Anne Nagel

American actress (1915–1966)

Anne Nagel

Nagel in The Mad Monster (1942)

Born|

Anna Marie Dolan

(1915-09-29)September 29, 1915

Malden, Massachusetts, U.S.

Died| July 6, 1966(1966-07-06) (aged 50)

Los Angeles, California, U.S.

Resting place| Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California
Other names| Ann Nagel
Occupation| Actress
Years active| 1932–1957
Spouses|

Ross Alexander

(m. 1936; died 1937)​

Lt. Col. James H. Keenan

(m. 1941; div. 1951)​

Anne Nagel (born Anna Marie Dolan; September 29, 1915 – July 6, 1966)[1] was an American actress. She played in adventures, mysteries, and comedies for 25 years. She also appeared in television series in the 1950s. One book described her as "one of Hollywood's true hard-luck gals".[2]

## Early life

[edit]

Born in Malden, Massachusetts,[note 1][3] Nagel was enrolled by her parents in Notre Dame Academy, with the expectation that she would become a nun.[2] Membership in the Shubert Theatre company turned her away from religious life.[2] In the meantime, Nagel's mother had divorced and re-married. When Nagel's new stepfather, Curtis Nagel, a Technicolor expert, was hired by Tiffany Pictures in Hollywood, he moved the family to California, where he employed his step-daughter in several experimental Technicolor shorts he had been asked to direct.[citation needed]

## Career

[edit]

In 1932 Nagel secured a bit part as a ballet girl in the Mack Sennett comedy feature Hypnotized, her "first documented feature credit".[2] She was one of 14 young women "launched on the trail of film stardom" August 6, 1935, when they each received a six-month contract with 20th Century Fox after spending 18 months in the company's training school. The contracts included a studio option for renewal for as long as seven years.[4] Nagel spent the next few years making uncredited appearances as a dancer or chorus girl.

In 1936, she signed with Warner Bros. and followed the usual path for young actresses under studio contract: incidental roles in major features, featured roles in minor features, and ingenue roles in westerns. She appeared in Here Comes Carter with Warner leading man Ross Alexander; they were married that year. A reviewer wrote "she was just one of those girls who has learned to croon for the microphone, and let the rest of the world go hang".

Warner did not pick up her option after one year, and she began freelancing. Most of her appearances in 1937 and 1938 were for Monogram Pictures, where she usually played leads.

Betty Ross Clarke and Anne Nagel in A Bride for Henry (1937)

Anne Nagel was signed by Universal Pictures in 1939, and worked there steadily for four years. Her most famous Universal credits are probably the W.C. Fields comedy Never Give a Sucker an Even Break (1941, as Gloria Jean's movie-stuntwoman mother) and the serials The Green Hornet (1940) and The Green Hornet Strikes Again! (1941), reprising her radio role of Lenore Case. She also was featured in Black Friday (1940), The Invisible Woman (1940), and Man Made Monster (1941), among many other films.

From 1942 she worked mostly for the lower-budget independent companies: PRC, Monogram, Republic. She had two assignments with Columbia, the 1943 serial The Secret Code and the 1947 comedy feature Blondie's Holiday. By the late 1940s her roles were smaller and she often worked without screen credit. Nagel later worked on television in episodes of The Range Rider (1951) and Circus Boy (1957).

## Radio

[edit]

Vintage-radio buffs best know Anne Nagel as Britt Reid's confidante Lenore Case in The Green Hornet.[5] In 1943, she was the vocalist on the audience-participation musical quiz program Scramby Amby.[6]

## Personal life and death

[edit]

On September 17, 1936, Nagel married actor Ross Alexander,[7] who committed suicide in 1937 [note 2][2] when beset with heavy financial burdens he could not resolve.

