Anne Shirley
Actress

Anne Shirley Net Worth

Anne Shirley was born on April 19, 2017 in  New York City, New York, United States, is Actress, Soundtrack. They didn't come packaged any sweeter and lovelier than Anne Shirley, a gentle and gracious 1930s teen film actress who didn't quite reach the zenith of front-rank stardom and retired all too soon at age 26. On film as a toddler, she went through a small revolving door of marquee names before legally settling (at age 16) on the name Anne Shirley, the name of her schoolgirl heroine in Anne's most famous film of all -- Anne of Green Gables (1934).Manhattan-born Anne was christened Dawn Evelyeen Paris on April 17, 1918. Her father died while she was still a baby and she and her widowed mother lived a very meager New York existence at first. At the age of 16 months, the child was already contributing to the household finances as a photographer's model, using a sundry of different monikers including Lenn Fondre, Lindley Dawn and Dawn O'Day. With this source of monetary inspiration, her mother sought work for her daughter in films as well, and at the age of 4, Anne (billed as Dawn O'Day) made her first feature with The Hidden Woman (1922). She showed enough promise in the film Moonshine Valley (1922), as a young girl who manages to reunite her separated parents, that she and her mother made a permanent move from New York to California. Scarce work for such a young child but Anne managed to find it with minor roles in The Rustle of Silk (1923) and The Spanish Dancer (1923) for Paramount Pictures. During her adolescence she often appeared in films as the leading stars' daughter such as Mother Knows Best (1928) with Madge Bellamy, The Sins of a Father (1923) starring Jean Arthur and Liliom (1930) with Charles Farrell. Often times times she would play the female star of the film as a child such as Janet Gaynor's in 4 Devils (1928), Frances Dee's in Rich Man's Folly (1931) and Barbara Stanwyck's in So Big! (1932).After a rash of unbilled parts, Anne was used by Vitaphone for a series of 1930s short subjects. By her teen years she had developed before the very eyes of Hollywood into a petite and lovely young brunette. Casting agents took notice. Following roles in Rasputin and the Empress (1932) with the three Barrymores and The Life of Jimmy Dolan (1933) starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Loretta Young, Anne was tested among hundreds of young aspirants and captured the role of Anne Shirley in Lucy Maud Montgomery's classic novel Anne of Green Gables (1934) imbuing the character with all the spirit and charm (not to mention talent) necessary. She officially became a teen celebrity after changing her moniker for the final time in conjunction with the release of the film.Prominant misty-eyed ingénue leads came her way as a result playing a swamp girl in Steamboat Round the Bend (1935) alongside Will Rogers and in M'Liss (1936) opposite John Beal, but her resume became littered with such meek "B" level comedies and/or weak dramas as Chasing Yesterday (1935), Too Many Wives (1937) and Meet the Missus (1937), that did little to advance her career. Finally at age 19, she found a role to match her "Green Gables" success playing Barbara Stanwyck's daughter in the classic weeper Stella Dallas (1937). The interaction between the two was magical and both Barbara and Anne were nominated for Oscars for their superb portrayals (Anne was listed in the supporting category). Both lost, however, to Luise Rainer and Alice Brady, respectively.During this time of major success, Anne met and eventually married actor John Payne in 1937. The popular Hollywood couple had one child, Julie Payne, who became an actress of her own for a time in the 1970s. Her subsequent career was full of promise but with every quality picture bestowed upon her, such as Vigil in the Night (1940) and All That Money Can Buy (1941), came a faltering one that hurt her career, including Career (1939) and West Point Widow (1941). Especially disappointing was her long-anticipated "Green Gables" sequel Anne of Windy Poplars (1940), which received very lackluster reviews.The still-young actress finished on top, however, opposite Dick Powell in the classic movie mystery Murder, My Sweet (1944). Divorced from John Payne in 1943, Anne decided to end her career after her second marriage to the movie's producer Adrian Scott in 1945, tiring of the Hollywood rat race she had endured since a child. Never an ambitious actress, Anne stayed with her career as long as she did primarily to please her mother. Her three-year marriage to Scott was unable to sustain the legal troubles of her husband's 1947 blacklisting (he was one of the "Hollywood 10" imprisoned during the McCarthy era for his communist affiliations). Her 1949 marriage to screenwriter Charles Lederer, the nephew of actress Marion Davies, was her longest and most fulfilling. Their son, Daniel, was born the following year. He inherited his father's writing talent and grew up to become a poet.Never tempted to resume her career at any time, she remained a charming and gracious socialite in the Hollywood circle. A painter on the side, she at one point entertained the thought of becoming a behind-the-scenes worker, such as a dialogue coach, but it was never pursued aggressively. Her husband's sudden death in 1976 triggered a severe emotional crisis for Anne, who turned for a time to alcohol. Recovered, she lived the rest of her life completely out of the limelight, dying in 1993 of lung cancer at age 75. Her granddaughter by daughter Julie (via her marriage to screenwriter Robert Towne) is the actress Katharine Towne, who has appeared in such films as Mulholland Dr. (2001).Not as well remembered as an actress of her award-worthy caliber should be, perhaps had Anne Shirley given Hollywood a longer tryout and added a bit more bite to her rather benign, sweetly sentimental image, her star wouldn't be as dim today. Nevertheless, she has unarguably preserved herself quite well on film.
Anne Shirley is a member of Actress

