# Ann Doran

Ann Lee Doran (July 28, 1911 – September 19, 2000) was an American character actress, possibly best known as Carol Stark, the mother of James "Jim" Stark (James Dean) in Rebel Without a Cause (1955). She was an early member of the Screen Actors Guild and served on the board of the Motion Picture & Television Fund for 30 years.

## Early years

The daughter of Rose Allen (born Carrie A. Barnett) and John R. Doran, her mother was a silent-film actress. Ann Doran was born in Amarillo, Texas, and attended high school in San Bernardino, California.

## Film career

Doran began acting at the age of four. According to a 1979 newspaper article, the actress made her debut at 11 years old. Rarely in a featured role, Doran appeared in more than 500 motion pictures and 1,000 episodes of television series, such as the American Civil War drama Gray Ghost.
Doran worked as a stand-in, then bit player, then incidental supporting player. By 1938, she was under contract to Columbia Pictures, where the company policy was to use the members of its stock company as often as possible. Thus, Doran appears in Columbia's serials (such as The Spider's Web and Flying G-Men), short subjects (including those of The Three Stooges, Charley Chase, Andy Clyde, Harry Langdon and Vera Vague), B features (including the Blondie, Five Little Peppers and Ellery Queen series), and major feature films. She became a favorite of Columbia director Frank Capra and appeared in many of his productions. Most of these appearances were supporting roles. In Meet John Doe (1941), she plays the wife of sodajerk-turned-John Doe Club activist Bert Hansen. Though her character speaks some of the film's most pivotal lines of dialog, including an impassioned suicide-preventing plea in the final scene, her appearance in the film is uncredited. Some of Doran's lead roles include Columbia's Charley Chase comedies from 1938 to 1940 and Rio Grande (1938) directed by Sam Nelson and featuring Charles Starrett.
Columbia filmed two boy-and-his-dog stories with juvenile star Ted 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 steady, sensible maternal roles led to her being cast as James Dean's mother in Rebel Without a Cause (1955).

## Television

Doran played Charlotte McHenry, the housekeeper on Shirley,$^{:962}$ Agnes Haskell, Eddie Haskell's mother and in a separate appearance Mrs. Bellamy, in Leave It to Beaver and Mrs. Kingston, the housekeeper, on Longstreet.$^{:621–622}$
Doran guest-starred on many television programs, including three appearances in the role of Bonnie Landis in Public Defender, starring with fellow Texan Reed Hadley. She appeared in the anthology series Crossroads in the 1956 episode "The White Carnation", along with Elinor Donahue, James Best and J. Carrol Naish. In 1952, she appeared in an episode of The Lone Ranger titled "Hidden Fortune".
Doran was cast in the children's Western series My Friend Flicka, the story of a boy and his horse on a ranch in Wyoming. She also appeared in episodes of Ray Milland's sitcom Meet Mr. McNutley and Kenneth Tobey's aviation adventure series Whirlybirds. Doran guest-starred on Perry 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 in Rawhide in the episode "Incident of the Challenge".
Doran was cast twice in 1959–1960 in episodes of the series Colt .45, starring Wayde Preston. In 1960, she was cast as Martha Brown, the mother of horse rider Velvet Brown (Lori Martin) in the family drama National Velvet.$^{:746}$ She made one appearance on McHale's Navy as Mrs. Martha "Pumpkin" Binghamton, wife of Captain Binghamton (Joe Flynn). In 1963 Doran appeared as Minerva Lewis on The Virginian in the episode "Run Away Home." Ann Doran was cast twice as Mrs. Elliott and Hugh Beaumont as Mr. Elliott, parents of Steve Elliott (Mike Minor), in Petticoat Junction.
Three years later, she appeared in the first episode of The Legend of Jesse James as Zerelda James Samuel, the mother of Jesse and Frank James. She also appeared on the program M*A*S*H as Nurse Meg Cratty, who runs an orphanage in Korea. In the episode "The Kids", Cratty and her charges bunked with the M*A*S*H unit after having to evacuate when the orphanage was shelled.

## Death

Doran died at age 89 on September 19, 2000, in Carmichael, California. Following her death, her remains were cremated and scattered at sea. She bequeathed $400,000 to the Motion Picture Country House, the retirement home for the movie industry.

