Ann Doran

Ann Doran
Born	Ann Lee Doran July 28, 1911 Amarillo, Texas, U.S.
Died	September 19, 2000 (aged 89) Carmichael, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1922–88

Ann Lee Doran (July 28, 1911 – September 19, 2000) was an American character actress.^[1]

Film career

Born in Amarillo, Texas, Doran began acting at the age of four. She appeared in hundreds of silent films under assumed names to keep her father's family from finding out about her work. Rarely in a featured role (with the exception of James Dean's dominating mother in Rebel Without a Cause (1955)), Doran appeared in more than five hundred motion pictures and one thousand episodes of television shows, 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 appears in many of his productions. Most of these appearances were supporting roles, although she did play leads in Columbia's Charley Chase comedies of 1938-40 and in one Charles Starrett western feature, Rio Grande (1938).

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.

Virginia Brissac, Jim Backus, Doran, Edward Platt, and James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause (1955)

Television

Doran guest starred on many television programs, including three appearances in the role of Bonnie Landis in the CBS legal drama, The Public Defender, starring with fellow Texan Reed Hadley. She appeared in the religion 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 entitled Hidden Fortune.

Doran was cast in the CBS children's western My Friend Flicka, the story of a boy and his horse on a Wyoming ranch. She also appeared in episodes of Ray Milland's CBS sitcom Meet Mr. McNutley and Kenneth Tobey's syndicated aviation adventure series, Whirlybirds. Doran guest-starred on CBS's 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).

Doran was cast twice in 1959-1960 in episodes of the ABC/Warner Brothers western 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 NBC family drama National Velvet. Arthur Space played her husband, Herbert Brown. She made one appearance on ABC's McHale's Navy as Mrs. Martha "Pumpkin" Binghampton, wife of Captain Binghampton (Joe Flynn).

Doran in her later years.

Three years later, she appeared in the 1965-1966 season of the 34-episode ABC western series The Legend of Jesse James as Zerelda James Samuel, the mother of Jesse and Frank James.

She also appeared in the program M*A*S*H as "Nurse Meg Cratty," who runs an orphanage in Korea. In the Season Four episode "The Kids," Nurse Cratty and her charges bunked with the M*A*S*H unit to avoid snipers.

Later years and death

Doran continued to work in movies and television until shortly before her death of natural causes at the age of 89 on September 19, 2000, in Carmichael, California. Following her death her remains were cremated. She bequeathed $400,000 to the Motion Picture Country House, the retirement home for the movie industry.

July 28, 2016 will be designated as Ann Doran Day in the City of Amarillo, Texas.

Selected filmography

Film
Year	Film	Role	Notes
1922	Robin Hood	Page to Richard	Uncredited
1934	Servants' Entrance	Marie, the Maid	Uncredited
1936	Mr. Deeds Goes to Town	Girl on Bus	Uncredited
	Palm Springs	Schoolgirl	Uncredited
1937	Paid to Dance	Rose Trevor	Alternative title: Hard to Hold
1938	Penitentiary	Blanche Williams
	You Can't Take It With You	Maggie O'Neill
	Rio Grande	Jean Andrews	Lead role
1939	Blind Alley	Agnes
	The Man They Could Not Hang	Betty Crawford
	Three Sappy People	Party guest
1940	His Girl Friday	Newspaper Office Worker	Uncredited
1941	Sun Valley Serenade	Waitress	Uncredited
1941	Meet John Doe	Bert Hansen's wife	Uncredited
1941	Penny Serenade	Dotty "Dot"
1942	They All Kissed the Bride	Helene - the Drew's Maid	Uncredited
1943	So Proudly We Hail!	Lt. Betty Peterson
	Air Force	Mrs. Mary Quincannon	Uncredited
1944	Mr. Skeffington	Maria, a nursemaid	Uncredited
1945	Pride of the Marines	Ella Mae Merchant	Alternative title: Forever in Love
1946	The Strange Love of Martha Ivers	Bobbi St. John
1947	My Favorite Brunette	Miss Rogers
1948	Pitfall	Maggie
1949	The Kid from Cleveland	Emily Barrows Novak
1950	Never a Dull Moment	Jean Morrow
1951	The People Against O'Hara	Betty Clark, Policewoman
1952	The Rose Bowl Story	Mrs. Addie Burke
1952	Rodeo	Mrs. Martha Durston
1953	Island in the Sky	Moon's wife	Uncredited
1954	Them!	Child Psychiatrist	Uncredited
1954	The High and the Mighty	Mrs. Joseph
1955	Rebel Without a Cause	Carol Stark
1955	The Desperate Hours	Mrs. Walling	Uncredited
1957	Shoot-Out at Medicine Bend	Sarah Devlin
1958	The Deep Six	Elsie - Mike's Wife	Uncredited
1958	It! The Terror from Beyond Space	Mary Royce
1959	A Summer Place	Mrs. Talbert	Uncredited
1963	Captain Newman, M.D.	Mrs. Pyser	Uncredited
1964	The Brass Bottle	Martha Kenton
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
1968	Live a Little, Love a Little	Landlady	Uncredited
1969	The Arrangement	Nurse Costello
1970	There Was a Crooked Man...	Mrs. Lomax
1971	The Hired Hand	Mrs. Sorenson
1976	The Gumball Rally	Mrs. Ontley
1981	All Night Long	Grandmother Gibbons
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
	Perry Mason	Mrs. Claire Durrell in "The Case of the Prodigal Parent"	1 episode
1959	Frontier Doctor	Ma "Dallas" Bell	1 episode
	Bourbon Street Beat	Mary Dumont	1 episode, "The Tiger Moth"
1960	Wagon Train	Aunt Lizzie	1 episode
1963–1970	The Virginian	Various	5 episodes
1965	McHale's Navy	Mrs. Binghamton	1 episode
1966–1967	Hey, Landlord	Marcy Banner	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	Shriley	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

References

1. "Ann Doran, 89, Character Actress". The New York Times. October 3, 2000.

External links

• Ann Doran at the Internet Movie Database
• Ann Doran at the TCM Movie Database
• All Time Rebel {1955-2005 | 50th Anniversary} (Archived 2009-10-25)