounded. On the schooling that occurred "now and then on a set," Carter recalls it being "great... because most times it was one-on-one," thinking that "you learn more, one-on-one, whether it's just 15 minutes at a time or whatever it is."
Ann appeared in a number of other movies, a high point being when she played Humphrey Bogart
's daughter in the murder thriller The Two Mrs. Carrolls
(1947), which supposedly earned her an award for best juvenile performer, although Carter "doesn't personally recall ever receiving one." Carter cites her scenes with Bogart and co-star Barbara Stanwyck
as particular high points during her career, recalling that she and Bogart "got along so well... he was a really nice man; a very warm, nice man." He nicknamed her "Tonsils" when she yawned in his face during a rehearsal, and "he peered into my mouth, down my throat, and... it was "Tonsils" after that."
Despite the good reviews for Curse of the Cat People, Carter lapsed back into smaller and often uncredited roles afterwards, although she says that she "didn't think about it then at all," and assumes that perhaps "the parts just didn't come up." Unbilled in her other two fantasy films, she recalls A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
as:
Carter also did many Lux Radio Theater
programs, from the age of eleven, including playing Cary Grant
's daughter in the radio adaptation of Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House
. She also "had a disc jockey show on KFWB for a while."
, which she believes she contracted "over the Fourth of July [1948] vacation," when she, her parents and some friends went on a boat to Catalina Island
. She believes that the incubation period of polio — a scourge among children of the time — corresponded to her swimming in contaminated water from the boat. Initially diagnosed with summer flu, Carter thought she was over her symptoms when, during filming on The Member of the Wedding, director Fred Zinnemann
noticed her "'leaning to port'," and it was disocvered that "the muscles were all gone down one side of [her] back."
After an electromyogram at Memorial Hospital
in Los Angeles, and physical therapy and swimming (at the Hollywood Athletic Club
), she was strengthened enough to "carry around a cast, [which was] huge and weighed 55 pounds."
During her recovery from polio, Carter's parents helped 'bring Lawrence Welk
to prominence,' when Dodge
were "looking for someone to sponsor on television" c.1950/51. Carter's mother was "all excited about The Lawrence Welk Show
, which she thought was wonderful," convincing her husband to "present that as a good idea for Dodge to sponsor." Although her father "was not a 'music person'," Carter recalls that "at my mother's constant nagging about it... he recommended" the programme and "Dodge wound up sponsoring it." In return, when Carter's father retired from Dodge, both of her parents "retired out to Lawrence Welk's Country Club Village in Escondido, California, a mobile home park which they managed for [him for] years."
,Los Angeles, her acting earnings paying both for her medical care and college education. She recalls that:
Having made this decision — which she says "was not taken well by him [Kramer] nor by my mother" — she decided she wanted to teach and have a family rather than return to acting. In retrospect, Carter acknowledges that this decision "just about broke my mother's heart," who was "so involved" in her daughter's career and felt that she should have continued to act.
During her "graduate year at college," Carter married Crosby Newton (May 23, 1957), and the "next year, [she] started teaching... [at] high school and junior high," also spending time as a substitute. She particularly enjoyed "teaching continuation high school, and of course [her] ninth grade drama class, where [her class] put on various productions." Following the death of her parents (her mother passed away in 1977, her father in 1979), having no more ties California, Carter left teaching in Southern California in 1982, and she and her husband decided to relocate to the Pacific Northwest
. They settled in the eastern suburbs of Seattle, Washington, having "always loved it up in [that] part of the world... since [filming] Commandos Strike at Dawn." In Washington, Carter attended "travel school and became a cruise-only travel agent," which she did for four years. An odd rumour that Carter was "killed in an automobile accident in 1978" is definitively false, but nonetheless persists.
