Anne Baxter (May 7, 1923 â€" December 12, 1985) was an American
actress, star of Hollywood films, Broadway productions, and television
series. She won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe, and was nominated
for an Emmy.Granddaughter of Frank Lloyd Wright, Baxter studied acting
with Maria Ouspenskaya and had some stage experience before making her
film debut in 20 Mule Team (1940). She became a contract player of
20th Century Fox and was loaned to RKO Pictures for a role in Orson
Welles' The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), one of her earlier films. In
1947, she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her
role as Sophie MacDonald in The Razor's Edge (1946). In 1951, she
received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for the title
role in All About Eve (1950). She worked with several of Hollywood's
greatest directors, including Billy Wilder in Five Graves to Cairo
(1943), Alfred Hitchcock in I Confess (1953), Fritz Lang in The Blue
Gardenia (1953), and Cecil B. DeMille in The Ten Commandments
(1956).Baxter was born in Michigan City, Indiana, to Catherine Dorothy
(née Wright; 1894â€"1979)â€"whose father was the architect Frank
Lloyd Wrightâ€"and Kenneth Stuart Baxter (1893â€"1977), an executive
with the Seagram Company. When Baxter was five, she appeared in a
school play, and as her family had moved to New York when she was six
years old, Baxter continued to act. She was raised in Westchester
County, New York and attended Brearley. At age 10, Baxter attended a
Broadway play starring Helen Hayes, and she was so impressed that she
declared to her family that she wanted to become an actress. By the
age of 13, she had appeared on Broadway in Seen but Not Heard. During
this period, Baxter learned her acting craft as a student of actress
and teacher Maria Ouspenskaya. In 1939, she was cast as Katharine
Hepburn's little sister in the play The Philadelphia Story, but
Hepburn did not like Baxter's acting style, and she was replaced
during the show's pre-Broadway run. Rather than giving up, she turned
to Hollywood.
actress, star of Hollywood films, Broadway productions, and television
series. She won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe, and was nominated
for an Emmy.Granddaughter of Frank Lloyd Wright, Baxter studied acting
with Maria Ouspenskaya and had some stage experience before making her
film debut in 20 Mule Team (1940). She became a contract player of
20th Century Fox and was loaned to RKO Pictures for a role in Orson
Welles' The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), one of her earlier films. In
1947, she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her
role as Sophie MacDonald in The Razor's Edge (1946). In 1951, she
received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for the title
role in All About Eve (1950). She worked with several of Hollywood's
greatest directors, including Billy Wilder in Five Graves to Cairo
(1943), Alfred Hitchcock in I Confess (1953), Fritz Lang in The Blue
Gardenia (1953), and Cecil B. DeMille in The Ten Commandments
(1956).Baxter was born in Michigan City, Indiana, to Catherine Dorothy
(née Wright; 1894â€"1979)â€"whose father was the architect Frank
Lloyd Wrightâ€"and Kenneth Stuart Baxter (1893â€"1977), an executive
with the Seagram Company. When Baxter was five, she appeared in a
school play, and as her family had moved to New York when she was six
years old, Baxter continued to act. She was raised in Westchester
County, New York and attended Brearley. At age 10, Baxter attended a
Broadway play starring Helen Hayes, and she was so impressed that she
declared to her family that she wanted to become an actress. By the
age of 13, she had appeared on Broadway in Seen but Not Heard. During
this period, Baxter learned her acting craft as a student of actress
and teacher Maria Ouspenskaya. In 1939, she was cast as Katharine
Hepburn's little sister in the play The Philadelphia Story, but
Hepburn did not like Baxter's acting style, and she was replaced
during the show's pre-Broadway run. Rather than giving up, she turned
to Hollywood.
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