Ann Stephens

{{Short description|British actress (1931–1966)}}

{{other people}}

{{Use British English|date=March 2015}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}}

Ann Stephens (21 May 1931 – 15 July 1966{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0826959/|title=Ann Stephens|website=IMDb}}) was a British child actress and singer, popular in the 1940s.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U3C5DwAAQBAJ&q=anne+stephens+the+encyclopedia+of+british+film%3A+fourth+edition&pg=RA8-PA1986|title=The Encyclopedia of British Film: Fourth edition|first1=Brian|last1=McFarlane|first2=Anthony|last2=Slide|date=16 May 2016|publisher=Manchester University Press|isbn=9781526111968|via=Google Books}} She was born in London. In July 1941 she recorded several songs, including a popular version of "The Teddy Bears' Picnic",{{Cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0826959/bio|title=Ann Stephens|publisher=IMDb}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ybh7SZifiRs |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211213/Ybh7SZifiRs |archive-date=2021-12-13 |url-status=live|title=Ann Stephens- Teddy Bear's Picnic|via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}} "Dicky Bird Hop" (with Franklin Engelmann) and a setting by Harold Fraser-Simson of one of A. A. Milne's verses about Christopher Robin, "Buckingham Palace,"{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_Z5LpHuXVE |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211213/W_Z5LpHuXVE |archive-date=2021-12-13 |url-status=live|title="Buckingham Palace" (Ann Stephens, 1941)|via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}} which was often featured on the BBC Light Programme's Children's Favourites. In the same year Stephens had made her recording debut as Alice in musical adaptations of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass.{{Cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/Ann-Stephens-Richard-Goolden-Florence-Desmond-Molly-Munks-Nancy-Munks-Robertson-Hare-Arthur-Askey-Sy/release/9876432|title=Ann Stephens, Richard Goolden, Florence Desmond, Molly Munks, Nancy Munks, Robertson Hare, Arthur Askey, Syd Walker - Alice in Wonderland|year=1941 |publisher=discogs}}{{Cite web|url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/77ac661ff70240429c6feb9d2b7f3cb4|title=Alice in Wonderland|date=25 December 1944|issue=1108|pages=8|via=BBC Genome}}{{Cite web|url=https://open.spotify.com/album/1TRsKqHm3UN0Bpd73s2gsz|title=Alice Through the Looking Glass|via=open.spotify.com}} She was chosen for this role from some 700 applicants auditioned by the record company His Master's Voice.

Later in the 1940s, Stephens appeared in several films, including In Which We Serve (1942), Fanny By Gaslight (1944), The Upturned Glass (1947) and Your Witness (1950).{{Cite web|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba58a349d|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170727162721/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba58a349d|url-status=dead|archive-date=27 July 2017|title=Ann Stephens|website=BFI}} In the 1950s she turned her attention to television drama. A surviving Pathe newsreel of 1945 records her visit to the Hospital for Sick Children in Great Ormond Street, London, for which her gramophone recordings had raised £8,000.{{Cite web | url=http://www.britishpathe.com/video/alice-makes-a-record | title=Alice Makes a Record}}

Ann Stephens also appeared as a beautiful daughter of a Viking in the 1957 episode of The Adventures of Sir Lancelot titled "The Lesser Breed".