## Filmography
### Films

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1922 | Robin Hood | Page to Richard | Uncredited |
| 1934 | One Exciting Adventure | Girl | |
| 1934 | Servants' Entrance | Marie, the Maid | Uncredited |
| 1935 | Night Life of the Gods | Girl in Pool | Uncredited |
| 1935 | Way Down East | Rosie – Hired Girl | |
| 1935 | Case of the Missing Man | Dental Nurse | Uncredited |
| 1935 | Bad Boy | Telegraph Clerk | Uncredited |
| 1935 | Mary Burns, Fugitive | Newspaper girl | |
| 1936 | Dangerous Intrigue | Floor Nurse | Uncredited |
| 1936 | Ring Around the Moon | Kay Duncan | |
| 1936 | Lady of Secrets | Reporter | Uncredited |
| 1936 | The Little Red Schoolhouse | Mary Burke | |
| 1936 | Mr. Deeds Goes to Town | Girl on Bus | Uncredited |
| 1936 | Let's Sing Again | Alice Alba | |
| 1936 | Palm Springs | Schoolgirl | Uncredited |
| 1936 | Missing Girls | Ann Jason | |
| 1936 | Red Lights Ahead | Mary Wallace | |
| 1937 | The Devil's Playground | Bit Part | Uncredited |
| 1937 | When You're in Love | Secretary | Uncredited |
| 1937 | The Go Getter | Maizie – the Maid | Uncredited |
| 1937 | Girls Can Play | Alice, Secretary | |
| 1937 | Marry the Girl | Marge, a Secretary | |
| 1937 | It's All Yours | Stewardess | Uncredited |
| 1937 | Stella Dallas | Minor Role | Uncredited |
| 1937 | I'll Take Romance | Opera Cast | Uncredited |
| 1937 | Nothing Sacred | Telephone Girl | Uncredited |
| 1937 | She Married an Artist | Model | Uncredited |
| 1937 | Paid to Dance | Rose Trevor | Alternative title: Hard to Hold |
| 1937 | The Shadow | Shaw Sister | |
| 1938 | Little Miss Roughneck | Girl | Uncredited |
| 1938 | Penitentiary | Blanche Williams | |
| 1938 | Women in Prison | Maggie | |
| 1938 | Start Cheering | Green's Secretary | Uncredited |
| 1938 | Extortion | Margie Blake | |
| 1938 | Holiday | Kitchen Maid | Uncredited |
| 1938 | The Main Event | Telegraph Clerk | Uncredited |
| 1938 | Highway Patrol | Estelle | |
| 1938 | City Streets | Nurse | Uncredited |
| 1938 | You Can't Take It with You | Maggie O'Neill | |
| 1938 | The Spider's Web | Mason's Secretary | Serial |
| 1938 | The Lady Objects | Miss Hollins | |
| 1938 | Blondie | Elsie Hazlip | |
| 1938 | Rio Grande | Jean Andrews | Lead role |
| 1938 | Smashing the Spy Ring | Madelon Martin | |
| 1939 | Homicide Bureau | Nurse | Uncredited |
| 1939 | Flying G-Men | Hamilton's Secretary | Serial |
| 1939 | My Son Is a Criminal | Taxicab Company Secretary | Uncredited |
| 1939 | Let Us Live | Secretary Juror | Uncredited |
| 1939 | Romance of the Redwoods | | Uncredited |
| 1939 | Blind Alley | Agnes | |
| 1939 | Good Girls Go to Paris | Bridesmaid | Uncredited |
| 1939 | Coast Guard | Nurse | Uncredited |
| 1939 | The Man They Could Not Hang | Betty Crawford | |
| 1939 | A Woman Is the Judge | Luella | Uncredited |
| 1939 | Mr. Smith Goes to Washington | Paine's Secretary | Uncredited |
| 1939 | Three Sappy People | Countess | Short, Uncredited |
| 1940 | The Green Hornet | Josephine Weaver Allen | Serial, [Ch. 3], Uncredited |
| 1940 | His Girl Friday | Newspaper Office Worker | Uncredited |
| 1940 | Five Little Peppers at Home | Nurse | Uncredited |
| 1940 | Forgotten Girls | Inmate | Uncredited |
| 1940 | Untamed | 1st Nurse | Uncredited |
