Ann Harding

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Ann Harding (August 7, 1902 – September 1, 1981) was an American theatre, motion picture, radio, and television actress.

A regular player on Broadway and in regional theater in the 1920s, in the 1930s Harding was one of the first actresses to gain fame in the new medium of "talking pictures", and she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1931 for her work in Holiday. Harding was born Dorothy Walton Gatley, and was the daughter of a prominent United States Army officer.

She was raised primarily in East Orange, New Jersey and graduated from East Orange High School.

Having gained her initial acting experience in school drama classes, she decided on a career as an actress and moved to New York City.

Because her father opposed her career choice, she used the stage name Ann Harding. After initial work as a script reader, Harding began to win roles on Broadway and in regional theaters, primarily in Pennsylvania.

She moved to California to begin working in movies, which were just then beginning to include sound.

Her work in plays had given her notable diction and stage presence, and she became a leading lady.

By the late 1930s, she was becoming stereotyped as the beautiful, innocent, self-sacrificing woman, and film work became harder for her to obtain.

After marrying conductor Werner Janssen in 1937, she worked only sporadically, with two notable roles coming in Eyes in the Night (1942) and The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956). Harding also worked occasionally in television between 1955 and 1965, and she appeared in two plays in the early 1960s, returning to the stage after an absence of over 30 years, including the lead in "The Corn is Green" in 1964 at the Studio Theater in Buffalo, New York.

After her 1965 retirement, she resided in Sherman Oaks, California.

She died there in 1981, and was interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park -- Hollywood Hills.

Early years

Harding was born Dorothy Walton Gatley at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas to George G. Gatley, a career army officer, and Elizabeth "Bessie" Walton (Crabb) Gatley. After travelling often during her early life because of her father's career, she grew up in East Orange, New Jersey, graduated from East Orange High School, and attended Bryn Mawr College. Her father "violently opposed her profession," so Harding changed her name when she began her acting career.

Personal life

Harding was married twice, her husbands being:

In the early 1960s, Harding began living with Grace Kaye, an adult companion, later known as Grace Kaye Harding. Harding referred to Kaye as her daughter.

Among Harding's romances was the novelist and screenwriter Gene Fowler.

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Career

Harding's first job in the entertainment industry was as a script reader. In 1921, she began performing and made her Broadway debut in Like a King. After being led by Hedgerow Theatre founder Jasper Deeter in The Master Builder three years later, she discovered her "home theater" in Rose Valley, Pennsylvania. She returned to Hedgerow to reprise several of her roles over the years. She was soon to be a leading actress of the day, and she retained her fitness by using the services of Sylvia of Hollywood. She appeared in Pittsburgh for a while, most notably with the Sharp Company and later with Harry Bannister, who introduced the Nixon Players. She made her film debut in Paris, Bound, in 1929, opposite Fredric March. She purchased the Hedgerow Theatre from Deeter in 1931 and donated it to the firm.

Harding was first under contract to Pathé, which was then acquired by RKO Pictures, and promoted as the studio's 'answer' to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's top actress Norma Shearer. She co-starred with Ronald Colman, Laurence Olivier, Myrna Loy, Herbert Marshall, Leslie Howard, Richard Dix, and Gary Cooper, and was often on loan to other studios, including MGM and Paraphrasedoutput. Harding, along with Helen Twelvetreees and Constance Bennett, formed a trio of "women's pictures" specialists.

The critics often lauded Harding's performances, who cited her diction and stage experience as "service pictures" in the then-new medium. Her Private Affair was Harding's second film, in which she depicted a wife of questionable morality. The film was a huge commercial success. She was generally considered to be one of cinema's most attractive actresses during this period, with her waist-length blonde hair being one of her most notable physical features. The Animal Kingdom, Peter Ibbetson, When Ladies Meet, The Flame Within, and Biography of a Bachelor Girl were among her favourite films during her time. Eventually, however, she was depicted as the innocent, self-sacrificing young woman. She eventually stopped filmmaking after marrying conductor Werner Janssen in 1937 after lukewarm responses from both critics and the public to several of her later 1930s films. In 1942, she returned to the big screen to make Eyes in the Night and then reprised her role in other films. In the Christmas film It Happened on Fifth Avenue in 1947, she played "Mary," Charlie Ruggles' estranged wife. She appeared in The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit in 1956, this time in The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit.

Harding's return to Broadway in the 1960s marked his return to Broadway after a decades absence—having last appeared in 1927. She appeared in General Seeger, directed by and co-starring George C. Scott, in 1962, and in 1964 she appeared in Abraham Cochrane ("her last New York stage appearance"). Both productions were short, with the former play lasting just three performances (including previews). In 1965, Harding made her last acting appearance in an episode of television's Ben Casey before resigning.

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