Cathy O'Donnell (born Ann Steely, July , â€" April , ) was an
American actress, best remembered for her roles in The Best Years of
Our Lives and film noirs.O'Donnell was born Ann Steely in Siluria,
Alabama. Her father, Grady Steely, was a school teacher who also owned
a local movie theater. At age , her family moved to Greensboro,
Alabama. At age they moved to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, where she
attended Harding Junior High School and Classen High School. She also
worked in a U.S. Army induction center as a stenographer. She left
that job to study acting at Oklahoma City University, after watching
the film Wuthering Heights, and saved money for a two-week trip to
Hollywood, where she hoped to begin a movie career. She told a Boston
Globe reporter in that she first became interested in acting after
seeing Janet Gaynor in A Star Is Born at age , and that she played
Juliet in a college production of Romeo and Juliet.During her brief
trip to Hollywood, she was spotted at a drugstore by a man who turned
out to be the agent of Samuel Goldwyn. Although a screen test
indicated a thick southern accent, Goldwyn was impressed with her
appearance and put her under contract. He sent her for acting and
diction lessons, and had her cast in local plays, including a Pasadena
Playhouse dramatization of Little Women. She later changed her name to
Cathy, which was the name of the female protagonist in Wuthering
Heights. She then changed her last name to O'Donnell because it was
recommended by Goldwyn's wife, who claimed that audiences loved actors
and actresses with Irish last names.
American actress, best remembered for her roles in The Best Years of
Our Lives and film noirs.O'Donnell was born Ann Steely in Siluria,
Alabama. Her father, Grady Steely, was a school teacher who also owned
a local movie theater. At age , her family moved to Greensboro,
Alabama. At age they moved to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, where she
attended Harding Junior High School and Classen High School. She also
worked in a U.S. Army induction center as a stenographer. She left
that job to study acting at Oklahoma City University, after watching
the film Wuthering Heights, and saved money for a two-week trip to
Hollywood, where she hoped to begin a movie career. She told a Boston
Globe reporter in that she first became interested in acting after
seeing Janet Gaynor in A Star Is Born at age , and that she played
Juliet in a college production of Romeo and Juliet.During her brief
trip to Hollywood, she was spotted at a drugstore by a man who turned
out to be the agent of Samuel Goldwyn. Although a screen test
indicated a thick southern accent, Goldwyn was impressed with her
appearance and put her under contract. He sent her for acting and
diction lessons, and had her cast in local plays, including a Pasadena
Playhouse dramatization of Little Women. She later changed her name to
Cathy, which was the name of the female protagonist in Wuthering
Heights. She then changed her last name to O'Donnell because it was
recommended by Goldwyn's wife, who claimed that audiences loved actors
and actresses with Irish last names.
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