Four years later, Nagel married Air Force Lt. Col. James H. Keenan on December 4, 1941.[8] The marriage ended in divorce on May 22, 1951.[9]

In December 1947, Nagel filed a lawsuit in Superior Court against Hollywood physician and surgeon Franklyn Thorpe (former husband of actress Mary Astor). In the suit, Nagel demanded $350,000 in damages and alleged that, while performing an appendectomy on her in 1936, Thorpe had removed other organs without her knowledge or consent, rendering her infertile. [10] [2]: 21 Nagel claimed she was unaware of her infertility until January 1947, but Thorpe countered that she was "well aware of the nature of the surgery".[2]: 21

Nagel died at Sunray North Convalescent Hospital in Hollywood, California in 1966, aged 50, following surgery for liver cancer. She is buried, with no marker, in Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.[2]: 22-23

## Filmography

[edit]

Film

Year  | Title  | Role  | Notes
1932  | Hypnotized | Ballerina / Performer  | Uncredited
1933  | I Loved You Wednesday | Ruby - the Hat Check Girl  | Uncredited
1933  | College Humor | Student  | Uncredited
1933  | Sitting Pretty | Girl at Window  | Uncredited
1934  | Coming Out Party | Suzanne  | Uncredited
1934  | Stand Up and Cheer! | Dancer  | Uncredited
1935  | George White's 1935 Scandals | Chorine  | Uncredited
1935  | Redheads on Parade | Queen of Redheads  | Uncredited
1935  | Music Is Magic | Chorine  | Uncredited
1935  | Everybody's Old Man | Clerk  | Uncredited
1936  | Bullets or Ballots | Bank secretary  | Uncredited
1936  | Hot Money | Ruth McElniney  |
1936  | China Clipper | Secretary  |
1936  | Love Begins at 20 | Miss Perkins - Ramp's Secretary  |
1936  | Guns of the Pecos | Alice Burton  |
1936  | Down the Stretch | Hat Check Girl  | Uncredited
1936  | Here Comes Carter | Linda Warren  |
1936  | Polo Joe | Girl at Polo Field  | Uncredited
1936  | King of Hockey | Kathleen O'Rourke  |
1937  | The Case of the Stuttering Bishop | Janice Alma Brownley  |
1937  | Hoosier Schoolboy | Mary Evans  | Top billing with Mickey Rooney
1937  | Three Legionnaires | Sonia  |
1937  | The Devil's Saddle Legion | Karan Ordley  |
1937  | The Footloose Heiress | Linda Pierson  |
1937  | Escape by Night | Linda Adams  |
1937  |  A Bride for Henry | Sheila Curtis  | Starring opposite Warren Hull
1937  | The Adventurous Blonde | Grace Brown  |
1937  | She Loved a Fireman | Girl at Dance  | Uncredited
1938  | Saleslady | Mary Dakin Spencer  |
1938  | Mystery House | Gwen Kingery  |
1938  | Under the Big Top | Penelope (AKA Penny)  |
1938  | Gang Bullets | Patricia Wayne  |
1939  | Convict's Code | Julie Warren  |
1939  | Should a Girl Marry? | Margaret  |
1939  | Unexpected Father | Beulah - showgirl  |
1939  | The Witness Vanishes | Laura the Secretary  | Uncredited
1939  | Call a Messenger | Frances O'Neill  |
1939  | Legion of Lost Flyers | Paula Wilson  |
1940  | The Green Hornet | Lenore "Casey" Case  | 13-chapter Serial
1940  | My Little Chickadee | Miss Ermingarde Foster - Schoolteacher  | Uncredited
1940  | Black Friday | Sunny Rogers  |
1940  | Ma! He's Making Eyes at Me | Miss Lansdale  |
1940  | Hot Steel | Rita Martin  |
1940  | Winners of the West | Claire Hartford  | Serial
1940  | Down Argentine Way | Linda  |
1940  | Diamond Frontier | Jeanne Kruger  |
1940  | Irene | Irene O’Dare  |
1940  | The Green Hornet Strikes Again! | Lenore Case  | Serial
1940  | The Invisible Woman | Jean  |
1941  | Meet the Chump | Miss Burke  |
1941  | Man Made Monster | June Lawrence  |
1941  | Mutiny in the Arctic | Gloria Adams  |
1941  | Never Give a Sucker an Even Break | Madame Gorgeous  |
1941  | Appointment for Love | Jennifer  | Uncredited
1941  | Road Agent | Lola  |
1942  | Sealed Lips | Mary Morton  |
1942  | Don Winslow of the Navy | Misty Gaye  | Serial
1942  | Stagecoach Buckaroo | Nina Kincaid  |
1942  | The Mad Doctor of Market Street | Mrs. William Saunders  |
1942  | The Dawn Express | Nancy Fielding  |
1942  | The Mad Monster | Lenora Cameron  |
1942  | The Secret Code | Jean Ashley  | Serial
1943  | Women in Bondage | Deputy District Director  | Alternative title: Hitler's Women
1946  | Murder in the Music Hall | Attendant at Mission  |
1946  | Traffic in Crime | Ann Marlowe  |
1946  | The Trap | Marcia  |
1947  | Blondie's Holiday | Bea Mason (Class of '32)  | Credited as Ann Nagel
1947  | The Hucksters | Teletype Operator  | Uncredited
1947  | The Spirit of West Point | Mrs. Blaik  |
1948  | Homecoming | Guest  | Uncredited
1948  | One Touch of Venus | Reporter  | Uncredited
1948  | An Innocent Affair | Gladys - Receptionist  |
1948  | Bungalow 13 | Henrietta  | Uncredited
1948  | Family Honeymoon | Irene Bartlett  | Uncredited
1948  | Every Girl Should Be Married | Woman  | Uncredited
1949  | The Stratton Story | Mrs. Piet  | Uncredited
1949  | Mighty Joe Young | Brunette at Bar  | Uncredited
1949  | Prejudice | Miss Bennett  |
1950  | Armored Car Robbery | Mrs. Marsha Phillips  | Uncredited
Television
Year  | Title  | Role  | Notes
1951  | The Range Rider | Aunt Ginny  | 2 episodes
1957  | Circus Boy | Louisa Cody | 1 episode, (final appearance)

