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Ann Doran
Doran inThe Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946)
Born	Ann Lee Doran (1911-07-28)July 28, 1911 Amarillo, Texas, U.S.
Died	September 19, 2000(2000-09-19) (aged 89) Carmichael, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1922–1988
Mother	Rose Allen

Ann Doran (July 28, 1911 – September 19, 2000) was a prolific Americancharacter actress, who worked in more than 1500 motion pictures and television episodes. Today's audiences know her as Carol Stark, the mother of James "Jim" Stark (James Dean) inRebel Without a Cause (1955),^[1] and as a featured actress in short comedies withThe Three Stooges andCharley Chase. She was an early member of theScreen Actors Guild and served on the board of theMotion Picture & Television Fund for 30 years.^[2]

Ann Lee Doran was born in Amarillo, Texas to silent-film actress Rose Allen (born Carrie A. Barnett) and John R. Doran. She attended high school inSan Bernardino, California.^[3]

According to a 1979 interview, the actress made her debut at 11 years old.^[4] Seldom cast in leading roles, Doran appeared in more than 500 motion pictures and 1,000 episodes of television series, such as theAmerican Civil War dramaGray Ghost.

Doran entered the field of motion pictures as astand-in, thenbit player, then incidental supporting player. In 1936 she was featured in two of the last feature films produced by independent studioChesterfield Pictures,Missing Girls andRed Lights Ahead (the latter film a rare lead forColumbia Pictures' short-subject starAndy Clyde).

Red Lights Ahead led to a contract with Columbia, where Doran became a familiar face. Columbia's company policy was to use the members of its stock company as often as possible. Thus, Doran appears in Columbia's serials (such asThe Spider's Web andFlying G-Men), B features (including theBlondie,Five Little Peppers andEllery Queen series), and major feature films. She became a favorite of Columbia directorFrank Capra and appeared in many of his productions, notablyYou Can't Take It With You, in which she leads a group of neighbors battling a tycoon who evicted them. Most of these appearances were supporting roles, although she had the ingenue lead in theCharles Starrett westernRio Grande (1938) and was featured in theBoris Karloff thrillerThe Man They Could Not Hang (1939).

She was most prominent in Columbia's two-reel comedies, which had smaller casts and accordingly gave supporting players more to do. She worked withThe Three Stooges, Andy Clyde,Harry Langdon,Tom Kennedy,Walter Catlett.Roscoe Karns,Vera Vague, and especiallyCharley Chase. Her first appearance with Chase was as a gangster's moll inTime Out for Trouble (1938); Chase admired her comic timing and gave her ingenue leads in his subsequent shorts.

Ann Doran's tenure at Columbia ended when Frank Capra angrily left the studio to makeMeet John Doe (1941), and cast Doran as the wife of soda jerk-turned-John Doe Club activist Bert Hansen. Though her character speaks some of the film's most pivotal lines of dialogue, including an impassioned suicide-preventing plea in the final scene, her appearance in the film is uncredited. It is possible that Columbia studio chiefHarry Cohn resented Ann Doran's following Capra, and dropped her from his contract roster.

Now away from Columbia, Ann Doran began freelancing and worked steadily for other companies. Her first freelance job after Columbia was for the low-budgetProducers Releasing Corporation, where she had the ingenue lead inCriminals Within (1941). Never a glamour-girl ingenue, Doran always projected a sensible, down-to-earth quality that suited her plain-Jane looks, and she was always content to play supporting roles. "I'm happy in the leak light," she told theLos Angeles Times in 1981. With the spotlight on the star, "whatever leaked over the side, that's what I got."^[5] She continued to play character roles, large and small (including one as a Nazi agent in the 1942Michael Shayne mysteryBlue, White and Perfect).

When Columbia needed a comic actress to fill out a girls' baseball team in the Andy Clyde shortLovable Trouble (1941), Ann Doran got the call. This renewed her affiliation with the Columbia shorts department, where she was always welcome. She continued to work at Columbia off and on for the next several years, but never again under contract and always on a freelance basis.

Columbia filmed two boy-and-his-dog stories with juvenile starTed Donaldson in 1945–46. When the Donaldson films became a full-fledged series (featuring the dog Rusty) in 1947, Doran was cast as Donaldson's mother in the next six films. Her maternal roles led to her being cast as James Dean's mother inRebel Without a Cause (1955).

Doran played Charlotte McHenry, the housekeeper onShirley,^[6]: 962 Agnes Haskell, Eddie Haskell's mother and, in a separate appearance, Mrs. Bellamy, inLeave It to Beaver^[6] and Mrs. Kingston, the housekeeper, onLongstreet.^{[6]: 621–622}

Doran guest-starred on television programs including three appearances in the role of Bonnie Landis inPublic Defender, starring with fellow TexanReed Hadley. She appeared in the anthology seriesCrossroads in the 1956 episode "The White Carnation", along withElinor Donahue,James Best andJ. Carrol Naish. In 1952, she appeared in an episode ofThe Lone Ranger titled "Hidden Fortune".

Doran was cast in the children's Western seriesMy Friend Flicka, the story of a boy and his horse on a ranch in Wyoming. She also appeared in episodes ofRay Milland's sitcomMeet Mr. McNutley andKenneth Tobey's aviation adventure seriesWhirlybirds. Doran guest-starred onPerry Mason in "The Case of the Prodigal Parent" (1958), "The Case of the Lurid Letter" (1962) and "The Case of the Drowsy Mosquito" (1963) as well as inRawhide in the episode "Incident of the Challenge".

Doran was cast twice in 1959–1960 in episodes of the seriesColt .45, starringWayde Preston. In 1960, she was cast as Martha Brown, the mother of horse rider Velvet Brown (Lori Martin) in the family dramaNational Velvet.^[6]: 746 She made one appearance onMcHale's Navy as Mrs. Martha "Pumpkin" Binghamton, wife of Captain Binghamton (Joe Flynn). In 1963 Doran appeared as Minerva Lewis onThe Virginian in the episode "Run Away Home."^[7] Doran was cast twice as Mrs. Elliott andHugh Beaumont as Mr. Elliott, parents of Steve Elliott (Mike Minor), inPetticoat Junction.

Three years later, she appeared in the first episode ofThe Legend of Jesse James asZerelda James Samuel, the mother ofJesse andFrank James.^[6] She also appeared inM*A*S*H as Nurse Meg Cratty, who runs an orphanage in Korea. In the episode "The Kids", Cratty and her charges bunk with the M*A*S*H unit after having to evacuate when the orphanage was shelled.^[8]

Doran died at age 89 on September 19, 2000,^[9] at a senior-citizens complex inCarmichael, California. Following her death, her remains were cremated and scattered at sea.^[10]

Ann Doran was a tireless worker for the motion picture industry. In 1960 she became the recording secretary for theScreen Actors Guild,^[11] and in 1990 she received the guild'sRalph Morgan Award, named after one the organization's founders, for distinguished service. During her long career she saved most of her salaries, and she bequeathed $400,000 to theMotion Picture Country House, the industry's retirement home in Woodland Hills, California.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toAnn Doran.

• Ann Doran atIMDb
• Ann Doran atTurner Classic Movies
• All Time Rebel {1955–2005 | 50th Anniversary}(Archived April 21, 2006, at theWayback Machine 2009-10-25)
• Interview

• 1911 births
• 2000 deaths
• 20th-century American actresses
• Actresses from San Bernardino, California
• American child actresses
• American film actresses
• American silent film actresses
• American television actresses
• Columbia Pictures contract players

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