Ann Rutherford

Undoubtedly Ann Rutherford will be remembered for a character, that of Polly Benedict. And not because she was especially memorable or because she starred in some masterpiece. No. The fact is that she reprized that funny character in no more and no less than a total of 13 times! Polly was the girlfriend of the protagonist of a famous and vast film saga starring a young Mickey Rooney in the role of Andy Harvey (“Hardy” in the original). Those movies made Ann Rutherford very popular and her cheerful face became unforgettable.

Ann Rutherford was born in Vancouver (Canada) on November 2, 1920. Her father taught at the Metropolitan Opera in her hometown and her mother was also a theater actress. So from a very young age, Ann began to perform on radio shows in California, where she very soon moved to live with her family. The precociousness of the young lady was unheard of and at just 15 years old, Ann made her film debut in the film Waterfront Lady (1935). That same year she stood out in the western Melody Trail , with Gene Autry , although more striking are her three performances alongside John Wayne during 1936, in The Lawless Nineties , The Oregon Trail and The Lonely Trail .It is true that these are not very memorable films. In 1937, when the actress was 17 years old, she obtained a contract with MGM to embody the character that she would make famous, that of Polly Benedict.

In the role of Polly she first appeared in Judge Harvey’s Holiday . The young woman was hanging around the judge’s son, played by Mickey Rooney. Over the years there would be a long list of films about Harvey and Polly, always made by director George B. Seitz , among which Andrés Harvey Falls in Love (1938), Andy Hardy Gets Spring Fever (1939), Andrés Harvey, tenorio (1940) or Life Begins for Andy Hardy(1940). But although her Polly roles span from 1937 to 1942, during those years she was part of other interesting films, the most important of which was clearly Gone with the Wind, in which Ann played the younger sister. of the protagonist Vivien Leigh . She also participated in the great Dickensian adaptation A Christmas Carol (1938) , where she was the Spirit of Christmas Past. In 1940, at the age of 20, the precocious actress worked on another memorable film directed by Robert Z. Leonard : Stronger Than Pride . Rutherford played one of the Bennet sisters in this adaptation of Jane Austen ‘s novel “Pride and Prejudice.” Another good movie wasA Washington Melodrama (1941) and the following year he stood out in the wonderful film Jazz Widows , directed by Archie Mayo .

However, her main roles were beginning to shine by their absence, and that the actress was not yet 25 years old. In the 1940s, however, films of a certain importance stood out, such as the successful comedy Whistling in Brooklyn (1943), the hilarious The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947), with Danny Kaye and Virginia Mayo , or the adventurous El burlador . Castile (1948), with Errol Flynn . Regarding her private life, in 1942 she married for the first time, but she divorced nine years after her. She and she subsequently remarried producer and actor William Dozier, with whom she remained until his death in 1991.

From 1950, Ann Rutherfod already only participated almost exclusively in television episodes, with some more important role in some successful series, such as Perry Mason . In 1972 she worked with a very minor role in her last film, the thriller They Only Kill Her Owner , starring James Garner .