Age, Biography and Wiki

Who is it? Actress, Soundtrack
Birth Day April 19, 2017
Birth Place  New York City, New York, United States
Age 6 YEARS OLD
Birth Sign Taurus

💰 Net worth

Anne Shirley's net worth is estimated to range between $100,000 to $1 million in 2024. Best known as an actress and soundtrack artist in the United States, Anne Shirley has established herself as a talented and versatile performer. With a successful career spanning several years, she has been involved in numerous film and television projects, showcasing her exceptional acting skills and contributing to soundtracks. Her wide range of talents and professional accomplishments have not only earned her critical acclaim but have also led to substantial financial success, making her one of the prominent figures in the entertainment industry.

Famous Quotes:

"It was a pretty little play well photographed, but I think if I hadn't already known it was from my book, that I would never had recognized it. The landscape and folks were 'New England', never P.E Island...A skunk and an American flag were introduced-both equally unknown in PE Island. I could have shrieked with rage over the latter. Such crass, blatant Yankeeism!".

Biography/Timeline

1865

Anne Shirley was born in the (fictional) town of Bolingbroke, Nova Scotia and spent the earliest years of her childhood there. No specific birthdate is given, but references in later works suggest her date of birth is in March 1865, although a reference in Anne's House of Dreams to the Canadian federal election of 1896, when she was approximately 27, could be interpreted to date her birth to approximately the spring of 1869. At one point in Anne of Green Gables, Anne saves the Barry baby from an attack of croup while all of the adults have gone to Charlottetown to hear a speech by a Conservative Politician who wants to be prime minister, whose most notable facial feature is his huge bulbous nose. The Politician is not named, but his political affiliation and his prominent nose would strongly imply he is Sir John A. Macdonald, the hard-drinking Scotsman whose alcoholism gave him a bloated nose who served as Prime Minister from 1867-73 and again from 1878-91. In any event, Anne was orphaned as an infant of three months, when her parents, schoolteachers Walter and Bertha Shirley (née Willis), died of typhoid fever. Without any other relations, Anne was taken in by Mrs. Thomas, who had done housework for the Shirleys. After Mr. Thomas died, Anne went to live with the Hammond family for some years and was treated as little more than a servant until Mr. Hammond died, whereupon Mrs. Hammond divided her children amongst relatives and Anne was sent to the orphanage at Hopetown. She considered herself as "cursed" by twins — Mrs. Hammond had three sets of twins whom Anne helped raise.

1895

Anne's first two children (one of whom dies in infancy) are born in the House of Dreams, before Anne and Gilbert and their growing family reluctantly move to larger quarters. In a moment of theological reflection, Anne questions if the death of her child is the "will of God", using phrases exploring the theodical question of death and pain in a universe presided by a just God that are identical to those Montgomery used in her diary after her second son was stillborn. After Anne's loss, she and Leslie bond as the two women share their stories of pain as they "talk it out", leading them to hold hands and declare: "We are both women-and friends forever". Anne and Gilbert live the rest of their lives in Glen St. Mary, in a large house they name Ingleside. They have a total of seven children between approximately 1895-1900: Joyce (or "Joy") (who dies very soon after her birth at the House of Dreams), James Matthew ("Jem"), Walter Cuthbert, twin girls Diana ("Di") and Anne ("Nan"), Shirley (the youngest son), and Bertha Marilla ("Rilla"). Anne is quite ill after the births of both Joyce and Shirley, but recovers both times. A major Problem for Anne merges when Gilbert's obnoxious Aunt Mary Maria visits and refuses to leave, tormenting Anne in various ways.

