Ann Risley
Encyclopedia
Anna "Ann" Risley was a cast member of the TV series Saturday Night Live
for the 12 episodes of the 1980–1981 season. These 12 broadcasts were the first episodes after producer
Lorne Michaels
left the show. She is a member of SAG, AFTRA
, Equity
, and an independent actor's equity.
Risley was cast by Jean Doumanian
, who had previously been the show's guest-booker, then associate producer. After the 1980–1981 season, she was one of five cast members (including Gilbert Gottfried
, Gail Matthius
, Denny Dillon
and Charles Rocket
) let go by new producer Dick Ebersol
as part of a multi-stage overhaul of the show's cast and crew. In a 1999 interview with People
, Risley was quoted as saying her SNL experience was "horrible."
Prior to (and after) SNL, Risley had roles in nine feature films, including Stardust Memories
and Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean. She appeared in starring roles in two television pilots, Off Campus and Night After Night, was a five-week guest star on the daytime soap The Doctors, and appeared in five made-for-TV movies, including The Young Riders
and Telling Secrets. No longer a screen actor, Ann (who now goes by the name of Anna) continues to run her own acting/improv studio in Tucson, Arizona
.
(some 30 other plays)
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
for the 12 episodes of the 1980–1981 season. These 12 broadcasts were the first episodes after producer
Television producer
The primary role of a television Producer is to allow all aspects of video production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking...
Lorne Michaels
Lorne Michaels
Lorne Michaels, CM is a Canadian-American television producer, writer, and comedian best known for creating and producing Saturday Night Live and producing the various film and TV projects that spun off from it.-Early life:...
left the show. She is a member of SAG, AFTRA
American Federation of Television and Radio Artists
The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists is a performers' union that represents a wide variety of talent, including actors in radio and television, as well as radio and television announcers and newspersons, singers and recording artists , promo and voice-over announcers and other...
, Equity
Actors' Equity Association
The Actors' Equity Association , commonly referred to as Actors' Equity or simply Equity, is an American labor union representing the world of live theatrical performance, as opposed to film and television performance. However, performers appearing on live stage productions without a book or...
, and an independent actor's equity.
Risley was cast by Jean Doumanian
Jean Doumanian
Jean Doumanian is an American producer.Doumanian is probably most well known for her short reign as producer of Saturday Night Live between November 1980 and March 1981...
, who had previously been the show's guest-booker, then associate producer. After the 1980–1981 season, she was one of five cast members (including Gilbert Gottfried
Gilbert Gottfried
Gilbert Gottfried is an American actor, voice actor and stand-up comedian, best known for his trademark comedic persona of speaking in a loud, grating tone of voice. He has played numerous roles in film and television, perhaps most notably voicing the parrot Iago in Disney's Aladdin , and...
, Gail Matthius
Gail Matthius
Gail Matthius is an American actress and voice actress. She was a cast member of NBC's Saturday Night Live during its critical and ratings low point at the time , and co-anchored the Weekend Update segment with Charles Rocket in 1981.-Recurring characters:*Vicki, a Valley girl who,...
, Denny Dillon
Denny Dillon
Denise "Denny" Dillon is an American comedian and former cast member of Saturday Night Live. At 4'11" , Dillon is the shortest cast member in the show's history...
and Charles Rocket
Charles Rocket
Charles Rocket was an American film and television actor, notable for his tenure as a cast member on Saturday Night Live as well as for his appearances as the villain Nicholas Andre in the film Dumb and Dumber; as Dave Dennison, the father in Disney's Hocus Pocus.-Early life and career:Rocket was...
) let go by new producer Dick Ebersol
Dick Ebersol
Duncan "Dick" Ebersol is an American television executive and a senior adviser for . He had previously been the chairman of NBC Sports, producing large scale television events such as the Olympic Games and National Football League broadcasts....
as part of a multi-stage overhaul of the show's cast and crew. In a 1999 interview with People
People (magazine)
In 1998, the magazine introduced a version targeted at teens called Teen People. However, on July 27, 2006, the company announced it would shut down publication of Teen People immediately. The last issue to be released was scheduled for September 2006. Subscribers to this magazine received...
, Risley was quoted as saying her SNL experience was "horrible."
