Anne Baxter

Paternal great-granddaughter of Daniel (1840-1918), born in Ohio, and Emily (née Shepardson) Baxter (1836-1906), born in Michigan.

Paternal granddaughter of Charles (1863-1922), born in Ohio, and Dora (née Belcher) Baxter (1863-1942), born in Kentucky.

Maternal granddaughter of architect Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959), born in Wisconsin, and his first wife, Catherine Tobin (1871-1959), born in Illinois.

Daughter of Kenneth (1893-1977), born in Michigan, and Catherine (née Wright) Baxter (1894-1979), born in Illinois.

Anne Baxter was born in Michigan City, Indiana, on May 7, 1923. She was the daughter of a salesman and his wife, Catherine, who herself was the daughter of Frank Lloyd Wright, the world-renowned architect. Anne was a young girl of 11 when her parents moved to New York City, which at that time was still the hub of the entertainment industry even though the film colony was moving west. The move there encouraged her to consider acting as a vocation. By the time she was 13 she had already appeared in a stage production of 'Seen but Not Heard'and had garnered rave reviews from the tough Broadway critics. The play helped her gain entrance to an exclusive acting school.

In 1937 Anne made her first foray into Hollywood to test the waters there in the film industry. As she was thought to be too young for a film career, she packed her bags and returned to the New York with her mother, where she continued to act in Broadway and summer stock up and down the East Coast. Undaunted by the failure of her previous effort to crack Hollywood, Anne returned to California two years later to try again. This time her luck was somewhat better. She took a screen test which was ultimately seen by the moguls of Twentieth Century-Fox and she was signed to a seven-year contract.

However, before she could make a movie with Fox, Anne was loaned out to MGM to make 20 Mule Team (1940). At only 17 years of age, she was already in the kind of pictures that other starlets would have had to slave for years as an extra before landing a meaty role.

Back at Fox, that same year, Anne played Mary Maxwell in The Great Profile (1940), which was a box-office dud.

The following year she played Amy Spettigue in the remake of Charley's Aunt (1941). It still wasn't a great role, but it was better than a bit part.

The only other film job Anne appeared in that year was in Swamp Water (1941). It was the first role that was really worth anything, but critics weren't that impressed with Anne, her role nor the movie.

In 1942 Anne played Joseph Cotten's daughter, Lucy Morgan, in The Magnificent Ambersons (1942).

The following year she appeared in The North Star (1943), the first film where she received top billing. The film was a critical and financial success and Anne came in for her share of critical plaudits.

Guest in the House (1944) the next year was a dismal failure, but Sunday Dinner for a Soldier (1944) was received much better by the public, though it was ripped apart by the critics.

In 1946 Anne portrayed Sophie MacDonald in The Razor's Edge (1946), a film that would land her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Anne starred with John Hodiak, who would become her first husband in 1947 (Anne was to divorce Hodiak in 1953. Her other two husbands were Randolph Galt and David Klee).

She had come a long way in so short a time, but for her next two films she was just the narrator: Mother Wore Tights (1947) and Blaze of Noon (1947).

Campaigned for the title role in Pinky (1949) but Jeanne Crain, who received a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her performance, was cast instead.

It would be 1950 before she landed another decent role--the part of Eve Harrington in All About Eve (1950).

This film garnered Anne her second nomination, but she lost the Oscar to Judy Holliday for Born Yesterday (1950).

After several films through the 1950s, Anne landed what many considered a plum role--Queen Nefretiri in Cecil B.

Gave birth to her first child at age 28, daughter Katrina Hodiak on July 9, 1951. Child's father is her first ex-husband, John Hodiak.

Turned down the role of Polly Cutler in Niagara (1953) and was replaced by Jean Peters. After her withdrawal, the film was reworked to highlight Marilyn Monroe.

In 1954 her part of Nefretiri in Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments (1956) was regarded by columnist Louella Parsons as "the most sought-after role of the year".

In August 1955, while filming The Ten Commandments (1956), she wrote a newspaper article for the United Press titled "Egyptian Queen Role Presents Problem For Modern Movie Star", in which she discussed ancient Egyptian makeup and perfume.

DeMille's The Ten Commandments (1956). Never in her Hollywood career did Anne look as beautiful as she did as the Egyptian queen, opposite Charlton Heston and Yul Brynner. After that epic, job offers got fewer because she wasn't tied to a studio, instead opting to freelance her talents.

After no appearances in 1958, she made one film in 1959 Season of Passion (1959) and one in 1960 Cimarron (1960).

Suffered a miscarriage while three months pregnant in October 1960.

Gave birth to her second child at age 38, daughter Melissa Galt, on October 4, 1961. Child's father is her second ex-husband, Randolph Galt.

After Walk on the Wild Side (1962), she took a hiatus from filming for the next four years. She was hardly idle, though. She appeared often on stage and on television. She wasn't particularly concerned with being a celebrity or a personality; she was more concerned with being just an actress and trying hard to produce the best performance she was capable of.

Gave birth to her third child at age 39, daughter Maginal Galt, on March 11, 1963. Child's father is her second ex-husband, Randolph Galt.

Has the unique distinction of being the only actress to play two different guest villains on the television series Batman (1966), having played Zelda the Great during the first season and Olga, Queen of the Bessarovian Cossacks, during the third season. For the latter, she even learned to swear in Russian! Like most performers who guested on the series, she maintained that it was an enjoyable experience.

Maintained her primary residence in Easton, CT , on a ten-acre estate from the 1970s until her death.

Her memoir, "Intermission", was published in 1976. A paperback edition in 1983 by Arkon Publishers announced "Soon to be a major film from Harry M. Miller and Michael Edgley". It was to portray "her years in outback Australia". The film was n ever produced, From an Australian viewpoint, Baxter's location during the years 1959-63, with husband Randolph Galt on a cattle station (ranch), was not in the "outback". Rural, certainly, remote-rural, yes, "The Bush" perhaps, in the old phrase, but not at all "the Outback".

She and her third and last husband, David Klee, a prominent stockbroker, were working on renovations on a Connecticut home when he died unexpectedly in October of 1977 after only nine months of marriage.

After several notable TV appearances, Anne became a staple of two television series, East of Eden (1981) and Hotel (1983).

Bette Davis starred in the pilot for Hotel (1983), but then decided she didn't want to do the series. Her All About Eve (1950) co-star Baxter replaced her.

Her final moment before the public eye was as Irene Adler in the TV film Sherlock Holmes and the Masks of Death (1984).

Was walking down Madison Avenue in New York City when she suffered her fatal brain aneurysm in 1985.