Anne Revere | |
|---|---|
 Revere in the 1940s | |
| Born | (1903-06-25)June 25, 1903 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | December 18, 1990(1990-12-18) (aged 87) Locust Valley, New York, U.S. |
| Resting place | Mount Auburn Cemetery |
| Education | Wellesley College American Laboratory Theatre |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1931–1977 |
| Spouse | |
Anne Revere (June 25, 1903 – December 18, 1990) was an American actress and a member of the board of theScreen Actors' Guild. She was best known for her work onBroadway and her portrayals of mothers in a series of critically acclaimed films. An outspoken critic of theHouse Un-American Activities Committee, her name appeared inRed Channels: The Report on Communist Influence in Radio and Television in 1950 and she was subsequentlyblacklisted.
Revere won anAcademy Award for her supporting role in the filmNational Velvet (1945). She was also nominated in the same category forThe Song of Bernadette (1943) andGentleman's Agreement (1947). She won aTony Award for her performance inLillian Hellman's playToys in the Attic in 1960.
Born in New York City, Revere was a direct descendant ofAmerican Revolution heroPaul Revere.[1] Her father, Clinton, was a stockbroker,[2] and she was raised on theUpper West Side and inWestfield, New Jersey, where she graduated fromWestfield High School.[3] In 1926, she graduated fromWellesley College. Despite her unsuccessful attempts to join dramatic groups in high school and (initially) in college, she eventually was successful at Wellesley and studied dramatics there.[4] She went on to enroll at theAmerican Laboratory School to study acting withMaria Ouspenskaya andRichard Boleslavsky.[2]
Revere gained early acting experience in regional andstock theater troupes.[5] She made her Broadway debut in 1931 inThe Great Barrington. Three years later, she went to Hollywood to reprise her stage role in the film adaptation ofDouble Door. She returned to Broadway to create the role of Martha Dobie in the original 1934 production ofThe Children's Hour, and in later years, she appeared on the New York stage inAs You Like It,The Three Sisters, andToys in the Attic,[6] for which she won the 1960Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play.[7]
Revere worked steadily as a character actress in films, appearing in nearly three dozen between 1934 and 1951.[2] She was frequently cast in the role of a matriarch and played mother toElizabeth Taylor,Jennifer Jones,Gregory Peck,John Garfield, andMontgomery Clift. She was nominated for theAcademy Award for Best Supporting Actress three times and won for her performance inNational Velvet.[8] Additional screen credits includedThe Song of Bernadette,Gentleman's Agreement,The Keys of the Kingdom,Body and Soul, andA Place in the Sun.
In 1951, Revere resigned from the board of theScreen Actors Guild. At the time, she was an active member of theAmerican Communist Party. She later pleaded theFifth Amendment and refused to testify before theHouse Un-American Activities Committee.[9]A Place in the Sun was her last film role for two decades.[2] She returned to the screen inTell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon.
In 1962, television director Joseph Hardy fought for Revere to appear in the popular soap operaA Time for Us. ABC finally agreed to cast Revere in the role and after that Revere appeared frequently in television soap operas likeA Flame in the Wind,The Edge of Night,Search for Tomorrow, andRyan's Hope.[10]
Revere and her husband,theatre director Samuel Rosen, moved to New York and opened an acting school, and she continued to work insummer stock andregional theater productions and on television.[citation needed]
Revere married Rosen on April 11, 1935, and they remained wed until his death in 1984.[5] Revere supportedProgressive Party candidateHenry A. Wallace's campaign in1948 andAdlai Stevenson in1952.[11][12]
Revere died of pneumonia in her home atLocust Valley, New York, on December 18, 1990, at the age of 87.[13][2] She was buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.[14]
