Actress Anne Whitfield, greatest recognized for her function within the 1954 vacation basic White Christmas, has died. She was 85.
Whitfield died on Feb. 15 at Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital in Washington, surrounded by her household, according to her obituary. She had been hospitalized after an “surprising accident whereas on a stroll in her neighborhood.”
“By way of the kindness of neighbors who supplied skilled medical help, household had the reward to say goodbye and specific love and gratitude, a present we are going to at all times cherish,” her household wrote.
Whitfield was born in Oxford, Mississippi, in Aug. 27, 1938. When she was 4, her father was deployed abroad as an Military Band director, and Whitfield’s mom introduced her to Hollywood to pursue her showbusiness goals. Whitfield bought into appearing in radio dramas as a toddler, and went on to review at UCLA whereas nonetheless appearing and dealing on radio exhibits.
She started working within the theater in 1949 and appeared in quite a few stage productions, together with Annie Get Your Gun. She started reserving small roles on TV exhibits the next yr, with bit components in Racket Squad, One Man’s Household, and Hollywood Opening Evening, in addition to a number of small movie roles.
Her most memorable function got here in 1954, when Whitfield was solely 15, within the beloved musical comedy White Christmas, during which she performed Susan Waverly, the granddaughter of Main Common Thomas Waverly (Dean Jagger), who owns the Columbia Inn resort the place Bing Crosby’s Bob Wallace and Danny Kaye’s Phil Davis carry out.
In accordance tom Whitfield’s obituary, “Simply this previous December in the course of the holidays, Annie was capable of watch White Christmas together with her household on the film’s seventieth anniversary.”
“Though Annie was a gifted actor, Los Angeles didn’t have sufficient timber for her and he or she left Hollywood for her new life ‘up north’ within the 1970’s. Throughout this transition, Annie grew to become dedicated to causes that promote Peace and protect nature,” her household shared. “After ‘retiring’, Annie labored tirelessly as an activist and group organizer, working proper up till the day she handed away.”
Whitfield continued appearing by means of the Eighties and ’90s in small roles, together with her remaining look coming within the 1999 Robert Altman dramedy Cookie’s Fortune.
“Probably the most valuable a part of Annie’s life had been her 3 kids and seven grandchildren. She was beloved by her household, who had been at all times her first precedence,” the household shared. Whitfield is survived by daughters Julie and Allison, her son Evan, in addition to her beloved grandchildren.
The household asks that, in lieu of flowers, these wishing to pay tribute to Whitfield make a charitable donation to a company of their alternative or honor her reminiscence by “planting a memorial tree by means of The Tribute Retailer.”
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