Anne Heywood | |
---|---|
Born | Violet Joan Pretty 11 December 1931 |
Occupation | Actress |
Years active | 1951–1989 |
Spouse(s) |
George Danzig Druke
(m. 1990) |
Children | Mark Stross (b. 1963) |
Anne Heywood (born 11 December 1931) is a British film actress, who is best known for her performance in The Fox.[1]
Born as Violet Joan Pretty[2] 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. Shen then entered a National Bathing Beauty Contest and won. She had a small role in Lady Godiva Rides Again (1951).[3]
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).[4]
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 led in Violent Playground (1958) with Stanley Baker, which established he as a film name.[5] He 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 comedy Upstairs and Downstairs (1959). She was loaned to an Italian company to make Carthage in Flames (1960).
Heywood starred in 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.[6]
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.[7] It was also a huge hit. A newspaper referred to her and Stross as the "English Carlo Pontis."[8]
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).[9][10] She was second billed in a adventure film with Gregory Peck, The Chairman (1969) but was only on screen for five minutes.[11] She was mentioned as a possible star of Myra Breckinridge but did not appear in the final film.[12]
Heywood starred in I Want What I Want (1972), produced by Stross, then went to Italy for The Killer Is on the Phone (1972) and The Nun and the Devil (1972), again as a nun.
In Hollywood she was the female lead in Trader Horn (1973) then she returned to Italy for Love Under the Elms (1975). [13]
She made Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff (1979), produced by Stross.[14] She did Ring of Darkness (1979), Sadat (1981), and 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.[15]
Heywood was married to producer Raymond Stross, who produced most of her movies, 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.[16] The couple resides in Beverly Hills, California.
Year | Film | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1951 | Lady Godiva Rides Again | Dorothy Marlowe (beauty contestant) | (as Violet Pretty) |
1956 | Find the Lady | Receptionist | |
Checkpoint | Gabriela | ||
1957 | The Depraved | Laura Wilton | |
Doctor at Large | Emerald | ||
Dangerous Exile | Glynis | ||
1958 | Violent Playground | Catherine Murphy | |
1959 | The Heart of a Man | Julie | |
Floods of Fear | Elizabeth Matthews | ||
Upstairs and Downstairs | Kate | ||
1960 | Carthage in Flames | Fulvia | |
A Terrible Beauty | Neeve Donnelly | ||
1961 | Petticoat Pirates | Chief Officer Anne Stevens | |
1962 | Stork Talk | Lisa Vernon | |
The Brain | Anna Holt | ||
1963 | The Very Edge | Tracey Lawrence | |
1965 | Ninety Degrees in the Shade | Alena | Nominated — Golden Globe Nominee for Best English-Language Foreign Film |
1967 | The Fox | Ellen March | Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama |
1969 | The Lady of Monza | Virginia de Leyva | Winner — Maschera D'Argento (Silver Mask) Award – Best Actress (Italy) |
Midas Run | Sylvia Giroux | ||
The Chairman | Kay Hanna | ||
1972 | The Killer Is on the Phone | Eleanor Loraine | |
I Want What I Want | Roy/Wendy | ||
1973 | The Nun and the Devil | Mother Giulia | |
Trader Horn | Nicole Mercer | ||
1974 | Love Under the Elms | Entered into the 25th Berlin International Film Festival | |
1979 | Ring of Darkness | Carlotta Rhodes | Also known as Satan's Wife |
Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff | Evelyn Wyckoff | ||
1984 | What Waits Below | Frieda Shelley |
Year | Award | Category | Title of work | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
1968 | Golden Globe | Best Actress - Drama | The Fox | Nominated |
1968 | Laurel Award | Female Dramatic Performance | The Fox | 5th place |
International | |
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National | |
People |