A mother of three — to Gail, David and Carol — Carter-Newton is now retired, in part to help care for her grandchildren, allowing her children (and their partners) to work. In January 2005, she was diagnosed with Stage 3 ovarian cancer
, which was "awful." Finding "hope and a very, very aggressive chemo treatment" from Dr Saul Rivkin at the Swedish Cancer Institute in Seattle, she got through it "with help from [her] family and friends." In 2007 she participated in Val Lewton: The Man in the Shadows, a documentary on the produced behind Curse of the Cat People, which was "exciting," but also allowed her to learn "a lot about [Lewton]'s life" which was a sad story.
as a "big asset" in his directorial debut, who said in 1991 that:
Ann Carter belongs to a generation of child actors that one film historian has called "the lost children of Hollywood". The films of many such children were largely forgotten for decades, their performances (unlike stars such as Shirley Temple
) often uncredited. But with the advent of the VHS and the DVD with its "special features", many of these movies are being re-discovered. Commandos Strike at Dawn and Curse of the Cat People have recently been issued on DVD, and The Two Mrs. Carrolls is available on VHS. Carter herself was the subject of an essay and lengthy interview (conducted by Tom Weaver), in the March 2008 issue of Tim and Donna Lucas' Video Watchdog magazine. She expresses surprise at the number of fans who enjoy Curse of the Cat People, thinking that her acting days "were a long time ago," but recently discovering that her films - and herself - are still the subject of "much attention."
Convicted parental kidnapper Clark Rockefeller
has claimed that Carter is his mother. Carter has denied this, and has expressed sympathy for his real mother.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
child actress, who worked with dozens of film stars, compiling an "unimaginably distinguished résumé" despite an acting career which "lasted only slightly more than a decade." She is best known for her starring role as Amy Reed in the 1944
1944 in film
The year 1944 in film involved some significant events, including the wholesome, award-winning Going My Way plus popular murder mysteries such as Double Indemnity, Gaslight and Laura.-Events:*July 20 - Since You Went Away is released....
film Curse of the Cat People, and also acted alongside stars including Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey DeForest Bogart was an American actor. He is widely regarded as a cultural icon.The American Film Institute ranked Bogart as the greatest male star in the history of American cinema....
, Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Houghton Hepburn was an American actress of film, stage, and television. In a career that spanned 62 years as a leading lady, she was best known for playing strong-willed, sophisticated women in both dramas and comedies...
, Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
, Fredric March
Fredric March
Fredric March was an American stage and film actor. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1932 for Dr. Jekyll and Mr...
and Barbara Stanwyck
Barbara Stanwyck
Barbara Stanwyck was an American actress. She was a film and television star, known during her 60-year career as a consummate and versatile professional with a strong screen presence, and a favorite of directors including Cecil B. DeMille, Fritz Lang and Frank Capra...
among others.
Biography
Carter was born in SyracuseSyracuse, New York
Syracuse is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States, the largest U.S. city with the name "Syracuse", and the fifth most populous city in the state. At the 2010 census, the city population was 145,170, and its metropolitan area had a population of 742,603...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
on June 16, 1936
1936 in film
The year 1936 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*May 29 - Fritz Lang's first Hollywood film Fury, starring Spencer Tracy and Bruce Cabot, is released.*November 6 - first Porky Pig animated cartoon...
, and at the age of three moved with her mother Nancy to Palm Springs
Palm Springs
Palm Springs is a desert city in CaliforniaPalm Springs may also refer to:* Palm Springs, Florida* Palm Springs, Hong Kong, a residential development in Yuen Long, Hong Kong* Coachella Valley, also known as the Palm Springs area...
, California for the benefit of Nancy's health. Her father, Bert Carter, was an executive with "the Dodge
Dodge
Dodge is a United States-based brand of automobiles, minivans, and sport utility vehicles, manufactured and marketed by Chrysler Group LLC in more than 60 different countries and territories worldwide....
division of Chrysler Corporation" (working there for 38 years) and commuted back and forth between California and Detroit "where he was working for Chrysler on defense-related projects." After briefly residing with her maternal Aunt Stell "(short for Estelle)" and Uncle Jack in "Glendale, on Idlewood," Carter and her mother moved "to a place near Olympic and Robertson in West Los Angeles, with [her father] there again part-time."
