Anne Baxter facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Anne Baxter
Baxter in You're My Everything (1949)
Born	(1923-05-07)May 7, 1923 Michigan City, Indiana, U.S.
Died	December 12, 1985(1985-12-12) (aged 62) New York City, U.S.
Resting place	Lloyd Jones Cemetery, Spring Green, Wisconsin
Education	Brearley School
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1936–1985
Known for	The Razor's Edge All About Eve The Ten Commandments Batman
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	John Hodiak ​ ​ (m. 1946; div. 1953)​ Randolph Galt ​ ​ (m. 1960; div. 1969)​ David Klee ​ ​ (m. 1977; died 1977)​
Children	3
Relatives	Frank Lloyd Wright (grandfather) Lloyd Wright (uncle) John Lloyd Wright (uncle) Eric Lloyd Wright (cousin) Elizabeth Wright Ingraham (cousin)
Awards	Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress (1947) Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress (1947)

Anne Baxter (born May 7, 1923 – died December 12, 1985) was a famous American actress. She starred in many Hollywood movies, Broadway plays, and TV shows. She won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe. She was also nominated for an Emmy.

Anne Baxter was the granddaughter of the well-known architect Frank Lloyd Wright. She learned acting from Maria Ouspenskaya. Her first movie was 20 Mule Team in 1940. She later signed a contract with 20th Century Fox.

In 1947, she won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award. These awards were for her role as Sophie MacDonald in the movie The Razor's Edge. In 1951, she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress. This was for her main role in All About Eve (1950).

She worked with many great directors. These included Billy Wilder, Alfred Hitchcock, Fritz Lang, and Cecil B. DeMille. Her role in DeMille's The Ten Commandments (1956) earned her a Laurel Award.

Early Life and Acting Dreams

Anne Baxter was born on May 7, 1923, in Michigan City, Indiana. Her mother, Catherine Dorothy, was the daughter of architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Her father, Kenneth Stuart Baxter, worked for the Seagram Company.

When Anne was five, she acted in a school play. Her family moved to New York when she was six. She kept acting and grew up in Westchester County, New York. She went to Brearley.

At age 10, Anne saw a Broadway play starring Helen Hayes. She was so amazed that she told her family she wanted to be an actress. By age 13, she was already on Broadway in a play called Seen but Not Heard. During this time, she studied acting with Maria Ouspenskaya.

In 1939, she was cast in the play The Philadelphia Story. She was supposed to play Katharine Hepburn's younger sister. However, Hepburn did not like Baxter's acting style. Anne was replaced before the play opened on Broadway. Instead of giving up, she decided to try acting in Hollywood.

A Star's Journey in Film

Starting with 20th Century Fox

Joseph Cotten, Baxter and Tim Holt in The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)

At 16, Anne Baxter tried out for a role in the movie Rebecca. The director, Alfred Hitchcock, thought she was too young. But soon after, she got a seven-year contract with 20th Century Fox.

In 1940, she made her first film, 20 Mule Team, for MGM. She then worked with John Barrymore in The Great Profile (1940). She also appeared in Charley's Aunt (1941). She became a main star in Swamp Water (1941) and The Pied Piper (1942). The Pied Piper was even nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture.

Baxter was loaned to RKO to appear in Orson Welles' movie The Magnificent Ambersons (1942). She was the main actress opposite Tyrone Power in Crash Dive (1943). This was her first movie filmed in Technicolor. In 1943, she played a French maid in Billy Wilder's Five Graves to Cairo.

She became very popular in movies about World War II. She had top roles in The North Star (1943), The Sullivans (1944), and The Eve of St. Mark (1944). She also starred in Sunday Dinner for a Soldier (1944) with John Hodiak, who would later become her husband. Baxter once said she was getting almost as much fan mail as Betty Grable.

She also starred in the film noir Guest in the House (1944). Other films included A Royal Scandal (1945) and Smoky (1946). She also appeared in Angel on My Shoulder (1946).