1906

Anne's children enjoy a happy, even idyllic childhood, spending much of their time playing and adventuring in a nearby hollow they name Rainbow Valley. Anne is a permissive mother who is never stern with her children and plays hide-and-seek with them and other children in the cenetery. When the local Presbyterian minister objects, Anne replies: "Why did they ever build that manse beside the graveyard in the first place?". Anne's children are often bullied by nasty children, requiring their mother to provide with much consolation. When Shirley reads about the theory of a Jocasta complex in one of her husband's medical journals together with a warning about mothers kissing their children, she says: "A man of course! No woman would ever write anything so silly and wicked". At one point, Anne tries to resume her writing career, publishing very poetical obituary for a neighbor that is mocked as an "obitchery" by an ignorant, rude newspaper Editor, through it is well received by everyone else. Anne herself has a comfortable life, with a live-in maid (Susan Baker) who effectively runs the household and is also Shirley's primary caregiver after Anne falls ill giving birth to him. Upon recovering, Anne says: "I find I go on living". After Anne recovers, she is involved in various ladies' committees in town, and travels to Europe with Gilbert for an extended tour of the continent at one point, circa 1906.

1908

In addition to Anne of Green Gables (1908), Anne is the central character of subsequent novels written by Montgomery: Anne of Avonlea (1909), Anne of the Island (1915), Anne's House of Dreams (1917), Anne of Windy Poplars (1936; UK title Anne of Windy Willows), and Anne of Ingleside (1939). Other books in the Anne series include Rainbow Valley (1919), which focuses on Anne's children during their childhood, and Rilla of Ingleside (1921), which focuses on Anne's youngest daughter during World War I.

1912

In 1912, Anne of Green Gables was translated into Polish and published in a pirate edition in Warsaw with the book being credited to "Anne Montgomery". The book was extremely popular in Poland and during the Second World War, the Armia Krajowa resistance group issued editions of the book to remind its members what they were fighting for. For a time, Anne of Green Gables was banned in Communist Poland, and the book circulated in samizdat editions as Anne was seen as a symbol of individualism and an unwillingness to submit to authority, making her a popular heroine for those struggling against the Communist dictatorship. The Canadian scholar Mary Henley Rubio mentioned visiting Warsaw in 1984, where she saw a version of Anne of Green Gables being performed in a local theater, and that when the audience learned she was from Canada, she found herself mobbed by the audience who all wanted her autograph as she came from the same land as their beloved Anne.

1916

But the spectre of World War I changes things, and all three Blythe boys (as well as the fiancés of Nan and Rilla) eventually volunteer to fight in the war. The Blythe family, which follows the war closely, soon becomes familiar with far-away places such as Calais, Mons, Lodz, Ypres, Belgrade, Amiens, Prezemysl, Gallipoli, Antwerp and Kut al Amara. The sensitive and poetic Walter, the second of Anne's sons to volunteer, is killed at Courcelette in 1916. Jem is listed as missing at the war's conclusion, but after an agonizing five months, eventually emerges alive, having escaped from a POW camp. Montgomery knew John McCrae, the author of the poem In Flanders Fields, and she modeled Walter partly on him.

1919

The British scholar Faye Hammill observed that such is the popularity of Shirley that she has overshadowed her creator, L.M Montgomery as license plates in Prince Edward Island bear the slogan "P.E.I Home of Anne of Green Gables" rather than "P.E.I Birthplace of L.M Montgomery". The Actress Mary Miles Minter played Shirley in the 1919 film adaption of Anne of Green Gables later had her career ruined when the film Director william Desmond Taylor was murdered in 1922, and her name came up as a suspect, through she was never charged. When Minter attempted a comeback as an advice columnist later in the 1920s, she used the pen-name Anne Shirley in an attempt to restore her wholesome image, which had been ruined by the Taylor murder scandal. The Actress Dawn O'Day who played Shirley in the 1934 film adaption of Anne of Green Gables liked the character so much she legally changed her name to Anne Shirley. Montgomery during her youth had experiences of what she called "the flash"-moments of quiet contemplation of the beauty of nature when she was walking alone that gave her emotional ecstasy and what she regarded as the awareness of a higher spiritual power running through nature and her. Despite Montgomery's claim that Shirley was not autobiographical, the moments when Shirley experienced moments of a mystical communion with nature are almost word for word the same as Montgomery's descriptions of "the flash" in her diary.