Prior to (and after) SNL, Risley had roles in nine feature films, including Stardust Memories
Stardust Memories
Stardust Memories is a 1980 film written and directed by Woody Allen, who considers this to be one of his best films in addition to The Purple Rose of Cairo and Match Point. The film is shot in black-and-white, particularly reminiscent of Federico Fellini's 8½ , which it parodies...
and Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean. She appeared in starring roles in two television pilots, Off Campus and Night After Night, was a five-week guest star on the daytime soap The Doctors, and appeared in five made-for-TV movies, including The Young Riders
The Young Riders
The Young Riders is an American Western television series created by Ed Spielman that presents a fictionalized account of a group of young Pony Express riders based at the Sweetwater Station in the Nebraska Territory during the years leading up to the American Civil War...
and Telling Secrets. No longer a screen actor, Ann (who now goes by the name of Anna) continues to run her own acting/improv studio in Tucson, Arizona
Tucson, Arizona
Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...
.
Celebrity impersonations on SNL
- Doria Reagan, wife of Ron ReaganRon ReaganRonald Prescott "Ron" Reagan sometimes known as Ronald Reagan, Jr., is a former talk radio host and chief political analyst for KIRO radio in Seattle until his show was canceled on August 8, 2007...
- Toni TennilleToni TennilleCathryn Antoinette "Toni" Tennille is one-half of the 1970s Grammy Award-winning duo Captain & Tennille. Tennille has also done musical work independently of her husband Daryl Dragon. Tennille has a contralto vocal range.-Biography:...
- Rosalynn CarterRosalynn CarterEleanor Rosalynn Carter is the wife of the former President of the United States Jimmy Carter and in that capacity served as the First Lady of the United States from 1977 to 1981. As First Lady and after, she has been a leading advocate for numerous causes, perhaps most prominently for mental...
Feature film (speaking roles)
- Annie HallAnnie HallAnnie Hall is a 1977 American romantic comedy directed by Woody Allen from a screenplay co-written with Marshall Brickman and co-starring Diane Keaton. One of Allen's most popular and most honored films, it won four Academy Awards including Best Picture...
as Susan (dir. by Woody AllenWoody AllenWoody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
) (1977) - Oliver's StoryOliver's StoryOliver's Story is the sequel to the novel Love Story by Erich Segal, turned into a movie of the same name in 1978. It was directed by John Korty and starred Ryan O'Neal and Candice Bergen. The original music score was composed by Lee Holdridge and Francis Lai. Unlike the original film, Oliver's...
as Jane (dir. by John KortyJohn KortyJohn Korty is an American film director and animator, best known for the television film The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman and the documentary Who Are the DeBolts? And Where Did They Get Nineteen Kids?, as well as the theatrical animated feature Twice Upon a Time...
) (1978) - ManhattanManhattan (film)Manhattan is a 1979 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Woody Allen about a twice-divorced 42-year-old comedy writer who dates a 17-year-old girl before eventually falling in love with his best friend's mistress...
as Mrs. Finch (dir. by Woody Allen) (1979) - SimonSimon (1980 film)Simon is a 1980 American comedy film. It was directed by Marshall Brickman and stars Alan Arkin.- Plot summary :The Institute for Advanced Concepts, a group of scientists with an unlimited budget and a propensity for elaborate pranks, brainwash a psychology professor named Simon Mendelssohn who was...
as Sally (dir. by Marshall BrickmanMarshall BrickmanMarshall Brickman is a screenwriter, best known for his collaborations with Woody Allen. He is also known for playing the banjo with Eric Weissberg in the 1960s, and for a series of comical parodies published in The New Yorker.-Biography:After attending the University of Wisconsin–Madison, he...
) (1980) - Stardust MemoriesStardust MemoriesStardust Memories is a 1980 film written and directed by Woody Allen, who considers this to be one of his best films in addition to The Purple Rose of Cairo and Match Point. The film is shot in black-and-white, particularly reminiscent of Federico Fellini's 8½ , which it parodies...
as Nurse (dir. by Woody Allen) (1980) - Honky Tonk FreewayHonky Tonk FreewayHonky Tonk Freeway is a UK comedy film directed by John Schlesinger. It was released in August 1981 by Universal Studios. The film, conceived and co-produced by Don Boyd, was one of the most expensive box office flops in history, losing its British backers Thorn-EMI an estimated $11,000,000 and...
as Patricia (dir. by John SchlesingerJohn SchlesingerJohn Richard Schlesinger, CBE was an English film and stage director and actor.-Early life:Schlesinger was born in London into a middle-class Jewish family, the son of Winifred Henrietta and Bernard Edward Schlesinger, a physician...
