Elizabeth's Anne Baxter Page

All About Anne!

Anne Baxter was born on May 7th, 1923 in Michigan City, Indiana. Anne was destined to be a celebrity...her grandfather was famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright. When Anne was 11, she and her parents moved to New York City. There, her parents encouraged her to become an actress. In 1937, Anne went to Hollywood for the first time, but had no success in finding work. But two years later, in 1939, she did a screen test for Twentieth Century Fox, who immediately signed her to a seven year contract. But her first film was an MGM production: 1940's "Twenty Mule Team". Back at Fox, she made three more movies before she was really noticed. In 1942, Anne starred as Lucy Morgan in the Orson Welles production, "The Magnificent Ambersons". The film co-starred Joseph Cotten, Agnes Moorehead and Tim Holt. The film was a Welles production, so of course the reviews weren't outstanding, although the movie is. However, Anne was noticed for her pretty looks and great acting. It looked as though Anne was on her way.

Her next film was in 1943, in the movie "The North Star". Anne was already receiving top billing. It got great reviews, and so did Anne. But after this success, her career took a rollercoster ride. Her next few films were unsuccessful, but she got a great role in 1946. Anne starred as Sophie MacDonald in "The Razor's Edge". The film featured big names such as Tyrone Power, Gene Tierney, and Clifton Webb. Anne was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award, which she won! It's amazing how far she had come in just about five years.

But the saying "What goes up must come down" made it's way into Anne's career. Since she had success with "The Razor's Edge", her next few films were again disappointing. In fact, her next major role wasn't until 1950. Anne was the lead in one of the most successful and well-known movies to date. It was "All About Eve". I think this is Anne's greatest movie. She is Eve Harrington, the "kid" who inches into actress Margo Channing's career and life. She even takes over Margo's friends and boyfriend, Bill. Slowly, starting with Margo's housekeeper, Birdie, each person realizes how tricky Eve really is. Every person except her public, who sees her as the sweet, innocent actress that Margo's crowd first saw her as.

"All About Eve" also stars Bette Davis as Margo, Gary Merrill as Bill Sampson, George Sanders as theater critic Addison De Witt, Celeste Holm as Margo's friend, Karen Richards, Hugh Marlowe as playwright Lloyd Richards, Gregory Ratoff as producer Max Fabian, and Thelma Ritter as Birdie. It also features Marilyn Monroe in an early film. It was nominated for a record-breaking twelve Academy Awards, a record that stayed for 47 years until 1997's "Titanic" broke it. Although I'm a "Titanic" fan, I must say that I was a bit disappointed when the record was broken, because I think "All About Eve" is better! Anne was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar, a nomination that Bette Davis also had for the same film. But neither won, the Oscar went to Judy Holliday for "Born Yesterday". Still, it must have been quite an honor for Anne, to be nominated for the same thing as veteran actress Bette Davis.

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