Sally Ann Howes

Born on July 20, 1930, Londoner Sally Ann Howes was predestined to act, being the daughter of British star Bobby Howes , and actress and singer Patricia Malone. She was also the granddaughter of  JAE Malone,Broadway show director. After spending World War II at the family’s country home in Essendon, Hertfordshire, he began acting at school functions. When he was 13 years old, an acting agent visited his family for dinner. He was impressed with the teenager’s talent, and suggested that she audition for Thursday’s Boy , since the producers had tested more than two hundred young women, and were desperate to find the leading lady. She was ultimately chosen to play Fennis Wilson, a child prodigy on the screen. The film also featured Stewart Granger .

Sally Ann Howes was next in several titles, including Anna Karenina , opposite Vivien Leigh . At the age of 18, she obtained a contract with The Rank Organization, which placed her in the cast of titles such as the Mr. Polly Story and Stop Press Girl . Since she hadn’t quite succeeded, and she didn’t like the roles she was offered, she followed the recommendation of a friend of hers to take voice classes. He debuted in musical theater with Fancy Free, followed by Caprice , although he was especially successful with the version on the London West End stage , with “The Legend of the Nameless City”, where he gave life to the daughter of Bobby Howes, his actual father. “He taught me everything I know, especially to attract attention. Even dirty tricks, for example, to start talking as soon as possible if another actor received applause, to silence it. He told me to raise a cigarette, or stroke my hair, with such as to take your eyes away from the other interpreter”.

In 1958, she replaced Julie Andrews herself in the stage version of “My Fair Lady” on Broadway. It didn’t have to be easy. “I remember my first performance,” recalled Sally Ann Howes . “The show’s director,  Moss Hart, introduced me.  He announced that ‘Julie Andrews won’t be playing Eliza Doolittle,’ and there was a loud groan.  The audience felt cheated, so I immediately felt like I had been thrown to the wolves  . end of the performance, she had won them over; it  was an artist and an audience discovering each other, and it was exhilarating.”

When triumphing on the tables, Sally Ann Howes left the cinema aside. “I would have liked to have a bigger screen career, but I didn’t really fight for it either, because theater is like a drug.” Despite everything, she was recruited as the female lead in Chitty Chitty, Bang Bang , alongside Dick Van Dyke , where she stood out especially in the scene in which she became a dancer in a music box. She was also in the horror film Death Ship, with George Kennedy , and shot television versions of the aforementioned Legend of the Nameless City , and other musicals such as Brigadoon .

Divorced from composer and lyricist Tony Richard Adler ( The Pajama Game ,  Damn Yankees), with whom she adopted two children, Sally Ann Howes joined Douglas Rae, a literary agent. She remained with him until her death, which occurred three months before the death of Sally Ann Howes herself .