Annie Ross
Born: 1930-07-26 in Mitcham, Surrey, England, UK
Died: 2020-07-21
Known For: Acting
Biography
Annabelle McCauley Allan Short (25 July 1930 – 21 July 2020), known professionally as Annie Ross, was a British-American singer and actress, best known as a member of the jazz vocal trio Lambert, Hendricks & Ross. Ross was born in Surrey, England, the daughter of Scottish vaudevillians John "Jack" Short and Mary Dalziel Short (née Allan). Her brother was Scottish entertainer and theatre producer and director Jimmy Logan. She first appeared on stage at age three. At the age of four, she travelled to New York by ship with her family; she later recalled that they "got the cheapest ticket, which was right in the bowels of the ship". Shortly after arriving in the city, she won a token contract with MGM through a children's radio contest run by Paul Whiteman. She subsequently moved with her aunt, Scottish-American singer and actress Ella Logan, to Los Angeles, and her mother, father and brother returned to Scotland. She did not see her parents again until fourteen years later. At the age of seven, she sang "The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond" in Our Gang Follies of 1938, and played Judy Garland's character's sister in Presenting Lily Mars (1943). Her adulthood film roles included Liza in the film Straight On till Morning (1972), Claire in Alfie Darling (1976), Diana Sharman in Funny Money (1983), Vera Webster in Superman III (1983), Mrs. Hazeltine in Throw Momma from the Train (1987), Rose Brooks in Witchery (1988), Loretta Cresswood in Pump Up the Volume (1990), Tess Trainer in Robert Altman's Short Cuts (1993), and Lydia in Blue Sky (1994). She also appeared as Granny Ruth in the horror films Basket Case 2 (1990) and Basket Case 3: The Progeny (1991). She also had a bit part in Robert Altman's The Player in 1992. Ross also starred in Scottish Television's comedy-drama Charles Endell Esquire (1979). She provided the speaking voice for Britt Ekland in The Wicker Man (1973), and Ingrid Thulin's singing voice in Salon Kitty (1976). On stage, she appeared in Cranks (1955; London and New York City), The Threepenny Opera (1972), The Seven Deadly Sins (1973) at the Royal Opera House, Kennedy's Children (1975) at Arts Theatre, London, Side by Side by Sondheim, and in the Joe Papp production of The Pirates of Penzance (1982). Ross died in New York City on 21 July 2020 from emphysema and heart disease, four days before her 90th birthday. Description above from the Wikipedia article Annie Ross, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Filmography
2013
2012
- No One But Me as Self
- Annie Ross: No One But Me as Herself
2009
2007
- Anita O'Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer as Herself
2002
- Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye as Receptionist
1996
- The Ring of Truth as Mother
1994
- Blue Sky as Lydia
1993
- Short Cuts as Tess Trainer
1992
- Basket Case 3: The Progeny as Granny Ruth
- The Player as Annie Ross
1990
- Basket Case 2 as Granny Ruth
- Pump Up the Volume as Loretta Creswood
1988
- Witchery as Rose Brooks
1987
- Throw Momma from the Train as Mrs. Hazeltine
1983
- Superman III as Vera
1982
- Funny Money as Diana Sharman
1979
- Yanks as Red Cross lady
1976
- Salon Kitty as Kitty Kellermann (singing voice)
- The Ghosts of Motley Hall
1975
- Alfie Darling as Claire
1974
- The Beast Must Die as Caroline Newcliffe (uncredited/voice)
1973
- The Wicker Man as Willow MacGreagor (voice) (uncredited)
1972
- Straight On Till Morning as Liza
1965
- Notes for a Film on Jazz as Self
1962
- The Saint as Annie Ross
1959
1956
- The Steve Allen Show as Self - Lambert, Hendricks & Ross
1948
- The Ed Sullivan Show as Self
1944
- Musical Movieland as Singer (uncredited)
1943
- Presenting Lily Mars as Rosie
1940
- Cinderella's Feller as Singer
1937
- Our Gang Follies of 1938 as Loch Lomond Singer