Ann Gillis

Ann Gillis was born Alma Mabel Conner on February 12, 1927, in Little Rock, Arkansas. At age seven, she appeared in her first film, Men in White (1934), as an extra. During the next two years, she had uncredited appearances in six more films until she received her first major role in King of Hockey (1936). Warner Brothers Studios gave significant screen time to Gillis in this movie, in hopes that she would become another Shirley Temple. Although (like all child stars of the 1930s) she never achieved Temple's level of fame, for the next several years Gillis starred in many films, almost always playing a spoiled, bratty character. She had two rare sympathetic roles as Becky Thatcher in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938) and as the title character in Little Orphan Annie (1938). One scene in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer called for her to go into screaming hysterics when her character was trapped in a cave of bats, and Gillis delivered in a powerful performance that is probably the most memorable scene of her film career. As Gillis grew older, however, her career slowed down, and she left Hollywood in 1947. When she left Hollywood she married Paul Ziebold and had 2 sons. She then divorced, relocated to New York City and married Richard Fraser, a Scottish-born actor (they had a son born in 1958). During the 1950s and '60s, Gillis made sporadic television appearances, and in 1959, she hosted a national telecast presentation of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Gillis and her husband moved to England in 1961, and they were living in London when they heard of a casting call for 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) that called for an American actress living in the city. Gillis auditioned and got the role; it remains her final film to date. Ann moved to Belgium in 1972 where she met and married Belgian René Van Hulst (deceased 1999). She lived in Belgium from 1972 to 2014 and became a Belgian citizen, devoting much of her time to painting and music, she was an accomplished pianist and harpist. She moved to England, UK in December 2014 and passed away peacefully on 31/1/2018.

Known For: Acting

Born: Little Rock, Arkansas, USA, 1927-02-12

Died: 2018-01-31

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1936	The Great Ziegfeld	Mary Lou as a Child (uncredited)	63
2	1936	The Singing Cowboy	Lou Ann Stevens	33
3	1936	Postal Inspector	Little Alice (uncredited)	62
4	1936	Under Your Spell	Gwendolyn (uncredited)	70
5	1936	King of Hockey	Peggy O'Rourke	50
6	1937	Off to the Races	Winnie Mae	0
7	1937	You Can't Buy Luck	Peggy (uncredited)	45
8	1937	The Californian	Rosalia as a Child	0
9	1938	The Adventures of Tom Sawyer	Becky Thatcher	65
10	1938	Peck's Bad Boy with the Circus	Fluerette de Cava	48
11	1938	Little Orphan Annie	Annie	0
12	1939	Beau Geste	Isobel Rivers (as a Child)	70
13	1939	The Under-Pup	Letty Lou	60
14	1940	Edison, the Man	Nancy Grey	66
15	1940	All This, and Heaven Too	Emily Schuyler	71
16	1940	My Love Came Back	Valerie Malette	52
17	1940	Little Men	Nan	56
18	1941	Nice Girl?	Nancy Dana	53
19	1941	Mr. Dynamite	Joey aka Abigail	0
20	1941	Glamour Boy	Brenda Lee	60
21	1942	Meet the Stewarts	Jane Goodwin	43
22	1942	Tough as They Come	Frankie Taylor	0
23	1942	Bambi	Adolescent Faline (voice) (uncredited)	70
24	1942	'Neath Brooklyn Bridge	Sylvia	64
25	1943	Stage Door Canteen	Ann Gillis	58
26	1943	Man from Music Mountain	Penny Winters	50
27	1944	Since You Went Away	Becky Anderson - Class President (uncredited)	65
28	1944	In Society	Gloria Winthrop	58
29	1944	Janie	Paula Rainey	55
30	1944	A Wave, a WAC and a Marine	Judy (as Anne Gillis)	65
31	1945	The Cheaters	Angela Pidgeon	59
32	1946	Gay Blades	Helen Dowell (as Anne Gillis)	0
33	1946	Janie Gets Married	Paula Rainey	60
34	1946	The Time of Their Lives	Nora O'Leary	70
35	1946	Sweetheart of Sigma Chi	Sue	0
36	1947	Big Town After Dark	Susan Peabody LaRue	49
37	1968	2001: A Space Odyssey	Poole's Mother	81

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1948	Studio One		50
2	1962	Man of the World		70
3	1962	The Saint	Beryl Carrington	73
4	1962	The Saint	Wilma	73

Ann Gillis

Film

Television