Anne Whitfield

Whitfield was born in Oxford, Mississippi, in 1938, and was the daughter of Richard N. Whitfield, Jr. and Frances Turner Whitfield. Her father was director of bands at the University of Mississippi and her mother was a speech teacher.{{cite news |last1=Amburgey |first1=Kay |title=Jackson's Anne Whitfield Zooming To Stardom After Bright Child-Actress Role |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/45323639/anne_whitfield/ |accessdate=February 21, 2020 |work=The Clarion-Ledger |date=October 17, 1954 |location=Mississippi, Jackson |page=6}} After moving to California, she attended Rosewood Avenue Public School. By the time she was 17, she was studying at the University of California, Los Angeles, scheduling her classes around her work on radio programs.

During the 1970s, Whitfield lived in Olympia, Washington, working at the Washington State Department of Ecology at Evergreen State College with an interest in clean water. She later undertook pursuits in women's rights, environmental issues, and homelessness.{{cite magazine |last1=Stenzel |first1=Wesley |title=Anne Whitfield, White Christmas actress, dies at 85 |url=https://ew.com/anne-whitfield-dead-white-christmas-actress-85-8602890 |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |date=February 29, 2024}} Whitfield died after an incident while walking in her neighborhood near Burien, Washington, on February 15, 2024. She was 85.{{cite web |title=Anne Whitfield Phillips |url=https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/seattle-wa/anne-phillips-11677634 |website=Dignity Memorial |access-date=February 28, 2024}}

As a youngster, Whitfield "played child roles on practically every comedy and dramatic series originating in Hollywood".{{cite news|title=Jill Corey's Rise A Success Story; Out-Of-Town Hubber Games On KFYO|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4973805/lubbock_avalanchejournal/|work=Lubbock Avalanche-Journal|date=March 11, 1956|location=Texas, Lubbock|page=70|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = April 17, 2016}} {{Open access}} Her radio debut came in September 1945, when she "stepped up on a box before an already lowered microphone in an NBC studio and said, 'I want another slice of bread'" for a commercial.{{cite journal|title=Girl Going Places|journal=Radio and Television Mirror|date=January 1949|volume=31|issue=2|page=68|url=http://www.archive.org/stream/ra00mac#page/n89/mode/1up/search/%22Anne+Whitfield%22|accessdate=April 25, 2016}} She became a member of the cast of One Man's Family when she was seven years old.

Whitfield's roles on radio programs include:

She was also heard on Lux Radio Theatre, The Screen Guild Theater, Family Theater, Cavalcade of America, The Cisco Kid, His Honor, the Barber, Phone Again, Dr. Paul, The Harold Peary Show,Sies, Luther F. (2014). Encyclopedia of American Radio, 1920–1960, 2nd ed.. McFarland & Co., Inc. {{ISBN|978-0-7864-5149-4}}. p. 322. NBC University Theatre,{{Cite news|title=Radio Reviews: NBC University Theatre|author=|date=October 5, 1949|work=Variety|page=31|quote=With John McGovern, Jeffrey Silver, Anne Whitfield, Gale Borney, Ted Von Eltz, GeBe Pearson, Florence Ravenal, Marjorie Liszt, announcer, Don Stanley|id={{ProQuest|1285933060}}}} and The Woman in My House.{{r|sies|page1=763}}

In 1949, Whitfield appeared in theatrical productions of Annie Get Your Gun{{cite magazine|title=Out-of-Town Openings: Annie, Get Your Gun|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Music/Archive-Billboard-IDX/IDX/40s/1949/Billboard%201949-08-06-OCR-Page-0041.pdf|accessdate=April 18, 2016|magazine=Billboard|date=August 6, 1949|page=41}} and Show Boat, both in Los Angeles, California.{{cite magazine|title=Out-of-Town Review: Show Boat|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Music/Archive-Billboard-IDX/IDX/40s/1949/Billboard%201949-07-16-OCR-Page-0048.pdf|accessdate=April 18, 2016|magazine=Billboard|date=July 16, 1949|page=48}} On film, she played Susan Waverly in White Christmas (1954){{cite news|last1=Crowther|first1=Bosley|title=The Screen in Review; 'White Christmas' Bows at the Music Hall|url=http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9F0CE3D6103FE33BBC4D52DFB667838F649EDE|accessdate=April 25, 2016|work=The New York Times|date=October 15, 1954}} and appeared in Juvenile Jungle (1958){{cite news|date=June 10, 1958|title=Capitol Theater advertisement|page=12|work=Shamokin News-Dispatch|location=Pennsylvania, Shamokin|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4974335/shamokin_newsdispatch/|via=Newspapers.com|accessdate=April 17, 2016}} {{Open access}} and Tick, Tick, Tick (1970).

