Ann Bakster American actress Date of Birth: 07.05.1923 Country: USA

Biography of Anne Baxter

Anne Baxter was an American actress born on May 7, 1923, in Michigan City, Indiana. She came from a family of a salesman and her mother was the daughter of the famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright. In the mid-1930s, the Baxter family moved to New York, which was still the center of show business, although the film industry had already shifted to Hollywood.

At the age of 11, Anne began studying acting with the Russian actress Maria Uspeknskaya. At 13, she made her debut on the New York stage and received praise from Broadway critics. At 14, she embarked on her journey to conquer Hollywood. Although her initial screen tests were successful, she was considered too young for a film career at the time. Baxter returned to the stage but made a second attempt two years later, which led to a seven-year contract with 20th Century Fox.

By the age of 17, Anne was already playing roles that became the highlight of many Hollywood starlets' careers. Although she did not get the lead role in Alfred Hitchcock's famous film "Rebecca" (1940), she appeared in Orson Welles' "The Magnificent Ambersons" (1942). In 1943, her name was already at the top of the poster for the film "The North Star," which was well-received by both audiences and critics. Her next successful film was "Sunday Dinner for a Soldier" (1944), in which she starred alongside John Hodiak, whom she married three years later.

Baxter received Academy and Golden Globe Awards for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the film "The Razor's Edge" (1946). However, after her rapid rise, she faced a period of less successful roles. Her next big success came with Joseph L. Mankiewicz's drama "All About Eve" (1950). She was cast as Eve Harrington due to her resemblance to Claudette Colbert, who was originally supposed to play Margo. Eventually, the role of Margo went to Bette Davis, but Baxter remained and played the best role of her career. However, she was not awarded an Oscar for this role (Judy Holliday won the award for the film "Born Yesterday").

In 1951, Baxter gave birth to her daughter Katrina, who would later star alongside her in the film "Jane Austen in Manhattan" (1980). She immediately returned to the screen. In the 1950s, she appeared in various films, including "I Confess" (1953) and "The Blue Gardenia" (1953). Her most famous appearance during this period was as Nefertiti in Cecil B. DeMille's epic film "The Ten Commandments" (1956), where she starred alongside Charlton Heston and Yul Brynner.

Afterwards, Baxter's film roles began to decrease, possibly because she preferred independent work over a new studio contract. In 1961, Baxter and her second husband, Randolph Galt, left Hollywood for a life on a farm. She described her five-year experience as a farmer in her book "Intermission: A Life Story," published in 1976. In the 1960s, Baxter occasionally appeared on stage and television screens. She became the only actress to portray two different villains in the television series "Batman" - Lady Zelda in the first season and Olga, the Queen of Bessarovian Cossacks, in the third season. For the role of Olga, she even learned several Russian swear words. After divorcing Galt in the late 1960s, Baxter appeared almost exclusively on television and became a regular guest on the series "East of Eden" and "Hotel."

Her last role was Irene Adler in the TV movie "Sherlock Holmes and the Masks of Death" (1984). On December 12, 1985, Anne Baxter passed away at the age of 62 from a stroke.