Occupation actress, producer Years active 1931-1992 | Name Ann Todd Role Actress | |
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Children Ann Francesca Tangye, David Malcolm Books The eighth veil, The Demons Within Movies The Paradine Case, Madeleine, The Passionate Friends, The Sound Barrier, Taste of Fear Similar People David Lean, Nigel Tangye, Alida Valli, Seth Holt, James Mason | ||
Movie legends ann todd
Dorothy Anne Todd (24 January 1909 – 6 May 1993) was an English actress and producer.
Contents
- Movie legends ann todd
- ANN TODD TRIBUTE
- Early years
- Film
- Stardom
- Television
- Stage
- Autobiography
- Personal life
- Death
- Filmography
- References
ANN TODD TRIBUTE
Early years
Todd was born in Hartford, Cheshire, England and educated at St. Winifrid's School, Eastbourne, Sussex. She went onto study speech training and drama under Elsie Fogerty at the Central School of Speech and Drama, then based at the Royal Albert Hall, London.
Film
Todd made her film debut in Keepers of Youth (1931). She had roles in These Charming People (1931), The Ghost Train (1931), The Water Gipsies (1932) and The Return of Bulldog Drummond (1934).
For Alex Korda, Todd was in Things to Come (1936), Action for Slander (1937), The Squeaker (1937), and South Riding (1938). He appeared in Ann and Harold (1938) the first British TV serial.
Too was in Poison Pen (1939), Danny Boy (1941), and Ships with Wings (1941).
Stardom
Todd was off screen for a number of years. She had a good support role in a big hit, Perfect Strangers (1945, as a nurse), then had a huge success when she played a suicidal concert pianist in The Seventh Veil (1945), opposite James Mason. She followed this with a musical, Gaiety George (1946) and a noir Daybreak (shot in 1946, released in 1948).
The Seventh Veil was a hit in the US as well as UK. In 1946, Todd was said to be the "holder of the most lucrative contract ever signed by an English cinema actress, with over a million dollars involved in its clauses."
She received a Hollywood offer from Alfred Hitchcock to play Gregory Peck's wife in The Paradine Case (1947), which was a flop. So Evil My Love (1948), a US-British co production was a box office disappointment, as was The Passionate Friends (1949), directed by her then husband David Lean.
Lean also directed Todd in Madeleine (1950) and The Sound Barrier (1952); the latter was very successful commercially.
Todd appeared in some thrillers, The Green Scarf (1954) and Time Without Pity (1957). She had a good part in Hammer Films' Taste of Fear (1961).
Television
Todd starred in two episodes of Playhouse 90: "Not the Glory" and "The Grey Nurse Said Nothing".
Stage
In 1957, Todd starred in the Broadway production of Four Winds.
Autobiography
She later produced a series of travel films. Her autobiography is entitled The Eighth Veil, an allusion to the film which made her a star in Britain. Todd was known as the "pocket Garbo" for her diminutive, blonde beauty.
Personal life
Todd said of herself, "I'm really very shy, and I get over that playing an actress."
Todd married three times. Her first husband, Victor N. Malcolm, was a grandson of Lillie Langtry and Prince Louis of Battenberg, the 1st Marquess of Milford Haven; she had a son with him named David Malcolm. Her second and third husbands (Nigel Tangye and David Lean) were first cousins. She had a daughter with Nigel Tangye called Ann Francesca Tangye. She was divorced from Tangye 12 March 1949.
Todd married film director Lean on 21 May 1949 and starred in a number of his films, including The Passionate Friends (1949), Madeleine (1950) and The Sound Barrier (1952). Lean and Todd divorced 15 July 1957.
Death
Todd died on 6 May 1993 from a stroke, aged 84.