Carter's mother "had always been very interested in the theater," but was disallowed from pursuing her own career by her father, Ann's grandfather. According to her mother, Ann was discovered at the age of four while she was living in Los Angeles. As she and her mother were riding on a bus, Carter explains:
Some 60 years later, Carter confesses that she doesn't recall much personally about Last of the Duanes, which was shot in April–May, 1941
1941 in film
The year 1941 in film involved some significant events.-Events:Citizen Kane, consistently rated as one of the greatest films of all time, was released in 1941.-Top grossing films :-Academy Awards:...
, but was subsequently told "exactly what happened" by her "very focused" mother.
In her first fantasy film, and most notable early role, she played Veronica Lake
Veronica Lake
Veronica Lake was an American film actress and pin-up model. She received both popular and critical acclaim, most notably for her role in Sullivan's Travels and her femme fatale roles in film noir with Alan Ladd during the 1940s, and was well-known for her peek-a-boo hairstyle...
's young daughter in I Married a Witch
I Married a Witch
I Married a Witch is a 1942 fantasy romantic comedy film, directed by René Clair, and starring Veronica Lake as a witch whose plan for revenge goes comically awry, with Fredric March as her foil. The film also features Robert Benchley, Susan Hayward and Cecil Kellaway...
(1942), an experience which "made [a big] impression" on the then-five year old actress. A scene she remembers clearly, which later "ended up on the cutting room floor
Cutting room floor
The term cutting room floor is used in the film industry as a figure of speech referring to unused footage not included in the finished film. In fact offcuts of film are retained in a special cutting room bin and numbered during the editing process in case they are required later...
," she 'flew' "down a staircase on a broomstick," specially fitted with a "little seat" crafted specifically for her. She also recalls the make-up artists "combing my hair over one eye to make me look like Veronica Lake," known, according to Tom Weaver, for her 'Peek-A-Boo-Bang'.
In one amusing incident, Carter beat out her contemporary Margaret O'Brien
Margaret O'Brien
Margaret O'Brien is an American film and stage actress. Although her film career as a leading character was brief, she was one of the most popular child actors in cinema history...
for a part because her mother had dressed her in white gloves. During the interview with the movie's makers, O'Brien became so distracted by Carter's gloves that she muffed the interview.
Increasing film roles
Her first significantly-sized role came at age six, when she appeared in Commandos Strike at DawnCommandos Strike at Dawn
Commandos Strike at Dawn is a 1942 war film directed by John Farrow and written by Irwin Shaw from a story by C.S. Forester, starring Paul Muni, Anna Lee, Lillian Gish, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, and Robert Coote.-Plot:...
(1942) playing a young Norwegian girl whose father, (actor Paul Muni
Paul Muni
Paul Muni was an Austrian-Hungarian-born American stage and film actor...
), led a fishing village in resistance to the occupation of the German army during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Much of the filming took place in Mill Bay, Canada which doubled for the Norwegian fjord
Fjord
Geologically, a fjord is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created in a valley carved by glacial activity.-Formation:A fjord is formed when a glacier cuts a U-shaped valley by abrasion of the surrounding bedrock. Glacial melting is accompanied by rebound of Earth's crust as the ice...
s, during the summer of 1942. Ann and the other cast and crew members stayed at the famous Empress Hotel in Victoria
Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...
. Carter recalls:
Although it was clearly a wartime propaganda film, it was based on a story by the noted British writer C.S. Forester with a screenplay by the noted American writer Irwin Lewis. The cast included Sir Cedric Hardwicke
Cedric Hardwicke
Sir Cedric Webster Hardwicke was a noted English stage and film actor whose career spanned nearly fifty years...
and Lilian Gish, while Carter recalls that the cast filmed some scenes on the Prince David ship, whose crew of British Commandos
British Commandos
The British Commandos were formed during the Second World War in June 1940, following a request from the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, for a force that could carry out raids against German-occupied Europe...
"dressed up as Germans" for the purposes of the film. Carter's 'other war movie' The North Star
The North Star (1943 film)
The North Star is a 1943 war film produced and distributed by RKO Radio Pictures. It was directed by Lewis Milestone and written by Lillian Hellman. The film starred Anne Baxter, Dana Andrews, Walter Huston, Walter Brennan and Erich von Stroheim...