1920

Much of the appeal of the Anne books was due to increased urbanization and industrialization in the early 20th century, which led many people to look back nostalgically to a romanticized rural idyll where people still lived the "simple life", which was how precisely how publishers marketed the Anne books at the time. In Canada itself, many intellectuals tended to see modernity as a threatening phenomenon, and in turn linked the more unpleasant aspects of modernity to the United States, which was viewed at the time as a rapacious, bullying nation intent upon devouring its neighbors. Much of the appeal of the character of Anne to Canadian critics at the time was as a symbol of the wholesome, friendly quality of Canadian life, where people still retained traditional values, unlike American Writers with their obsession with violence and sex in stories set in a depersonalized urban environment. Hammill observed that when some of the younger Canadian Writers in the 1920s-30 attempted to ape American Writers with unpleasant "realistic" stories focusing on sex and violence in the cities, they were denounced by the critics for their "American" stories with the obvious implication that such stories were not "Canadian". As urbanization gathered pace in the early 20th century, "regional literature" depicting life in rural regions gained popularity in the English-speaking world, and in the United States, Canadian literature was seen as a type of "regional literature" as Canada with its vast tracts of forests and farmland together with its British heritage, where the people were proud to be part of the British empire, which gave Canada a rather quaint image in the United States as a backward, rustic place, where the traditional values lived on. Having won their independence in the Revolutionary War, for Americans in the early 20th century it was almost incomprehensible that people in English-Canada should want to be part of the British empire, which gave Canada the image of a very conservative society in the United States in this era. Given these views of Canada, many Americans were inclined to share the Canadian view of Shirley as an iconic symbol of Canada.

1934

In the 1934 adaption of Anne of Green Gables, Anne Shirley was portrayed by Dawn O'Day, who later adopted the character's name as her own stage name. She reprised the role in Anne of Windy Poplars, a 1940 film adaption. Montgomery liked the 1934 film more than the 1919 film, not least because now the book's dialogue could be portrayed on the silver screen and that two scenes were filmed on location in Prince Edward Island (though the rest of the film was shot in California), but still charged that neither the 1919 nor 1934 versions of Anne of Green Gables quite got her book right. Writing about the 1934 version of Anne of Green Gables, Montgomery wrote in her diary that it was a "thousand times" better than the 1919 version, but still it: "was so entirely different from my vision of the scenes and the people that it did not seem like my book at all". The British scholar Faye Hammill wrote that 1934 film version stripped Anne of the "Canadian and feminist" aspects that the Anne of the books possessed, stating that there was something about Anne that Hollywood cannot get right. Hammill observed that the idea that Anne was entirely cheerful is a product of the film and television versions as the Anne of the books has to deal with loss, rejection, cruel authority figures, and loneliness.

1940

Though Anne gives up writing short stories shortly after becoming a mother, she continues to write poems throughout her life. These poems are regularly shared with the rest of the family, who offer comments, criticism and encouragement. Anne's later work expressed deep difficulties with coming to terms with Walter's demise, and with the idea of war; several characters comment that neither Anne nor Gilbert were ever quite the same after Walter's death. Still, the couple are utterly devoted to each other and their family, and as the saga concludes, circa 1940, the Blythes remain pillars of their community who have enjoyed a 50-year marriage.

1945

Akage no An (Red Haired Anne), as Shirley is known in Japan, is an extremely popular cultural icon in that country. From the time of the Meiji Restoration until 1945, the Japanese educational system (which was run jointly by the Army and Navy ministries) was designed to indoctrinate the students into Bushido ("the way of the warrior") as the fierce warrior code of the Samurai is called as the purpose of schools in Japan from the Meiji Restoration until the end of World War II was to train the boys to be Soldiers. The Japanese educational system unabashedly glorified war as the highest form of human activity and the idea that the Emperor of Japan was a living god, with the boys being taught it was the greatest honor to die for the Emperor while the girls were taught it was the greatest honor to have sons to die for the Emperor. Alongside the militarism of the educational system went a mood of marked xenophobia and outright racism with Japanese teachers during World War II telling their students that the Anglo-American "white devils" were cannibals whose favorite food was Asians. As part of the educational reforms during the American occupation (1945-52), it was decided that Japanese students needed something somewhat less militaristic and xenophobic to read than texts glorifying Bushido and Anne of Green Gables was made mandatory reading in Japanese schools in 1952. Additionally, as part of the educational reforms in Japan, there was an effort to reduce the previous rampant xenophobia that characterized Japanese teaching until 1945, and it was felt the wholesome, loveable character of Shirley would provide Japanese students with an Example of how people in the West were not "white devils" as their government had told them during the war. As there were many orphans left over from World War II in 1952 Japan, the character of Shirley instantly caught on in Japan and has been one of the most loved characters in Japan since that time. Much of the appeal of Akage no An lies in her ability to rise above any situation due to her pluck and her willingness to challenge “that most formidable of Japanese dragons, the bossy older matron.”

