Ann Rutherford
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Ann Rutherford (November 2, 1920 - ) is a Canadian/American actress in film, radio, and television. She has had a long career starring and co-starring in films.
Her first film role was in Melody Trail in 1935. She appeared in seventeen films between 1935 and 1938. It was in 1938 that her first notable role came as Andy Hardy's girlfriend, Polly Benedict, in Judge Hardy's Children. In the long-running, Academy Award-winning Andy Hardy film series, she played Polly twelve times, with the last appearance being in Andy Hardy's Double Life in 1942.
Miss Rutherford was born in Toronto, Canada. At an early age, she performed in various radio shows. She began her film career in starring roles in Waterfront Lady for Mascot Pictures in 1935. Mascot merged with Republic Pictures, and Miss Rutherford soon established herself as a popular leading lady of Westerns with Gene Autry and John Wayne. Afterward, she was placed under contract with MGM. At MGM, she appeared in such films as A Christmas Carol (1938) and Pride and Prejudice (1940). She was loaned to Selznick International to appear as Careen O'Hara in Gone With The Wind (1939).
From 1937 until 1942, she portrayed Polly Benedict in the very successful Andy Hardy series. She also starred in a series of mystery/comedies with Red Skelton (Whistling in the Dark (1941), Whistling in Dixie (1942), and Whistling in Brooklyn (1943)).
She left MGM to freelance in the early 1940s, starring in such films as Orchestra Wives (1942) (with the Glen Miller Orchestra), Two O'Clock Courage (1945) and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947).
She retired from films in 1950, but returned to her old studio in 1972 to make They Only Kill Their Masters on the old Andy Hardy set.
On radio, Ann Rutherford replaced Penny Singleton as Blondie.
On television, she portrayed Suzanne Pleshette's mother on the popular Bob Newhart Show during the 1970s.