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Ann Little

{{Short description|American actress (1891–1984)}}

{{Similar names|Anna Little (disambiguation){{!}}Anna Little}}

{{more citations needed|date=August 2019}}

{{Use American English|date=August 2019}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2019}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Ann Little

| image = Ann Little Stars of the Photoplay.jpg

| imagesize =

| caption = Little in 1916

| alt =

| birth_name = Mary Hankins Brooks

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1891|02|07|mf=y}}

| birth_place = Mount Shasta, California, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1984|05|21|1891|02|07|mf=y}}

| death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S.

| resting_place = Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California, U.S.

| other_names = Anna Little

| occupation = Actress

| years_active = 1911–1925

| spouse = {{marriage|Allan Forrest|1916|1918|end=div}}

}}

Ann Little (born Mary Hankins Brooks; February 7, 1891 – May 21, 1984), also known as Anna Little, was an American film actress whose career was most prolific during the silent film era of the early 1910s through the early 1920s. Today, most of her films are lost, with only 12 known to survive.

Life and career

Ann Little was born Mary Hankins Brooks on February 7, 1891, on a ranch in Mount Shasta, California. She was the only child of Mary Mariah "Mamie" Hankins Brooks, who was from Montana, and James Luther Brooks, who was from New York.[https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/6061/images/4293708-00275?pid=482647&backurl=http://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/482647:6061?tid%3D%26pid%3D%26queryId%3Daddd77ff6497e22e0475e82d9dc2e339%26_phsrc%3Dum51661141%26_phstart%3DsuccessSource&usePUB=true&_phsrc=um51661141&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true Census data], ancestry.com. Accessed November 6, 2022.[https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/1174/images/USM1490_1045-0682?treeid=&personid=&hintid=&usePUB=true&usePUBJs=true&_ga=2.186680936.1325769413.1621224829-933749568.1620085902&pId=558701 Census data], ancestry.com. Accessed November 6, 2022. In the 1900 census, she is listed as living in Chicago, Illinois, alongside her mother and father as roomers.[https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7602/images/4113717_00300?pid=10571364&backurl=http://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/10571364:7602&usePUB=true&usePUBJs=true Census data], ancestry.com. Accessed November 6, 2022. She appears in the 1910 census as living in Mount Shasta again as a roomer with the Levy family, and her marital status is "married".[https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7884/images/31111_4327312-00960?pid=1882973&backurl=http://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/1882973:7884?tid%3D%26pid%3D%26queryId%3Daddd77ff6497e22e0475e82d9dc2e339&usePUB=true&usePUBJs=true Census data], ancestry.com. Accessed November 6, 2022. Little first appeared in a traveling, stock-theater group after graduating from high school at age 16.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OZWiCAAAQBAJ&q=mary+brooks+mt+shasta+california&pg=PA113|title=Wallace Reid: The Life and Death of a Hollywood Idol|first=E. J.|last=Fleming|date=October 25, 2013|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9780786477258|via=Google Books}}

After briefly relocating to San Francisco in the early 1910s,{{Citation needed |date=March 2021}} she acted in musical comedies on stage{{cite news |title=Why I went into the Movies -- how I got in |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/73352132/the-fort-wayne-sentinel/ |access-date=March 13, 2021 |work=The Fort Wayne Sentinel |date=August 16, 1919 |location=Indiana, Fort Wayne |page=3|via = Newspapers.com}} before she made the transition to films; first appearing in one-reel Western shorts with actor and director Broncho Billy Anderson. Her first film appearance was in the 1911 release The Indian Maiden's Lesson as a Native American named Red Feather. Little subsequently appeared as Native American characters in many of her earliest films.{{cn|date=November 2022}}

By 1912, Little appeared regularly in Thomas H. Ince-directed Western-themed serials, often as an Indian princess and usually with Francis Ford, Grace Cunard, Olive Tell, Jack Conway, Ethel Grandin, Mildred Harris, and early cowboy star Art Acord for Essanay Studios. Between 1911 and 1914, Little was in around 60 shorts, the overwhelming majority of them Westerns, including many serials. Her other notable co-stars at this time included Harold Lockwood, Jane Wolfe, William Worthington, Tom Chatterton, and actor/director Frank Borzage.{{cn|date=November 2022}}

File:Ann Little - Motion Picture News, August 9, 1919.jpg (1919)]]

Although possibly best recalled for her appearances in Westerns, Little showed versatility as an actress by appearing in a number of well-received roles in other dramatic genres and even comedies. Most notably among her dramatic roles was the early American cinematic Civil War serials directed by William J. Bauman and Thomas Ince. Another notable film was the 1914 Ruth Ann Baldwin-penned and Allan Dwan-adapted epic Damon and Pythias, which had thousands of extras. While signed under contract to Universal Studios, she made nearly six serials, most of them Western-themed one- and two-reel dramas.{{cn|date=November 2022}}

File:Ann Little - Motion Picture, June 1915.jpg

By 1917, Little signed to Paramount Pictures and was often paired with highly successful actor Wallace Reid in a number of popular dramas and comedies. Although she was allegedly tired of being typecast in Western serials,{{Citation needed |date=March 2021}} she starred opposite cowboy actor Jack Hoxie in the 1919 serial Lightning Bryce. She left Famous Players–Lasky studios in 1919 to sign with National Film Corporation.{{cite news |title=In the Merry World of Make-Believe |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/73353651/los-angeles-evening-express/ |access-date=March 13, 2021 |work=Los Angeles Evening Express |date=June 25, 1919 |page=15|via = Newspapers.com}}

By the early 1920s, Little only took dramatic roles outside the Western genre. Some of her notable films in this period include the World War I drama The Firefly of France (1918), the race-car adventure films The Roaring Road (1919) and Excuse My Dust (1920) with Wallace Reid, The Cradle of Courage with William S. Hart, and the crime-drama The Greatest Menace (1923) opposite Wilfred Lucas.{{cn|date=November 2022}}

Later years

While still at the peak of her public popularity in the early 1920s, Little retired from the motion picture industry. In her later years, she managed the Chateau Marmont on the Sunset Strip, but rarely spoke of her years in acting.{{cite magazine|url=http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/2013/0501/Life-at-the-Marmont-6-stories-of-Hollywood-stars-at-the-famous-hotel/Workaholic-Billy-Wilder|magazine=The Christian Science Monitor|title=Life at the Marmont': 6 stories of Hollywood stars at the famous hotel|date=May 1, 2013|last=Driscoll|first=Molly}}

Ann Little died at age 93, in Los Angeles, and was interred at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.

Partial filmography

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References

{{reflist}}

External links

{{Commons category|Ann Little}}

  • {{IMDb name|id=0514517}}
  • [http://www.silentera.com/people/actresses/Little-Ann.html Ann Little] at Silent Era People
  • {{AFI person|13346-Ann-Little}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Little, Ann}}

Category:1891 births

Category:1984 deaths

Category:American film actresses

Category:American silent film actresses

Category:Film serial actresses

Category:Western (genre) film actresses

Category:Actresses from California

Category:20th-century American actresses

Category:Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)

Category:People from Mount Shasta, California