In 1960, she played the role of Trudy (working bar girl in the Long Branch) in the season-six episode "Don Matteo" in the TV Western Gunsmoke, then again in one of its 1966 episodes “Stage Stop” as Lori Coombs, an abused wife who later falls in love with a blind man after her husband is killed.

Whitfield played Claudia Barbour in the TV version of One Man's Family.Terrace, Vincent (2011). Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010. McFarland & Company, Inc. {{ISBN|978-0-7864-6477-7}}. p. 791. The casting was a change from Whitfield's role in the radio version of the program; in the story, Claudia was the mother of Penny, whom Whitfield played on radio.{{cite news|last1=Johnson|first1=Erskine|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4974604/the_sunday_herald/|title=Hollywood Today|date=March 7, 1954|accessdate=April 17, 2016|work=The Sunday Herald|location=Utah, Provo|page=24|via=Newspapers.com}} {{Open access}} She played the two roles concurrently during the TV series' single season on the air.{{cite book |last1=Sterling |first1=Christopher H. |last2=O'Dell |first2=Cary |title=The Concise Encyclopedia of American Radio |date=2010 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-17684-6 |page=544 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dmmLAgAAQBAJ&q=%22Anne+Whitfield%22+actress&pg=PA544 |accessdate=February 21, 2020 |language=en}} Whitfield also was featured in "The Case of the Ugly Duckling", "The Case of the Crafty Kidnapper", and "The Case of the Nautical Knot", episodes of Perry Mason (1964);{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4974683/the_indiana_gazette/|title=(TV listing)|date=May 21, 1964|accessdate=April 17, 2016|work=The Indiana Gazette|location=Pennsylvania, Indiana|page=20|via=Newspapers.com}} {{Open access}} "The Storm Riders" on Cheyenne (June 24, 1956), and then subsequently in another episode, "The Young Fugitives" (October 23, 1961);{{cite news |title=(TV listing) |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/45331262/st_louis_globedemocrat/ |accessdate=February 21, 2020 |work=St. Louis Globe-Democrat |date=June 24, 1956 |location=Missouri, St. Louis |page=60|via = Newspapers.com}} "Judgment at Hondo Seco" on Rawhide (October 20, 1961);{{cite news |title=Ralph Bellamy Cast as Jurist |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/45331625/the_news_leader/ |accessdate=February 21, 2020 |work=The NewsLeader |date=October 13, 1961 |location=Virginia, Staunton |page=17|via = Newspapers.com}} and "Harry, the Good Neighbor' on The New Phil Silvers Show (February 22, 1964). In the '60s, she was also active in series such as Adam-12, Emergency!, The New Interns, 77 Sunset Strip, Laramie, Hawaiian Eye, the Untouchables, Ben Casey, The Dakotas, 12 O'clock High, Peter Gunn, Manhunt, and the Johnny Carson Show. She played Jack Nicholson's girlfriend in Wells Fargo and Robert Redford's estranged wife in Tate – both superstars' first TV shows. Whitfield's all-time favorite role was as Sally Ellis, an Arkansas farm girl, in One Step Beyond (1960).Tuckey, Tammy (December 21, 2020). [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neFkqamEpgk&t=242 "Interview with Anne Whitfield, Susan Waverly in "White Christmas" – Rattling the Stars"]. YouTube. Retrieved September 28, 2023.

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Category:1938 births

Category:2024 deaths

Category:20th-century American actresses

Category:American child actresses

Category:American film actresses

Category:American radio actresses

Category:American stage actresses

Category:American television actresses

Category:Actresses from Mississippi