Vivid, strikingly beautiful actress Anne Gwynne arrived in Hollywood a typical starry-eyed model looking to become a big film star and ended up one of Universal Studio’s favorite screamers in “B” horror films. Born in Waco, Texas, but raised in Missouri, she first modeled Catalina swimwear and appeared in local community theater productions to gain experience. Universal Studios executives took one look at this gorgeous eyeful and immediately signed her up in 1939. Her first work was in westerns opposite the likes of Johnny Mack Brown, but she swiftly moved to chillers and at the mercy of Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, and Lon Chaney Jr.. Though she seldom rose above the second-string ranks, she was quite popular with the servicemen as a WWII pin-up. As with many others before her, TV proved a welcome medium in the ’50s; as her film career fell away, she appeared in guest spots and commercials. Widowed in 1965, her health began to deteriorate in the ’90s and she was forced to move to the Motion Picture Country Home. Anne Gwynne had the looks and talent to be a top star, but not the luck. Nevertheless, she was a game player who screamed with the best of them. She passed away at age 84 following complications from a stroke.
