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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ClassyCo" data-source="post: 332215" data-attributes="member: 7">Anne Shirley was an American actress who worked in Hollywood from the 1920s to the 1940s. Born Dawn Evelyn Paris in New York in 1918, she began modeling as a baby, and ultimately made her feature film debut at the age of four in MOONSHINE VALLEY (1922). She was originally billed professionally as Dawn O'Day. She worked with Walt Disney in the late 1920s, voicing "Alice" in his silent "Alice in Cartoonland" shorts. She was quite successful as a child actress in Pre-Code films, such as GUN SMOKE (1931) and SO BIG (1932), the latter starring a young Barbara Stanwyck. She made her way to RKO Studios in the early 1930s. There, she was cast as the title character in ANNE OF GREEN GABLES (1934), a film adaptation of the 1908 novel. The film was successful and she decided to take the character's name -- Anne Shirley -- as her professional stage name. From 1934 onward, she was professionally known as Anne Shirley. She starred in CHATTERBOX (1936), playing a young aspiring actress, and also appeared in STELLA DALLAS (1937), again starring Stanwyck, and VIGIL IN THE NIGHT (1940), starring Carole Lombard. Shirley was one of the many actresses in Hollywood in the late 1930s that wanted a role in GONE WITH THE WIND, the glossy movie version of the best-selling novel being produced by David O. Selznick. Shirley screen-tested for the part of Melanie Hamilton Wilkes, but ultimately wasn't cast in favor of Olivia de Havilland. Shirley's screen test was later used in the MAKING OF A LEGEND documentary about the film. Still at RKO, she appeared in several movies throughout the 1930s. One such film was MOTHER CAREY'S CHICKENS (1939), a B-movie with poor prospects, that had been originally slated for Oscar winner Katharine Hepburn. When Hepburn refused the role, Shirley was brought in to salvage the project. The movie was ultimately a critical and box office dud. Shirley's final movie role was in the 1944 film noir MURDER, MY SWEET, starring Dick Powell and Claire Trevor. Shirley retired from show business in 1944 at just 26 years old. She was married to actor John Payne from 1937 to 1943, producing a daughter, future actress Julie Payne. She was then married to Adrian Scott, a screenwriter and producer, from 1945 to 1948, and finally to screenwriter and director Charles Lederer from 1949 until his death in 1976. Anne Shirley passed from lung cancer on July 4, 1993, aged 75. [ATTACH=full]39300[/ATTACH]</blockquote>

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