| 1940 | Manhattan Heartbeat | Shop Girl's Friend | |
| 1940 | Girls of the Road | Jerry | |
| 1940 | Glamour for Sale | Myrtle | Uncredited |
| 1940 | Her First Romance | Student | |
| 1941 | Murder Among Friends | Dr. Turk's Nurse | Uncredited |
| 1941 | Meet John Doe | Bert Hansen's wife | Uncredited |
| 1941 | Ellery Queen's Penthouse Mystery | Sheila Cobb | |
| 1941 | Penny Serenade | Dotty "Dot" | |
| 1941 | Criminals Within | Linda | |
| 1941 | Dive Bomber | Helen – Joe's Date | Uncredited |
| 1941 | Sun Valley Serenade | Waitress | Uncredited |
| 1941 | Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day | Nurse at Party | Uncredited |
| 1941 | The Kid from Kansas | Julie 'Smitty' Smith | |
| 1941 | Sing Another Chorus | Bronx Dame | Uncredited |
| 1941 | Buy Me That Town | Woman | Uncredited |
| 1941 | New York Town | Demonstrator in Department Store | Uncredited |
| 1942 | Blue, White and Perfect | Miss Hoffman | |
| 1942 | Mr. Wise Guy | Dorothy Melton | |
| 1942 | Yankee Doodle Dandy | Receptionist | Uncredited |
| 1942 | They All Kissed the Bride | Helene – the Drew's Maid | Uncredited |
| 1942 | Beyond the Blue Horizon | Margaret Chase | Uncredited |
| 1942 | My Sister Eileen | Receptionist | Uncredited |
| 1942 | Street of Chance | Miss Peabody | |
| 1942 | Smith of Minnesota | | Uncredited |
| 1943 | The Hard Way | Dorshka | Uncredited |
| 1943 | Air Force | Mrs. Mary Quincannon | Uncredited |
| 1943 | Slightly Dangerous | Salesgirl | Uncredited |
| 1943 | The More the Merrier | Miss Bilby | Uncredited |
| 1943 | So Proudly We Hail! | Lt. Betty Peterson | |
| 1943 | Gildersleeve on Broadway | Matilda Brown | |
| 1943 | Old Acquaintance | Music Store Saleslady | Uncredited |
| 1943 | True to Life | Radio Kitty | Uncredited |
| 1944 | The Story of Dr. Wassell | Praying Woman | Uncredited |
| 1944 | Mr. Skeffington | Maria, a nursemaid | Uncredited |
| 1944 | Henry Aldrich's Little Secret | Helen Martin | |
| 1944 | I Love a Soldier | Jenny Butler | |
| 1944 | Here Come the Waves | Ruth | |
| 1945 | Roughly Speaking | Alice Abbott | |
| 1945 | Pride of the Marines | Ella Mae Merchant | Alternative title: Forever in Love |
| 1946 | The Strange Love of Martha Ivers | Bobbi St. John | |
| 1946 | Our Hearts Were Growing Up | Monica Lonsdale | Uncredited |
| 1947 | The Perfect Marriage | Secretary Ellen | Uncredited |
| 1947 | My Favorite Brunette | Miss Rogers | |
| 1947 | Seven Were Saved | Mrs. Rollin Hartley | |
| 1947 | Fear in the Night | Lil Herlihy | |
| 1947 | For the Love of Rusty | Ethel Mitchell | |
| 1947 | The Crimson Key | Paris Wood | |
| 1947 | Second Chance | Doris Greene | |
| 1947 | The Son of Rusty | Ethel Mitchell | |
| 1947 | Variety Girl | Hairdresser | Uncredited |
| 1947 | Magic Town | Mrs. Weaver | |
| 1947 | Road to the Big House | Agnes Clark | |
| 1948 | Reaching from Heaven | Martha Kestner | |
| 1948 | The Return of the Whistler | Sybil Barkley | Uncredited |
| 1948 | My Dog Rusty | Ethel Mitchell | |
| 1948 | Hazard | Nurse | |
| 1948 | The Babe Ruth Story | Reporter | Uncredited |
| 1948 | The Walls of Jericho | Gossip | Uncredited |
| 1948 | Pitfall | Maggie | |
| 1948 | Rusty Leads the Way | Ethel Mitchell | |
| 1948 | Sealed Verdict | Ellie Blaine, Red Cross date | |
| 1948 | The Snake Pit | Valerie | |
