Anne Heywood
Anne Heywood (born 11 December 1931) is a retired British film actress, who is best known for her performance in "The Fox". Early life and career. Born as Violet Joan Pretty in Handsworth, Birmingham, she won the Miss Great Britain title under her real name in 1950. In 1947 she joined Highbury Little Theatre in Sutton Coldfield and then won a Birmingham University Carnival Queen competition. She then entered a National Bathing Beauty Contest and won. She had a small role in "Lady Godiva Rides Again" (1951). She made three TV appearances on the Carroll Levis TV Show  and then spent four years touring UK theatres. Later she also attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. She had a small part in "Find the Lady" (1956). Rank Organisation. Heywood was signed to the Rank Organisation who changed her name to "Anne Heywood". They put her in small roles in "Checkpoint" (1956) and "Doctor at Large" (1957). The Danziger Brothers borrowed her for the lead in "The Depraved" (1957). Rank gave Heywood the second female lead in "Dangerous Exile" (1957) and she was the female lead in "Violent Playground" (1958) with Stanley Baker, which established her as  a film name. She did "Floods of Fear" (1958) with Howard Keel. Herbert Wilcox used her as Frankie Vaughan's leading lady in "The Heart of a Man" (1959), then for Rank she starred in a romantic comedy "Upstairs and Downstairs" (1959). She was loaned to an Italian company to make the historical costume drama "Carthage in Flames" (1960). Raymond Stross. Heywood starred in the war movie "A Terrible Beauty" (1960) opposite Robert Mitchum. It was produced by Raymond Stross, who married Heywood. She starred in some British comedies, "Petticoat Pirates" (1961) and "Stork Talk" (1962) then did three thrillers  produced by Stross: "The Brain" (1962), "The Very Edge" (1963), and "90 Degrees in the Shade" (1965). Heywood was making "High Jungle" for MGM with Eric Fleming but that film was cancelled when Fleming drowned. Heywood starred in a film adaptation of a D. H. Lawrence novel, "The Fox" (1967), produced by Stross. co-starring Sandy Dennis. It which caused controversy at the time due to its lesbian theme and nudity from Heywood. It was also a huge hit. A newspaper referred to her and Stross as the "English Carlo Pontis." Heywood went to Italy to play a nun in  The Lady of Monza (1969), playing The Nun of Monza, then did a movie with Richard Crenna produced by Stross, "Midas Run" (1969). She was second billed in an espionage adventure film with Gregory Peck, "The Chairman" (1969) but was only on screen for five minutes. She was mentioned as a possible star of "Myra Breckinridge" but did not appear in the final film. Later career. Heywood starred in "I Want What I Want" (1972), a box office and critical flop produced by Stross, then went to Italy for the giallo film "The Killer Is on the Phone" (1972) and  The Nun and the Devil (1973), again as a nun. In Hollywood she was the female lead in "Trader Horn" (1973), a failed remake of a 1931 classic film, then she returned to Italy for "Love Under the Elms" (1974). She starred in "Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff " (1979), produced by Stross. and in the Italian satanic horror "Ring of Darkness" (1979). Both films were failures. She then had supporting roles in "Sadat" (1981), and the science fiction film "What Waits Below" (1984). Her last acting appearances were in episodes of "The Equalizer" and "Ohara". Her career declined in the 1980s . Her penultimate role was in a two-part episode of the popular United States television series "The Equalizer", which starred actor Edward Woodward, in 1988 as Manon Brevard Marcel. After the death of Stross in 1988, she retired from acting. Personal life. Heywood was married to producer Raymond Stross, who produced most of her films, including "A Terrible Beauty", "The Brain", "The Very Edge", "Ninety Degrees in the Shade", "The Fox", "Midas Run", "I Want What I Want", and "Good Luck Miss Wyckoff". After Stross died in 1988, Heywood retired and has never appeared onscreen since. In 1990, she married  her second husband, George Danzig Druke, a former Assistant Attorney General of New York State. The couple resides in Beverly Hills, California.