# Anne Shirley (actress)

Anne Shirley (born Dawn Evelyn Paris; April 17, 1918 – July 4, 1993) was an American actress.
Beginning her career as a child actress under the stage name Dawn O'Day, she adopted the stage name of Anne Shirley after playing the titular character in the film adaptation of Anne of Green Gables in 1934, after which she achieved a successful career in supporting roles. Among her films is Stella Dallas (1937), for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Shirley left the acting profession in 1944 at the age of 26 and remained in Los Angeles, where she died at the age of 75.

## Early life

Born in New York City as Dawn Evelyn Paris, Shirley began modeling as a baby and made her film debut with a featured role in Moonshine Valley (1922). She began acting at the age of five as the live-action Alice in Walt Disney's silent animated series Alice in Cartoonland. Shirley had a highly successful career in pre-Code films such as Liliom, Riders of the Purple Sage, So Big, Three on a Match and Rasputin and the Empress.

## Career

In 1934, Shirley starred as the character of Anne Shirley in Anne of Green Gables and took that character's name as her legal and stage name.
She starred in Steamboat Round the Bend, Make Way for a Lady and Stella Dallas, for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Her later roles came in films such as Vigil in the Night, Anne of Windy Poplars, The Devil and Daniel Webster and Murder, My Sweet, her final film.
Critic Bosley Crowther of The New York Times praised Shirley's performance in Saturday's Children (1940), writing that she played her role "with heroic integrity and strength of character."

## Personal life

Shirley married actor John Payne on August 22, 1937, in Montecito, California. They had a daughter, former actress Julie Payne, and divorced in 1943.
Her second husband was film producer and screenwriter Adrian Scott. When he was blacklisted and wanted to move the family to Europe, Shirley opted to remain in the U.S. The couple divorced in 1949.
Her third husband was Charles Lederer, nephew of Marion Davies. They had one son, Daniel Lederer.
Shirley had brief relationships with younger Western star Rory Calhoun and with French film star Jean-Pierre Aumont.
Shirley died from lung cancer in Los Angeles at the age of 75 on July 4, 1993, and was cremated. For her contributions to the motion-picture industry, she has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7020 Hollywood Blvd.

## Filmography

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1922 | The Hidden Woman | Girl | as Dawn O'Day Lost film |
| 1922 | Moonshine Valley | Nancy | as Dawn O'Day Lost film |
| 1923 | The Rustle of Silk | Girl | as Dawn O'Day Lost film |
| 1923 | The Spanish Dancer | Don Balthazar Carlos | as Dawn O'Day |
| 1924 | The Man Who Fights Alone | Dorothy | as Dawn O'Day Lost film |
| 1924 | The Fast Set | Little Margaret | as Dawn O'Day Lost film |
| 1925 | Riders of the Purple Sage | Fay Larkin | uncredited |
| 1925 | Alice's Egg Plant | Alice | Short subject as Dawn O'Day |
| 1927 | The Callahans and the Murphys | Mary Callahan | as Dawn O'Day Lost film |
| 1927 | Night Life | Daughter of War Profiteer | as Dawn O'Day |
| 1928 | Mother Knows Best | Sally, as a child | as Dawn O'Day Lost film |
| 1928 | 4 Devils | Marion, as a girl | as Dawn O'Day Lost film |
| 1928 | Sins of the Fathers | Mary, as a child | as Dawn O'Day |
| 1930 | City Girl | Marie Tustine | as Dawn O'Day |
| 1930 | Liliom | Louise | as Dawn O'Day |
| 1931 | Gun Smoke | Horton's Daughter | as Dawn O'Day |
| 1931 | Hello Napoleon | The Little Girl | short, as Dawn O'Day |
| 1931 | Howdy Mate | - | short, as Dawn O'Day |
| 1931 | Rich Man's Folly | Anne, as a child | as Dawn O'Day |
| 1932 | Emma | Isabelle as a Child | uncredited |
| 1932 | Young America | Mabel Saunders | as Dawn O'Day |
| 1932 | So Big! | Selina Peake, as a Child | uncredited |
| 1932 | The Purchase Price | Sarah Tipton, the Daughter | uncredited |
| 1932 | Three on a Match | Vivian Revere as a Child | as Dawn O'Day |
| 1932 | Rasputin and the Empress | Princess Anastasia | uncredited |
| 1933 | The Life of Jimmy Dolan | Mary Lou | uncredited |
| 1934 | This Side of Heaven | Flower Girl | scenes deleted, as Dawn O'Day |
| 1934 | School for Girls | Catherine Fogarty | |
| 1934 | Finishing School | Billie | as Dawn O'Day |
| 1934 | The Key | Flower Girl | as Dawn O'Day |
| 1934 | Bachelor Bait | Miriam Ann Johnson, Marriage License Applicant | uncredited |
| 1934 | Anne of Green Gables | Anne Shirley | |
| 1934 | Picture Palace | Dawn | short, as Dawn O'Day |
| 1934 | Private Lessons | Dawn | short, as Dawn O'Day |
| 1935 | Chasing Yesterday | Jeanne Alexandre | |
| 1935 | Steamboat Round the Bend | Fleety Belle | |
| 1936 | Chatterbox | Jenny Yates | |
| 1936 | M'Liss | M'liss Smith | |
| 1936 | Make Way for a Lady | June Drew | |
| 1937 | Too Many Wives | Betty Jackson | |
| 1937 | Meet the Missus | Louise Foster | |
| 1937 | Stella Dallas | Laurel "Lollie" Dallas | nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress |
| 1938 | Condemned Women | Millie Anson | |
| 1938 | Law of the Underworld | Annabelle Porter | |
| 1938 | Mother Carey's Chickens | Nancy Carey | |
| 1938 | Girls' School | Natalie Freeman | |
| 1938 | A Man to Remember | Jean Johnson | |
| 1939 | Boy Slaves | Annie | |
| 1939 | Sorority House | Alice Fisher | |
| 1939 | Career | Sylvia Bartholomew | |
| 1940 | Vigil in the Night | Lucy Lee | |
| 1940 | Saturday's Children | Bobby Halevy | |
| 1940 | Anne of Windy Poplars | Anne Shirley | |
| 1941 | West Point Widow | Nancy Hull | |
| 1941 | Unexpected Uncle | Kathleen Brown | |
| 1941 | The Devil and Daniel Webster | Mary Stone | |
| 1942 | Four Jacks and a Jill | Karanina 'Nina' Novak | |
| 1942 | The Mayor of 44th Street | Jessey Lee | |
| 1943 | Lady Bodyguard | A.C. Baker | |
| 1943 | The Powers Girl | Ellen Evans | |
| 1943 | Bombardier | Burton Hughes | |
| 1943 | Government Girl | May Harness Blake | |
| 1944 | Man from Frisco | Diana Kennedy | |
| 1944 | Music in Manhattan | Frankie Foster | |
| 1944 | Murder, My Sweet | Anne Grayle | final film role |

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Award | Category | Nominated work | Result |
| 1937 | 10th Academy Awards | Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress | Stella Dallas | Nominated |