| 1948 | No Minor Vices | Mrs. Faraday | Uncredited |
| 1948 | He Walked by Night | Dispatcher | Uncredited |
| 1949 | The Accused | Miss Rice – Nurse | |
| 1949 | Rusty Saves a Life | Ethel Mitchell | |
| 1949 | The Clay Pigeon | Miss Collins – Naval Nurse | Uncredited |
| 1949 | Big Jack | Sarah Oakes | Uncredited |
| 1949 | The Fountainhead | Wynand's Secretary | Uncredited |
| 1949 | One Last Fling | Vera Thompson | |
| 1949 | Air Hostess | Virginia Barton | |
| 1949 | Calamity Jane and Sam Bass | Mrs. Lucy Egan | |
| 1949 | The Kid from Cleveland | Emily Barrows Novak | |
| 1949 | Holiday in Havana | Marge Henley | |
| 1949 | Beyond the Forest | Edith Williams | Uncredited |
| 1949 | Rusty's Birthday | Ethel Mitchell | |
| 1950 | Riding High | Nurse | Uncredited |
| 1950 | No Sad Songs for Me | Louise Spears | |
| 1950 | Never a Dull Moment | Jean Morrow | |
| 1950 | Lonely Heart Bandits | Nancy Crane | |
| 1950 | The Jackpot | Miss Alice Bowen | Uncredited |
| 1951 | Gambling House | Della | |
| 1951 | Tomahawk | Mrs. Carrington | |
| 1951 | The Painted Hills | Martha Blake | |
| 1951 | Her First Romance | Mrs. Foster | |
| 1951 | The People Against O'Hara | Betty Clark, Policewoman | |
| 1951 | Starlift | Mrs. Callan – Nurse | Uncredited |
| 1952 | Here Come the Nelsons | Clara Randolph | |
| 1952 | Love Is Better Than Ever | Mrs. Levoy | |
| 1952 | Rodeo | Mrs. Martha Durston | Uncredited |
| 1952 | Paula | Mrs. Smith, welfare worker | Uncredited |
| 1952 | The Rose Bowl Story | Mrs. Addie Burke | |
| 1953 | So This Is Love | Mrs. James Moore | |
| 1953 | Island in the Sky | Moon's wife | Uncredited |
| 1953 | The Eddie Cantor Story | Lillian Edwards | |
| 1953 | I Love Lucy | Audience Member | |
| 1954 | The High and the Mighty | Mrs. Joseph | |
| 1954 | Them! | Child Psychiatrist | Uncredited |
| 1954 | The Bob Mathias Story | Mrs. Lillian Mathias | |
| 1955 | The Desperate Hours | Mrs. Walling | Uncredited |
| 1955 | Rebel Without a Cause | Carol Stark | |
| 1957 | Shoot-Out at Medicine Bend | Sarah Devlin | |
| 1957 | The Man Who Turned to Stone | Mrs. Ford | |
| 1957 | Shoot-Out at Medicine Bend | Sarah Devlin | Uncredited |
| 1957 | Band of Angels | Mrs. Morton | Uncredited |
| 1957 | Young and Dangerous | Mrs. Clara Clinton | |
| 1957 | Bombers B-52 | Sylvia Slater | Uncredited |
| 1958 | The Deep Six | Elsie – Mike's Wife | Uncredited |
| 1958 | The Female Animal | Nurse | |
| 1958 | The Rawhide Trail | Mrs. Cartwright | |
| 1958 | Day of the Badman | Martha Mordigan | |
| 1958 | Violent Road | Edith Miller | |
| 1958 | Life Begins at 17 | Virginia Peck | |
| 1958 | Voice in the Mirror | Mrs. Devlin | |
| 1958 | It! The Terror from Beyond Space | Mary Royce | |
| 1958 | The Badlanders | Stagecoach Passenger – Mother | Uncredited |
| 1958 | Step Down to Terror | Mrs. Duprez | Uncredited |
| 1958 | Joy Ride | Grace | |
| 1959 | Warlock | Mrs. Richardson | Uncredited |
| 1959 | Riot in Juvenile Prison | Bess Monahan | |
| 1959 | Cast a Long Shadow | Charlotte Calvert | |
| 1959 | The FBI Story | Mrs. Ballard | Uncredited |
| 1959 | A Summer Place | Mrs. Talbert | Uncredited |
| 1963 | Captain Newman, M.D. | Mrs. Pyser | Uncredited |
| 1964 | The Carpetbaggers | Reporter | Uncredited |
| 1964 | The Brass Bottle | Martha Kenton | |