Baxter co-starred with Tyrone Power and Gene Tierney in The Razor's Edge (1946). For this role, she won both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress. Baxter felt that a scene in The Razor's Edge was her best performance. In that scene, her character Sophie loses her family. Baxter said she thought of her own brother, who died when he was three.

Baxter as Nefertari in The Ten Commandments (1956). She won a Laurel Award for her dramatic performance.

Baxter as Eve Harrington in All About Eve (1950). She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress.

She played many different roles at 20th Century Fox. She was a lawyer in The Walls of Jericho (1948). She was an Irish love interest in The Luck of the Irish (1948). She played a tomboy in Yellow Sky (1948) and a 1920s flapper in You're My Everything (1949).

In 1950, Baxter was chosen for All About Eve. She looked a bit like Claudette Colbert, who was first cast but had to leave. Baxter was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her role as Eve Harrington. She said she based the character on an understudy she had when she was 13.

Her next film was Follow the Sun (1951). She played Valerie, the wife of golfer Ben Hogan. She was also the main star in the western The Outcasts of Poker Flat (1950). Her last project for Fox was O. Henry's Full House (1952). She left 20th Century Fox in 1953.

Working as a Freelance Actress

In 1953, Anne Baxter signed a deal to make two movies for Warner Brothers. The first was I Confess with Montgomery Clift, directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The second was The Blue Gardenia, a mystery film by Fritz Lang. In this movie, she played a woman accused of murder.

In 1954, Baxter got the role of the Egyptian princess and queen Nefertari. This was for Cecil B. DeMille's famous movie The Ten Commandments. Her scenes were filmed in 1955. She attended the movie's premieres in New York and Los Angeles in 1956. Many people praised her performance. For her work, she won a Laurel Award for Topliner Female Dramatic Performance.

In 1960, Anne Baxter received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It is located at 6741 Hollywood Boulevard.

Later Career in Television and Stage

Baxter worked often in television during the 1960s. She appeared on the show What's My Line? She also played the villain Zelda The Great in two episodes of the Batman TV series. Later, she played another villain, Olga, Queen of the Cossacks, in three more Batman episodes. She was also a guest star on the crime series Ironside. In 1967, she appeared on My Three Sons as a glamorous engineer.

In the 1970s, Baxter returned to Broadway in the musical Applause. This musical was based on her movie All About Eve. This time, she played the role of Margo Channing.

Baxter was a frequent guest and host on The Mike Douglas Show. She played a murderous film star in an episode of Columbo called "Requiem for a Falling Star". In 1971, she had a role in the movie Fools' Parade. In 1983, Baxter starred in the TV series Hotel. She took over the role from her former co-star Bette Davis, who became ill.

Personal Life

Baxter at the New York premiere of The Ten Commandments (1956)

Anne Baxter married actor John Hodiak on July 7, 1946. They had one daughter named Katrina, born in 1951. They divorced in 1953.

In 1960, Baxter married her second husband, Randolph Galt. He owned a cattle ranch in Australia. They had a second daughter, Maginel. After Maginel was born, they moved to a ranch in New Mexico. They later moved to Hawaii and then settled in California. Baxter and Galt divorced in 1969. In 1976, Baxter wrote a book called Intermission about her time with Galt.

In 1977, Baxter married David Klee, a stockbroker. This marriage was short because Klee sadly died from an illness. They had bought a large home in Easton, Connecticut, and were fixing it up. Baxter considered this her main home, even though she also had a place in West Hollywood.

Anne Baxter was a member of the Republican Party. She was involved in political campaigns for Thomas E. Dewey and Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Death

Anne Baxter had a stroke on December 4, 1985, in New York City. She was on life support for eight days. Her family decided to take her off life support when her brain stopped working. She passed away on December 12, 1985, at age 62. Baxter is buried in the private cemetery of her mother's family, the Lloyd Jones family. This cemetery is on the estate of Frank Lloyd Wright in Spring Green, Wisconsin.

Awards and Nominations

Filmography

Radio Appearances

See also

In Spanish: Anne Baxter para niños

• List of actors with Academy Award nominations