Biographies: Evelyn Ankers - Actor

Biographies

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A British-American actress, born in Valparaíso, Chile, as Evelyn Felisa Ankers. She married Richard Denning (1942-1985), had a child, and stayed with him until her death. Her works include The Texan Meets Calamity Jane (1950), The Wolf Man (1941), Queen of Burlesque (1946), and The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942). She became known for participating in horror films in the 1940s. She was born to English parents, and the family returned to England in the 1920s. She studied at the Latymer School, the Godolphin School, the Tacchomo School of Music and Dramatic Art, and RADA in London. She started appearing in British films in small roles during her studies in the mid-1930s, making her debut in Land Without Music (1936). She appeared with Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh Fire Over England (1937). With the outbreak of WWII in Europe, she immigrated to the United States, signed a contract with Universal in 1940, and presented Bachelor Daddy (1941). She appeared with Abbott and Costello in Hold That Ghost (1941) and with Lon Chaney Jr. in The Wolf Man (1941). Because horror films were popular during World War II, her career flourished at the time. However, she stopped working after the war ended, so she left Universal and worked with Columbia, Republic, Fox, and PRC. She presented with her husband Richard Denning, who had returned from the war, Black Beauty (1946), produced by 20th Century Fox. She presented The Texan Meets Calamity Jane (1950) and then quit acting and devoted herself to her children. After a decade, she appeared in No Greater Love (1960) with her husband and then quit for good. She died in Maui, Hawaii, USA, on August 29, 1985, of ovarian cancer.

• 15 November 2021
• Christina Aziz