) (1981) - Rich and FamousRich and Famous (1981 film)Rich and Famous is a 1981 American drama film directed by George Cukor. The screenplay by Gerald Ayres is based on the 1941 play Old Acquaintance by John Van Druten, which was filmed with Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins in 1943 under its original title. Both film versions are now owned by Turner...
as Merideth (dir. by George CukorGeorge CukorGeorge Dewey Cukor was an American film director. He mainly concentrated on comedies and literary adaptations. His career flourished at RKO and later MGM, where he directed What Price Hollywood? , A Bill of Divorcement , Dinner at Eight , Little Women , David Copperfield , Romeo and Juliet and...
) (1981) - Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean as Martha (dir. by Robert AltmanRobert AltmanRobert Bernard Altman was an American film director and screenwriter known for making films that are highly naturalistic, but with a stylized perspective. In 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized his body of work with an Academy Honorary Award.His films MASH , McCabe and...
) (1982) - Desert BloomDesert BloomDesert Bloom is a 1986 American drama film directed by Eugene Corr and starring an ensemble cast led by Jon Voight and JoBeth Williams. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1986 Cannes Film Festival and funded through the Sundance Film Festival Institute.-Plot:World War II has...
as Mrs. Muratore (dir. by Eugene Corr) (1986)
Television
- Saturday Night Live (one year) – Cast member – 1980-81 SeasonSaturday Night Live (Season 6)Saturday Night Live aired its sixth season during the 1980–1981 television season on NBC. Season six started on November 15, 1980 and ended on April 11, 1981, with only 13 episodes...
, NBC (N.Y.C.) - Off Campus (sitcom pilot) – Bonnie (starring role) – CBS (N.Y.C.)
- Night After Night (sitcom pilot) – Anne (starring role) – MTM/CBS (L.A.)
- The Doctors (soap, 5 wk guest star) – Hermione (with Alec BaldwinAlec BaldwinAlexander Rae "Alec" Baldwin III is an American actor who has appeared on film, stage, and television.Baldwin first gained recognition through television for his work in the soap opera Knots Landing in the role of Joshua Rush. He was a cast member for two seasons before his character was killed off...
) – NBC (N.Y.C.) - The Young Riders (3 episodes) – Clerk/Wife (with Josh BrolinJosh BrolinJosh James Brolin is an American actor. He has acted in theater, film and television roles since 1985, and won acting awards for his roles in the films W., No Country for Old Men, Milk and True Grit.-Early life:...
) – ABC series (Tucson, AZ)
Movies for television
- Telling Secrets – Sally DeVries (with Cybil Shepherd) – ABC miniseries (Scottsdale, AZ)
- Four Eyes and Six-Guns – Madame of Whore House (with Patricia ClarksonPatricia ClarksonPatricia Davies Clarkson is an American actress. After studying drama on the East Coast, Clarkson launched her acting career in 1985, and has worked steadily in both film and television. She twice won the Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress in Six Feet Under...
) – TNT film (Tucson, AZ) - El Diablo – Judith – HBO film (Tucson, AZ)
- Sunstroke – Secretary – TNT film (Phoenix, AZ)
Theatre
- Come Back to the Five and Dime – Martha, also S/B Karen BlackKaren BlackKaren Black is an American actress, screenwriter, singer, and songwriter. She is noted for appearing in such films as Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, The Great Gatsby, Rhinoceros, The Day of the Locust, Nashville, Airport 1975, and Alfred Hitchcock's final film, Family Plot...
, Sandy DennisSandy DennisSandra Dale “Sandy” Dennis was an American theater and film actress. In 1966, she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?.-Early life:...
– Broadway (N.Y.C.) - A Little Family Business – role of Connie (Angela LansburyAngela LansburyAngela Brigid Lansbury CBE is an English actress and singer in theatre, television and motion pictures, whose career has spanned eight decades and earned her more performance Tony Awards than any other individual , with five wins...
's daughter) – Ahmanson Theatre (L.A.) and Broadway (N.Y.C.) - A History of the American Film – S/B all 4 female leads – Arena Stage (Wash. DC)
- Uncommon Women – Rita-Huntington Theatre (Boston, Mass.)
- Spoon River Anthology – 16 roles – San Francisco Tour (CA)
- The Importance of Being Earnest – Cecily
- Private Lives – Amanda
- The Owl and the Pussycat – Doris
- Lovers (Winners) – Maggie
- Same Time Next Year – Doris
(some 30 other plays)
Training
- BAI – University of Wisconsin – Theatre Communications
- Various individual workshops in N.Y.C. and San Francisco