(1943) saw her appear alongside Ann Harding
Ann Harding
Ann Harding was an American theatre, motion picture, radio, and television actress.-Early years:Born Dorothy Walton Gatley at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas, to George G. Gatley and Elizabeth "Bessie" Crabb. The daughter of a career army officer, she traveled often during her early life...
and Anne Baxter
Anne Baxter
Anne Baxter was an American actress known for her performances in films such as The Magnificent Ambersons , The Razor's Edge , All About Eve and The Ten Commandments .-Early life:...
acting in "a Russian village... constructed on the Goldwyn
Samuel Goldwyn Studio
Samuel Goldwyn Studio was the name that Samuel Goldwyn used to refer to the Pickford-Fairbanks Studios lot and the offices and stages that his company, Goldwyn Pictures, rented there during the 1920s and 1930s...
lot." Carter recalls that:
Her most notable film role came in 1944, when the seven-year-old Carter played the part of Amy Reed in the classic fantasy Curse of the Cat People. Curse of the Cat People was produced by Val Lewton
Val Lewton
Val Lewton was an American film producer and screenwriter, best known for a string of low-budget horror films he produced for RKO Pictures in the 1940s.-Early life:...
, who was friendly with the nephew of Carter's agent, Earl Kramer: Stanley Kramer
Stanley Kramer
Stanley Earl Kramer was an American film director and producer. Kramer was responsible for some of Hollywood's most famous "message" movies...
. Carter played the lonely and imaginative child who is unable to relate to the prosaic activities of her schoolmates, in a role described by Weaver as making her "practically the star" after only "a few small, sometimes uncredited parts." It was a role she could identify with, being herself "a little bit of a dreamer" who "enjoyed fantasy" and was, like her character, an only child.
Carter found filming Curse of the Cat People "fascinating... because of the set. It was all shot on a set at RKO" barring a few exterior shots, which was cycled through the seasons by "guys on the catwalks throwing leaves which drifted down" or "throwing gypsum and un-toasted corn flakes out of boxes" (for snow), a novel (and "absolutely beautiful") experience to the young Carter. She recalls of her mother, that:
This knowledge of the "whole story" added to "the fact that I was on a set with a lot of other people" meant that Carter was "never afraid" despite the forbidding and intimidating sets (and cast). Carter worked for 32 of the 33 days of filming, under two directors (Gunther von Fritsch and Robert Wise
Robert Wise
Robert Earl Wise was an American sound effects editor, film editor, film producer and director...
), but felt "no pressure" over the exacting schedule. Never expecting or aspiring to be a star, she credits her parents with keeping her "normal" and grounded. On the schooling that occurred "now and then on a set," Carter recalls it being "great... because most times it was one-on-one," thinking that "you learn more, one-on-one, whether it's just 15 minutes at a time or whatever it is."
Ann appeared in a number of other movies, a high point being when she played Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey DeForest Bogart was an American actor. He is widely regarded as a cultural icon.The American Film Institute ranked Bogart as the greatest male star in the history of American cinema....
's daughter in the murder thriller The Two Mrs. Carrolls
The Two Mrs. Carrolls
The Two Mrs. Carrolls is a 1947 film noir made by Warner Brothers. It was directed by Peter Godfrey and produced by Mark Hellinger, with Jack L. Warner as executive producer, from a screenplay by Thomas Job based on the play by Martin Vale...
(1947), which supposedly earned her an award for best juvenile performer, although Carter "doesn't personally recall ever receiving one." Carter cites her scenes with Bogart and co-star Barbara Stanwyck
Barbara Stanwyck
Barbara Stanwyck was an American actress. She was a film and television star, known during her 60-year career as a consummate and versatile professional with a strong screen presence, and a favorite of directors including Cecil B. DeMille, Fritz Lang and Frank Capra...
as particular high points during her career, recalling that she and Bogart "got along so well... he was a really nice man; a very warm, nice man." He nicknamed her "Tonsils" when she yawned in his face during a rehearsal, and "he peered into my mouth, down my throat, and... it was "Tonsils" after that."
