# Anne Revere

Anne Revere (June 25, 1903 – December 18, 1990) was an American actress and a liberal member of the board of the Screen Actors' Guild. She was best known for her work on Broadway and her portrayals of mothers in a series of critically acclaimed films. An outspoken critic of the House Un-American Activities Committee, her name appeared in Red Channels: The Report on Communist Influence in Radio and Television in 1950 and she was subsequently blacklisted.
Revere won an Academy Award for her supporting role in the film National Velvet (1945). She was also nominated in the same category for The Song of Bernadette (1943) and Gentleman's Agreement (1947). She won a Tony Award for her performance in Lillian Hellman's play Toys in the Attic in 1960.

## Early life

Born in New York City, Revere was a direct descendant of American Revolution hero Paul Revere. Her father, Clinton, was a stockbroker, and she was raised on the Upper West Side and in Westfield, New Jersey, where she graduated from Westfield High School. In 1926, she graduated from Wellesley 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. She went on to enroll at the American Laboratory School to study acting with Maria Ouspenskaya and Richard Boleslavsky.

## Career

Revere gained early acting experience in regional and stock theater troupes. She made her Broadway debut in 1931 in The Great Barrington. Three years later, she went to Hollywood to reprise her stage role in the film adaptation of Double Door. She returned to Broadway to create the role of Martha Dobie in the original 1934 production of The Children's Hour, and in later years, she appeared on the New York stage in As You Like It, The Three Sisters, and Toys in the Attic, for which she won the 1960 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play.
Revere worked steadily as a character actress in films, appearing in nearly three dozen between 1934 and 1951. She was frequently cast in the role of a matriarch and played mother to Elizabeth Taylor, Jennifer Jones, Gregory Peck, John Garfield, and Montgomery Clift. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress three times and won for her performance in National Velvet. Additional screen credits included The Song of Bernadette, Gentleman's Agreement, The Keys of the Kingdom, Body and Soul, and A Place in the Sun.
In 1951, Revere resigned from the board of the Screen Actors Guild. At the time, she was an active member of the American Communist Party. She later pleaded the Fifth Amendment and refused to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee. A Place in the Sun was her last film role for two decades. She returned to the screen in Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon.
In 1962, television director Joseph Hardy fought for Revere to appear in the popular soap opera A Time for Us. ABC finally agreed to cast Revere in the role and after that Revere appeared frequently in television soap operas like A Flame in the Wind, The Edge of Night, Search for Tomorrow, and Ryan's Hope.
Revere and her husband, theatre director Samuel Rosen, moved to New York and opened an acting school, and she continued to work in summer stock and regional theater productions and on television.

## Personal life

Revere married Rosen on April 11, 1935, and they remained wed until his death in 1984. Revere supported Progressive Party candidate Henry A. Wallace's campaign in 1948 and Adlai Stevenson in 1952.

## Illness and death

Revere died of pneumonia in her home at Locust Valley, New York, on December 18, 1990, at the age of 87. She was survived by one sister. She was buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

## Filmography

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1934 | Double Door | Caroline Van Brett | |
| 1940 | One Crowded Night | Mae Andrews | |
| 1940 | The Howards of Virginia | Mrs. Betsy Norton | |
| 1941 | The Devil Commands | Mrs. Blanche Walters | |
| 1941 | Men of Boys Town | Mrs. Fenely | |
| 1941 | The Flame of New Orleans | Giraud's Sister | |
| 1941 | H.M. Pulham, Esq. | Miss Redfern, John's Secretary | Uncredited |
| 1941 | Remember the Day | Miss Nadine Price | |
| 1941 | Design for Scandal | Nettie, Porter's Maid | Uncredited |
| 1942 | Meet the Stewarts | Geraldine Stewart | |
| 1942 | The Falcon Takes Over | Jessie Florian | Uncredited |
| 1942 | Are Husbands Necessary? | Anna | |
| 1942 | The Gay Sisters | Miss Ida Orner | |
| 1942 | Star Spangled Rhythm | Sarah | Uncredited |
| 1943 | The Meanest Man in the World | Kitty Crockett, Clark's Secretary | |
| 1943 | Shantytown | Mrs. Gorty | |
| 1943 | Old Acquaintance | Belle Carter | |
| 1943 | The Song of Bernadette | Louise Soubirous | Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress |
| 1944 | Standing Room Only | Major Harriet Cromwell | |
| 1944 | Rainbow Island | Queen Okalana | |
| 1944 | The Thin Man Goes Home | Crazy Mary | |
| 1944 | Sunday Dinner for a Soldier | Agatha Butterfield | |
| 1944 | National Velvet | Mrs. Brown | Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress |
| 1944 | The Keys of the Kingdom | Agnes Fiske | |
| 1945 | Don Juan Quilligan | Mrs. Cora Rostigaff | |
| 1945 | Fallen Angel | Clara Mills | |
| 1946 | Dragonwyck | Abigail Wells | |
| 1947 | The Shocking Miss Pilgrim | Alice Pritchard | |
| 1947 | Carnival in Costa Rica | Mama Elsa Molina | |
| 1947 | Forever Amber | Mother Red Cap | |
| 1947 | Body and Soul | Anna Davis | |
| 1947 | Gentleman's Agreement | Mrs. Green | Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress |
| 1947 | Secret Beyond the Door | Caroline Lamphere | |
| 1948 | Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay! | Judith Dominy | |
| 1948 | Deep Waters | Mary McKay | |
| 1949 | You're My Everything | Aunt Jane | |
| 1951 | The Great Missouri Raid | Mrs. Samuels | |
| 1951 | A Place in the Sun | Hannah Eastman | |
| 1970 | Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon | Miss Farber | |
| 1970 | Macho Callahan | Crystal | |
| 1976 | Birch Interval | Mrs. Tanner | |