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ An Associated Press story about Nagel's filing papers to marry Keenan states "The actress...listed her maiden name as Anna Marie Donan, born in Malden, a Boston suburb..."
2. ^ Alexander "... went into his Van Nuys barn and reportedly fired a rifle into his mouth as his bride of four months sat quietly knitting in the house".

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Ellenberger, Allan R. (2001). Celebrities in Los Angeles Cemeteries: A Directory. McFarland. p. 170\. ISBN 9780786409839. Retrieved June 15, 2017.
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Mank, Gregory William (2005). Women in Horror Films, 1940s. McFarland. pp. 7–24. ISBN 9781476609553. Retrieved June 15, 2017.
3. ^ "Film Notables in Weddings". The Indiana Gazette. Pennsylvania, Indiana. Associated Press. December 5, 1941. p. 11.
4. ^ "The Hollywood Roundup". The Times. Indiana, Hammond. United Press. August 6, 1935. p. 35. Retrieved May 20, 2016 - via Newspapers.com.
5. ^ Cox, Jim (2010). Radio Crime Fighters: More Than 300 Programs from the Golden Age. McFarland. p. 123\. ISBN 9781476612270. Retrieved June 16, 2017.
6. ^ Radio Life, May 16, 1943, p. 4.
7. ^ "Alexander Ended Life As Film Fame Neared". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. New York, Brooklyn. Associated Press. January 4, 1937. p. 3. Retrieved June 15, 2017 - via Newspapers.com.
8. ^ "Actress Anne Nagel, Army Flyer Married". Eau Claire Leader. Wisconsin, Eau Claire. United Press. December 5, 1941. p. 1. Retrieved June 15, 2017 - via Newspapers.com.
9. ^ "Divorces". Billboard. June 2, 1951. p. 39. Retrieved June 16, 2017.
10. ^ "Actress Starts $350,000 Suit".The Milwaukee Sentinel, December 22, 1947. Page 2

* Appleton, Wisconsin Post Crescent, "Anne Nagel's Death Revives Old Mystery", Monday, August 29, 1966, Page A11.
* Los Angeles Times, "Final Rites Set for Actress Anne Nagel", Page B10.
* The New York Times, "Anne Nagel Dies; Movie Actress, 50", July 8, 1966, Page 26.
* Reno, Nevada State Journal, "Movie Actor Kills Self", January 3, 1937, Page 1.
* Photos Ann Nagel, "https://www.picsofcelebrities.com/celebrity/anne-nagel/pictures/images-of-anne-nagel.html"

## External links

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Anne Nagel.

* Biography portal

* Anne Nagel at IMDb
* Anne Nagel at Find a Grave
* July 21, 1966 Tuscaloosa News Article on Anne Nagel's Death

Authority control databases

International|

* ISNI
* VIAF
* FAST
* WorldCat

National|

* United States
* France
* BnF data
* Catalonia

Other|

* IdRef
* SNAC

*[m.]: married
*[div.]: divorced