Despite the good reviews for Curse of the Cat People, Carter lapsed back into smaller and often uncredited roles afterwards, although she says that she "didn't think about it then at all," and assumes that perhaps "the parts just didn't come up." Unbilled in her other two fantasy films, she recalls A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1949 film)
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is a 1949 musical comedy film adaptation of the Mark Twain novel of the same name that was distributed by Paramount Pictures.-Plot:...
as:
Carter also did many Lux Radio Theater
Lux Radio Theater
Lux Radio Theater, a long-run classic radio anthology series, was broadcast on the NBC Blue Network ; CBS and NBC . Initially, the series adapted Broadway plays during its first two seasons before it began adapting films. These hour-long radio programs were performed live before studio audiences...
programs, from the age of eleven, including playing Cary Grant
Cary Grant
Archibald Alexander Leach , better known by his stage name Cary Grant, was an English actor who later took U.S. citizenship...
's daughter in the radio adaptation of Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House
Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House
Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House is a 1948 American comedy film directed by H.C. Potter and starring Cary Grant and Myrna Loy. The film was written and produced by the team of Melvin Frank and Norman Panama...
. She also "had a disc jockey show on KFWB for a while."
Disease
Carter left acting after she contracted polioPoliomyelitis
Poliomyelitis, often called polio or infantile paralysis, is an acute viral infectious disease spread from person to person, primarily via the fecal-oral route...
, which she believes she contracted "over the Fourth of July [1948] vacation," when she, her parents and some friends went on a boat to Catalina Island
Santa Catalina Island, California
Santa Catalina Island, often called Catalina Island, or just Catalina, is a rocky island off the coast of the U.S. state of California. The island is long and across at its greatest width. The island is located about south-southwest of Los Angeles, California. The highest point on the island is...
. She believes that the incubation period of polio — a scourge among children of the time — corresponded to her swimming in contaminated water from the boat. Initially diagnosed with summer flu, Carter thought she was over her symptoms when, during filming on The Member of the Wedding, director Fred Zinnemann
Fred Zinnemann
Fred Zinnemann was an Austrian-American film director. He won four Academy Awards and directed films like High Noon, From Here to Eternity and A Man for All Seasons.-Life and career:...
noticed her "'leaning to port'," and it was disocvered that "the muscles were all gone down one side of [her] back."
After an electromyogram at Memorial Hospital
Memorial Hospital
Memorial Hospital can refer to many hospitals.Some include:* Memorial Hospital in Massachusetts* Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island...
in Los Angeles, and physical therapy and swimming (at the Hollywood Athletic Club
Hollywood Athletic Club
The Hollywood Athletic Club is a nightclub in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles.Since it was built in 1924, it has had a varied history as a health club, bar, music venue and billiard room.It is located on Sunset Boulevard.-History:...
), she was strengthened enough to "carry around a cast, [which was] huge and weighed 55 pounds."
During her recovery from polio, Carter's parents helped 'bring Lawrence Welk
Lawrence Welk
Lawrence Welk was an American musician, accordionist, bandleader, and television impresario, who hosted The Lawrence Welk Show from 1955 to 1982...
to prominence,' when Dodge
Dodge
Dodge is a United States-based brand of automobiles, minivans, and sport utility vehicles, manufactured and marketed by Chrysler Group LLC in more than 60 different countries and territories worldwide....
were "looking for someone to sponsor on television" c.1950/51. Carter's mother was "all excited about The Lawrence Welk Show
The Lawrence Welk Show
The Lawrence Welk Show is an American televised musical variety show hosted by big band leader Lawrence Welk. The series aired locally in Los Angeles for four years , then nationally for another 27 years via the ABC network and first-run syndication .In the years since first-run syndication...
, which she thought was wonderful," convincing her husband to "present that as a good idea for Dodge to sponsor." Although her father "was not a 'music person'," Carter recalls that "at my mother's constant nagging about it... he recommended" the programme and "Dodge wound up sponsoring it." In return, when Carter's father retired from Dodge, both of her parents "retired out to Lawrence Welk's Country Club Village in Escondido, California, a mobile home park which they managed for [him for] years."
Teaching
After largely recovering, Carter attended Occidental CollegeOccidental College
Occidental College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college located in the Eagle Rock neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1887, Occidental College, or "Oxy" as it is called by students and alumni, is one of the oldest liberal arts colleges on the West Coast...
