In Remembrance: Anna Lee

     Veteran film actress Anna Lee, a John Ford fixture, died May 14, 2004 of pneumonia in Beverly Hills. She was 91.

     Anna Lee was born in Kent, England as Joan Boniface Winnifrith on Jan. 2^nd, 1913 to a clergyman who encouraged her to act. After formal training at Royal Albert Hall, she began appearing in British films first as an extra and then earned feature roles. Lee’s first role was a small performance in 1932’s His Lordship and appeared in such early films as The King’s Cup (1933), Lucky Loser (1934) and Heat Wave (1935). She was given high-billing in husband Robert Stevenson’s brilliant horror movie, The Man Who Changed His Mind, giving a strong performance opposite the masterful, Boris Karloff, and Stevenson’s splendid adventure film King Solomon’s Mines (1937).

     Lee and Stevenson moved to Hollywood in the late 1930’s. She quickly began getting parts in Hollywood films and caught the interest of director John Ford and became a regular performer in his films. She starred in 1941’s moving Oscar-winning drama, How Green Was My Valley opposite Walter Pidgeon and Maureen O’Hara and appeared in the cavalry drama, Fort Apache, starring John Wayne and Henry Fonda in 1948. She also did have a small role as the widow in the stage holdup in 1962’s James Stewart classic Western, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.

     Some of the better films of the 40’s featured Lee, including the 1942 WWII action-picture, The Flying Tigers, which starred John Wayne, the twisted three-part film, Flesh And Fantasy (1943), Boris Karloff’s horror/thriller Bedlam (1946) and Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s charming ghost story, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947). Despite Lee having appeared in many films early in her career, she was absent from the silver screen through much of the 1950’s. She returned in 1958 appearing in two of Ford’s lesser-regarded films, Gideon’s Day and The Last Hurrah (starring Spencer Tracy).

     In the 1960’s, Lee was given some better quality screen time, portraying Lady Constance in 1962’s fantasy, Jack the Giant Killer and Mrs. Bates in the Davis/Crawford horror shocker Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962). Later she played Sister Margaretta in The Sound of Music (1965), and other credits include The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964) and In Like Flint (1967).

     Lee had made some guest appearances on television throughout her career including hit shows like Gunsmoke, My Three Sons, Mannix, and Perry Mason. But Lee’s most memorable TV contribution was on the daytime soap General Hospital portraying Lila Quartermaine from 1978-2003, and its spin-off, Port Charles from 1997-2003. Lee was paralyzed from the waist down in an automobile accident in 1979 and performed the role in a wheelchair. Lee married novelist, poet and playwright Robert Nathan ("Portrait of Jennie, "The Bishop's Wife") in 1970 and they were together until his death.

-John Gibbon