1970

Anne was portrayed by Kim Braden in two BBC mini-series in the early 1970s, based upon the books Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea.

1979

In 1979, Japan's World Masterpiece Theater produced Akage no Anne. Later, in 2009, the prequel novel Before Green Gables was adapted into an anime, Kon'nichiwa Anne: Before Green Gables, in which Anne also appears as the central character.

2005

In 2005, Sullivan produced an animated reimagining of the story, Anne: Journey to Green Gables, with McKenzie Sullivan providing the voice of Anne.

2009

Anne also appears and is mentioned in Chronicles of Avonlea and Further Chronicles of Avonlea, though the bulk of the stories in these volumes are about other characters. In The Blythes Are Quoted (published in an abridged format as The Road to Yesterday and in a restored, unabridged edition in 2009), Anne is a peripheral character as a grandmother with several grandchildren, at least three of whom are preparing to enlist in the Canadian army during the opening days of World War II. These were among the last stories Montgomery wrote before her death in 1942.

2014

Shirley is so popular in Japan that there is The Anne Academy in Fukuoka that teaches girls how to speak English with a Maritime accent while in Okayama there is The School of Green Gables, a nursing school that teaches young women how to behave like Shirley. Hanako Muraoka, the Japanese woman who translated Anne of Green Gables into Japanese, has become a Celebrity in her own right solely for translating the book, and in 2014 NHK aired a television mini-series titled Hanako to Anne about Muraoka's life and her struggle to get Anne of Green Gables translated and published in Japan. Hanako to Anne which aired between March-September 2014 was a great rating success, getting an average of 22% viewership in the Kanto region (the most populous part of Japan), and caused a doubling of Japanese tourists to Prince Edward island. The series, which starred Yuriko Yoshitaka as Muraoka, suggested that there were many parallels between Muraoka's life and Anne's, and thus was a sort of retelling of Anne's life in the late Meiji, Taishō and early Shōwa periods of Japanese history. In 1993, a theme park called Canadian World opened in Hokkaido whose most popular attraction was a reproduction of Green Gables. In 2010, the Globe and Mail wrote: "It could almost be declared that Anne's true home isn't rural Prince Edward Island any more. It's Japan, where Lucy Maud Montgomery's tale of Anne and her pigtailed innocence remains so popular that it has become ingrained in the national consciousness since the book's original Japanese translation as Red-Haired Anne in 1952." In 2014, the Japanese diplomat Eiji Yamamoto told a Journalist from the Toronto Star: "Even though she's an orphan, Anne is a free spirit, she says anything she wants. In the years after World War II, the Japanese people were poor. There were many orphans. And people had lost hope. They were anxious. Anne is an optimist. She helped people get courage."

2016

In 2016, a 90-minute movie was made (L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables) with Ella Ballentine as Anne Shirley, Sara Botsford as Marilla Cuthbert, and Martin Sheen as Matthew Cuthbert. This was followed by sequels in 2017, entitled Anne of Green Gables: The Good Stars and Anne of Green Gables: Fire & Dew.

2017

Anne was portrayed by Amybeth McNulty in the 2017 CBC series Anne.

Some Anne Shirley images

About the author

Lisa Scholfield

As a Senior Writer at Famous Net Worth, I spearhead an exceptional team dedicated to uncovering and sharing the stories of pioneering individuals. My passion for unearthing untold narratives drives me to delve deep into the essence of each subject, bringing forth a unique blend of factual accuracy and narrative allure. In orchestrating the editorial workflow, I am deeply involved in every step—from initial research to the final touches of publishing, ensuring each biography not only informs but also engages and inspires our readership.