,Los Angeles, her acting earnings paying both for her medical care and college education. She recalls that:
Having made this decision — which she says "was not taken well by him [Kramer] nor by my mother" — she decided she wanted to teach and have a family rather than return to acting. In retrospect, Carter acknowledges that this decision "just about broke my mother's heart," who was "so involved" in her daughter's career and felt that she should have continued to act.
During her "graduate year at college," Carter married Crosby Newton (May 23, 1957), and the "next year, [she] started teaching... [at] high school and junior high," also spending time as a substitute. She particularly enjoyed "teaching continuation high school, and of course [her] ninth grade drama class, where [her class] put on various productions." Following the death of her parents (her mother passed away in 1977, her father in 1979), having no more ties California, Carter left teaching in Southern California in 1982, and she and her husband decided to relocate to the Pacific Northwest
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...
. They settled in the eastern suburbs of Seattle, Washington, having "always loved it up in [that] part of the world... since [filming] Commandos Strike at Dawn." In Washington, Carter attended "travel school and became a cruise-only travel agent," which she did for four years. An odd rumour that Carter was "killed in an automobile accident in 1978" is definitively false, but nonetheless persists.
A mother of three — to Gail, David and Carol — Carter-Newton is now retired, in part to help care for her grandchildren, allowing her children (and their partners) to work. In January 2005, she was diagnosed with Stage 3 ovarian cancer
Ovarian cancer
Ovarian cancer is a cancerous growth arising from the ovary. Symptoms are frequently very subtle early on and may include: bloating, pelvic pain, difficulty eating and frequent urination, and are easily confused with other illnesses....
, which was "awful." Finding "hope and a very, very aggressive chemo treatment" from Dr Saul Rivkin at the Swedish Cancer Institute in Seattle, she got through it "with help from [her] family and friends." In 2007 she participated in Val Lewton: The Man in the Shadows, a documentary on the produced behind Curse of the Cat People, which was "exciting," but also allowed her to learn "a lot about [Lewton]'s life" which was a sad story.
Legacy
One film historian called Carter "the serious faced little blonde". Although she was a beautiful child, she did not play in films aimed at children or in light topics. In her best roles, she is a vulnerable child trapped in a hostile adult world. She was hailed by director Robert WiseRobert Wise
Robert Earl Wise was an American sound effects editor, film editor, film producer and director...
as a "big asset" in his directorial debut, who said in 1991 that:
Ann Carter belongs to a generation of child actors that one film historian has called "the lost children of Hollywood". The films of many such children were largely forgotten for decades, their performances (unlike stars such as Shirley Temple
Shirley Temple
Shirley Temple Black , born Shirley Jane Temple, is an American film and television actress, singer, dancer, autobiographer, and former U.S. Ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia...
) often uncredited. But with the advent of the VHS and the DVD with its "special features", many of these movies are being re-discovered. Commandos Strike at Dawn and Curse of the Cat People have recently been issued on DVD, and The Two Mrs. Carrolls is available on VHS. Carter herself was the subject of an essay and lengthy interview (conducted by Tom Weaver), in the March 2008 issue of Tim and Donna Lucas' Video Watchdog magazine. She expresses surprise at the number of fans who enjoy Curse of the Cat People, thinking that her acting days "were a long time ago," but recently discovering that her films - and herself - are still the subject of "much attention."
Convicted parental kidnapper Clark Rockefeller
Clark Rockefeller
Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter is a German man who moved to the United States as a teenager to study, and thereafter assumed many aliases. Using the false name Clark Rockefeller, he married a Harvard Business School graduate student named Sandra Boss...
has claimed that Carter is his mother. Carter has denied this, and has expressed sympathy for his real mother.
Filmography
- The Last of the Duanes (1941) (uncredited) — Lucy Cannon
- I Married a WitchI Married a WitchI Married a Witch is a 1942 fantasy romantic comedy film, directed by René Clair, and starring Veronica Lake as a witch whose plan for revenge goes comically awry, with Fredric March as her foil. The film also features Robert Benchley, Susan Hayward and Cecil Kellaway...