| 1964 | Where Love Has Gone | Mrs. Geraghty | |
| 1964 | Kitten with a Whip | Mavis Varden | |
| 1965 | Mirage | Tenant in Apartment 3R | Uncredited |
| 1966 | Not with My Wife, You Don't! | Doris Parker | |
| 1967 | The Hostage | Miss Mabry | |
| 1967 | Rosie! | Old Lady | |
| 1968 | Live a Little, Love a Little | Landlady | Uncredited |
| 1969 | Once You Kiss a Stranger | Lee's Mother | |
| 1969 | The Arrangement | Nurse Costello | Uncredited |
| 1969 | Topaz | Mrs. Forsyth | Uncredited |
| 1970 | There Was a Crooked Man... | Mrs. Lomax | |
| 1971 | The Hired Hand | Mrs. Sorenson | |
| 1976 | The Gumball Rally | Mrs. Ontley | |
| 1976 | Flood! | Emma Fisher | TV movie |
| 1981 | All Night Long | Grandmother Gibbons | |
| 1981 | First Monday in October | Storekeeper | |
| 1986 | Wildcats | Mrs. Chatham | Alternative title: First and Goal |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1952 | Adventures of Superman | Mrs. King | 1 episode |
| 1953 | The Danny Thomas Show | Teacher | 1 episode |
| 1954 | Ramar of the Jungle | Irene Loring | 1 episode |
| 1955 | Brave Eagle | Whispering Grass | 1 episode |
| 1956 | Father Knows Best | Dorothy Tyler | 1 episode |
| 1957 | December Bride | Miss Moore | 1 episode |
| 1958 | M Squad | Mrs. Rainey | 1 episode |
| 1958 | Perry Mason | Mrs. Claire Durrell in "The Case of the Prodigal Parent" | 1 episode |
| 1958 | Official Detective | Charlotte | Episode: "The Cover-Up" |
| 1959 | Frontier Doctor | Ma "Dallas" Bell | 1 episode |
| 1959 | Bourbon Street Beat | Mary Dumont | 1 episode, "The Tiger Moth" |
| | The Donna Reed Show | Mrs Adams | 1 Episode: "The Report Card" |
| 1960 | General Electric Theater | Tourist | Episode: "Adam's Apples" |
| 1960 | Wagon Train | Aunt Lizzie | 1 episode |
| 1960–1962 | National Velvet | Martha Brown | 58 episodes |
| 1963–1970 | The Virginian | Various | 5 episodes |
| 1965 | McHale's Navy | Mrs. Binghamton | 1 episode |
| 1966–1967 | Hey, Landlord | Marcy Banner | 2 episodes |
| 1967, season 5 | Petticoat Junction | Mrs. Elliott | 2 episodes |
| 1966–1968 | Bonanza | Lisa Stanley / Mrs. Walker | 2 episodes |
| 1968 | The Guns of Will Sonnett | Margaret Stover | 1 episode |
| 1970 | The Bold Ones: The Lawyers | Mrs. Grimbi | 1 episode |
| 1970 | Ironside | Dora Copeland | 1 episode |
| 1971–1972 | Longstreet | Mrs. Kingston | 23 episodes |
| 1972 | The Odd Couple | Loretta Spoon | 1 episode |
| 1973 | Emergency! | Mrs. Perigrew and Hannah | 2 episodes |
| 1973 | Barnaby Jones | Nurse Nora Randall | 1 episode |
| 1974 | The Rookies | Mrs. Coleman | 1 episode |
| 1974 | Little House on the Prairie | Mrs. Tyler | 1 episode |
| 1975 | M*A*S*H | Nurse Meg Cratty | 1 episode |
| 1978 | Fantasy Island | Emma Howard | 1 episode |
| 1979 | Eight Is Enough | Ms. Ryder | 1 episode |
| 1980 | Shirley | Charlotte McHenry | 13 episodes |
| 1982 | Father Murphy | Abby | 1 episode |
| 1983 | Tales of the Unexpected | Mary Deacon | 1 episode |
| 1984 | Knots Landing | Mercy | 1 episode |
| 1985 | Highway to Heaven | Mrs. Bradley | 2 episodes |
| 1986 | The A-Team | Nora | 1 episode |
| 1986 | Trapper John, M.D. | Mrs. McAndrew | 1 episode |
| 1987 | The Twilight Zone | Mrs. Clark | 1 episode |
| 1988 | Hunter | Mrs. Rawling | 1 episode (final appearance) |