Before she turned eighteen, Anne Jeffreys was cast in the movie “I Married an Angel” with Jeannette McDonald and Nelson Eddy. She was a huge fan of these two actors, because her grandmother took her to see every Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy movie. Nelson Eddy was her hero. One day on the set, he had a photographer take a picture of him with Anne while she was sitting in a makeup chair. When filming was over, he presented her with the photograph in a lovely silver frame and wrote on it “To Anne Jeffreys, the most beautiful girl in the world. From her most adoring slave, Nelson Eddy.” That picture traveled with her everywhere from Hollywood to Broadway. Today it sits on her grand piano in her living room. I looked at the photo and noticed the writing has faded, but Anne’s smile remembering him shines brightly.
At the age of six months, while holding onto the side of her crib, Anne Jeffreys bounced to the rhythm of Enrico Curuso singing opera that was playing on the old Victrola. Then she started humming the tune. As her mother watched in amazement, she declared, “Ah, my singer.” From that day forward Ann never had a choice of what she was going to do in life.
While sitting in her living room last month, Anne shared with me “I guess I was a prodigy, as far as singing is concerned.” She had a coach and sang in public when she was five years old. “Anything that happened in town that involved entertainment, I was singing,” said Anne. After a while she told her mother, “I don’t just want to sing, I want to be in the show and act.” Anne’s mother became her manager, confidant, and dear friend. She urged Anne to go to junior college to learn the basics of music and acting. Anne also became a John Robert Powers model. One day her mother said, “It’s time to go to New York.” When Anne and her music teacher fell in love, her mother felt it was time to pick up and move to California. She got an agent and earned a role as the ingénue in a revue at the Hollywood Playhouse. The show paid $50 a week and she had to pay $109 for Actors Equity. So, she and her mom lived on oranges. The show closed in two weeks and Equity took both paychecks. Her mom pawned the family silver and got her a new agent.
After filming “I married and Angel,” Anne was studying with an acting coach at Metro in Culver City, when Carol Lombard was killed in a plane crash. The studio basically shut down as everyone mourned this beloved star. Ann would come in on the red trolley from Hollywood to Culver City. Lana Turner, Mickey Rooney and Judy were all there for their lessons, but everyone just sat there crying. Anne’s agent lost his patience and pulled her out of Metro and got her a contract with Republic studios. It was the beginning of her Western movie career. She acted in 8 films with Wild Bill Elliott and sidekick George “Gabby” Hayes.” I learned so much. It was a marvelous teaching school for me,” stated Anne.
RKO bought her contract from Republic Studios to do a Frank Sinatra and George Murphy film, Step Lively. Anne shared with me “Frank was a little squirt, always doing funny things. Even with his beautiful blue eyes, he was a naughty boy and I could never understand why girls were pulling his buttons off his shirt.”
While under contract with RKO, she had the nickname “Get Annie.” If Joan Fontaine didn’t want to star in a film, the executives would shout out “Get Annie.” She made a lot B category films. The one she loved most was with Robert Mitchum in the movie, Nevada. Next, she did two high budget western films with Randolph Scott, Robert Ryan and Gabby Hayes. In Trail Street, she played a dance hall queen and sang in the film. She never told the studio that she was a trained opera singer.
JJ Shubert found out she could sing and rewrote a role about an Opera singer just for Anne in the musical, My Romance. A publicist, John Springer, introduced Anne to a very handsome actor, Robert Sterling. “He was nice to me, but miserable, because he just got a divorce,” stated Anne. One year later, “When Cole Porter asked me to play Kate in Kiss Me Kate on Broadway (replacing Patricia Morison), I went to Sardis restaurant with my aunt for dinner. Robert was standing at the bar and came over to the table and asked me to have dinner some night with him,” said Anne. “At the time, I was engaged with a gentleman in California.“ Soon Anne discovered that she could love two people at the same time. “Robert used to come to the stage door with a Vodka tonic in hand as a peace offering,” giggled Anne. He knew she was taken, yet so smitten with Anne that he felt he had nothing to lose in trying to win her affection. Six months later they married.
Robert and Anne did a televised broadcast at the famous Stork Club in New York City with Peter Lynd Hayes and Mary Healy. Robert told them that he and Anne were going to act together in a television show. Peter replied “Uh oh the honeymoon is over. Once you work together, the fighting will start.” Anne said “they painted a very black picture, however Robert and I proved them wrong.” They were so happy working together. They used to say, “We don’t care who gets the close up as long as it’s one of us,” laughed Anne.
Together they were cast in the television series, Topper. She was six months pregnant with their first son, before anyone on the show realized it. “I didn’t want anyone fussing over me,” she said. They did 36 shows a year for two years. Then Anne semi-retired to raise her three sons; Jeffrey, Dana and Tyler.
Alan Lerner lured her back to Broadway to star in Camelot where she toured for months in Philadelphia and Washington D.C. Throughout her showbiz career she starred in television shows, musical theater, talk shows and soap operas.
Recently, Anne ran into actress Betty White who was being honored at the Beastly Ball at the Los Angeles Zoo. She walked up to her and said, “We are both escapees from Broadway. Thank you for opening the door for women our age,” Anne is 87 and Betty is 88 ½ years old. Betty is having resurgence in her acting career; she recently hosted Saturday Night Live and has a new television show, Hot in Cleveland.
Recently, Anne sang with Jane Russell, Connie Towers and Dale Kristien in concerts in Cerritos and the McCallum Theater in Palm Desert. She has also been a guest lecturer on several Crystal Cruise Line cruises.
I asked if she would share her beauty secrets with my Not Born Yesterday readers. She looks like a 60-year-old woman and is as agile as a gal in her 50s. “I drink a cup of hot water, honey and vinegar every morning to start my day,” said Anne. If her throat feels parched in the afternoon, she will make another cup. She also walks on the treadmill five days a week for thirty minutes. Yesterday she walked at 4am before she went to bed. ”Having worked on Broadway for many years, I’m used to having dinner later in the evening, around 1am,” said Anne. She is still too beautiful to play a grandmother role. I told her she is in an “in between” stage in her career. “After a wonderful acting and singing career, 55 years of being happily married, and now enjoying my sons and their growing families, life is good,” shared Anne. Maybe that’s her secret, no complaints.
Playwright Vanessa Claire Stewart wrote a production about the life of Buster Keaton for her beloved husband stage, motion picture and television actor French Stewart.
Interviews with great personalities 