(1942) (uncredited) — Jennifer Wooley, Wooley's Daughter - Commandos Strike at DawnCommandos Strike at DawnCommandos Strike at Dawn is a 1942 war film directed by John Farrow and written by Irwin Shaw from a story by C.S. Forester, starring Paul Muni, Anna Lee, Lillian Gish, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, and Robert Coote.-Plot:...
(1942) (uncredited) — Solveig Toresen - The North StarThe North Star (1943 film)The North Star is a 1943 war film produced and distributed by RKO Radio Pictures. It was directed by Lewis Milestone and written by Lillian Hellman. The film starred Anne Baxter, Dana Andrews, Walter Huston, Walter Brennan and Erich von Stroheim...
(1943) — Olga Pavlova - The Curse of the Cat PeopleThe Curse of the Cat PeopleThe Curse of the Cat People is a 1944 film directed by Gunther von Fritsch and Robert Wise, and produced by Val Lewton. This film, which was then-film editor Robert Wise's first directing credit, is the sequel to Cat People and has many of the same characters...
(1944) — Amy Reed - And Now TomorrowAnd Now TomorrowAnd Now Tomorrow is a 1944 film based on the bestselling novel, published in 1942 by Rachel Field, directed by Irving Pichel and written by Raymond Chandler. Both center around one doctor's attempt for curing deafness. The film stars Alan Ladd and Susan Hayward. Its tagline was Who are you that a...
(1944) (uncredited) — Emily, age 7 - Incendiary BlondeIncendiary BlondeIncendiary Blonde is a 1945 American musical drama film of 1920s nightclub star Texas Guinan. Filmed in Technicolor by director George Marshall, it starred actress Betty Hutton in the title role. The music was written by Robert Emmett Dolan...
(1945) (scenes deleted) — Pearl Guinan, age 7 - The VirginianThe Virginian (1946 film)The Virginian is a 1946 film based upon the Owen Wister novel, with Joel McCrea as the Virginian and Brian Donlevy as Trampas. The film was directed by Stuart Gilmore and remains widely regarded as an inferior remake of the 1929 movie with Gary Cooper and Walter Huston. There have been several...
(1946) (uncredited) — School Girl - The Searching Wind (1946) — Sarah
- Child of Divorce (1946) — Peggy Allen
- The Fabulous DorseysThe Fabulous DorseysThe Fabulous Dorseys is a 1947 fictionalized biographical film which tells the story of Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, from their boyhood in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania through their rise, their breakup, and their personal reunion....
(1947) (uncredited) — Young Jane - The Two Mrs. CarrollsThe Two Mrs. CarrollsThe Two Mrs. Carrolls is a 1947 film noir made by Warner Brothers. It was directed by Peter Godfrey and produced by Mark Hellinger, with Jack L. Warner as executive producer, from a screenplay by Thomas Job based on the play by Martin Vale...
(1947) — Beatrice Carroll - Song of LoveSong of Love (film)Song of Love is a biopic starring Katharine Hepburn, Paul Henreid, Robert Walker, and Leo G. Carroll, directed by Clarence Brown and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer....
(1947) — Marie - RuthlessRuthless (film)Ruthless is a drama film directed by Edgar G. Ulmer and starring Zachary Scott and Louis Hayward.-Plot:Horace Vendig shows himself to the world as a rich philanthropist. In fact, the history of his rise from his unhappy broken home shows this to be far from the case...
(1948) — Martha Burnside, as Child - The Boy with Green HairThe Boy with Green HairThe Boy with Green Hair is a 1948 American comedy-drama film directed by Joseph Losey. It stars Dean Stockwell as Peter, a young war orphan who is subject to ridicule after he awakens one morning to find his hair mysteriously turned green...
(1948) (uncredited) — Eva - A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's CourtA Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's CourtA Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is an 1889 novel by American humorist and writer Mark Twain. The book was originally titled A Yankee in King Arthur's Court...
(1949) — Peasant girl - Blondie Hits the Jackpot (1949) — Louise Hutchins
- The Member of the Wedding (1952) — Doris