Where is Anne Whitfield, who appeared in the movie White Christmas?

Question

Anne Whitfield starred as Susan Waverly in White Christmas (1954). Other than the numerous shows she has appeared on, there is no information on her anywhere. Where is she now? Where can I find biographical information?

Answer 1

there u go click on link
http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0925914/

Answer 2

Anne Whitfield

Answer 3

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
Where is Anne Whitfield, who appeared in the movie White Christmas?
Anne Whitfield starred as Susan Waverly in White Christmas (1954). Other than the numerous shows she has appeared on, there is no information on her anywhere. Where is she now? Where can I find biographical information?

Answer 4

Anne Whitfield she is my Mothers Cousin.
She Runs a Bed and Breakfast. She is Related the the Zwiers. I've Been trying to get more information from this side of my Family to Post it.

Answer 5

Her birthday is August 27, 1938 and as of today (Friday December 4, 2015) she is 77 years old. That is all I have been able to find on her. I have been looking for years on getting information on her.

Answer 6

Her IMDB page

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0925914/

There isn't much biographical information however, I checked around a few sites and the barely give her birthdate.

Answer 7

don't know where she is now, but imdb doesn't tell much.. found this on the internet with lots of info on her past... per http://www.radiospirits.info/2014/08/27/happy-birthday-anne-whitfield/

At the height of The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show’s popularity, radio audiences were often curious to know whether the children on the program—based on the couple’s real-life offspring, Alice Faye and Phyllis Wanda Harris—were played by their actual daughters in the same manner as the sons of another bandleader and his wife on their sitcom (referring, of course, to David and Ricky Nelson). Old-time radio devotees know, of course, that the role of “Little” Alice was essayed by Jeanine Roos…and in the part of young Phyllis, a radio veteran who began her long show business career at the age of seven by uttering the words: “I want another slice of bread.” This actress is none other than Anne Whitfield, and she turns seventy-six today.

Anne was born on this date in Oxford, Mississippi…but her radio career kicked off when her parents migrated to California in August of 1945. Her entry into show business was a bit unconventional; she had no professional contacts or experience in the field, but that didn’t stop her mother from knocking on doors, trying to see anyone who would give her daughter an audition. One door that was not shut in the Whitfields’ face belonged to Carlton E. Morse, the creative force behind I Love a Mystery and One Man’s Family. Morse had received a letter from Mrs. Whitfield and he allowed young Anne to read some Family scripts as an audition. Anne performed in the show’s commercial (that’s where the slice of bread comes in) and two weeks afterward had been assigned the role of Penny, the daughter of Claudia and Nick. Whitfield enjoyed a long association with One Man’s Family; she played Penny on the radio version till nearly the end of its long broadcast run…and when the program briefly transitioned to TV, she played the part of Claudia (Penny’s radio mom!).

Numerous radio jobs followed in the wake of Anne’s success on Family: she appeared on such soap operas as Doctor Paul (indulging in a bit of transgenderism by emoting as young Christopher Martin) and Doorway to Life, and made the rounds on such series as The Lux Radio Theatre, The Lady Esther Screen Guild Theater, Family Theater, The Great Gildersleeve, The Life of Riley, The Halls of Ivy and Cavalcade of America. She also worked with radio comedians George Burns & Gracie Allen, Jack Carson and Fanny Brice—on Brice’s Baby Snooks series, Anne was frequently heard as the snobbish Pamela Richardson, daughter of the local banker (played by Alan Reed). She later replaced actress Gloria McMillan as Harriet Conklin on the radio version of Our Miss Brooks in the program’s final years.

Anne Whitfield’s signature role was as the younger daughter of Phil Harris and his actress wife, Alice Faye on their hit series…and she handled much of the program’s sharply written dialogue like a consummate pro. In the classic Christmas broadcast where Jack Benny is recruited to play Santa Claus, Little Alice can be heard admonishing her sister not to backslide on her good behavior or else she won’t receive any of Jolly St. Nick’s gift largesse. “Don’t crack up now,” Little Alice warns her younger sib, “you’ve been so good for so long.” “I know,” retorts Phyllis. “But as Daddy always says, ‘It ain’t been easy, Clyde.’”

Anne would play Phyllis when the Harris-Faye show began as The Fitch Bandwagon in the fall of 1946, and went the distance until The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show left the airwaves in June of 1954. That same year, Anne Whitfield played young Susan Waverly in the popular holiday movie White Christmas; Anne’s movie career wasn’t quite as prolific as the one on radio, but she graced such gems as The Gunfighter (1950), The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima (1952), Juvenile Jungle (1958), Senior Prom (1958) and The New Interns (1964). Fans of classic TV shows will also come across her many guest appearances on hit series such as Father Knows Best, The Donna Reed Show, Bonanza, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, Gunsmoke, Rawhide and Perry Mason. Anne remained true to her radio roots, appearing on such revival shows as Heartbeat Theatre and The Hollywood Radio Theatre. She’s also been a frequent (and most welcomed) presence at old-time radio conventions and reenactments.

Answer 8

Note: Anne Whitfield is presently running a Bed and Breakfast in the Pacific Northwest.

ANNE WHITFIELD

ANNE WHITFIELD, former actress, portrayed Phyllis, the younger daughter of Alice Faye and Phil Harris, on their weekly radio show in the late 1940s and early l950s. We contacted her and she agreed to share with us the following:

Anne’s recollections of Alice:


Alice Faye was nice and I really idolized her. At ten years of age, it was my aspiration to grow up and be like her. I thought she was a wonderful role model - - very refined, beautiful, and well-groomed. I remember that the seams in her stockings were always SO straight.

I waited with anticipation each Christmas to see what gifts Alice would give me and Jeanine (Jeanine Roose played Alice, Jr., the older daughter of Alice and Phil). The gifts were always from Bullocks Wilshire, and they were exquisite.

Because Alice refused to fly, we would travel by train to Chicago and New York for the last shows of the season, and it was all luxury at its best.

I remember going to Washington, D.C. for the Harry Truman inauguration. Originally, Jeanine and I were to be part of the show, but it ran too long into the night, and our parts were scrapped, to our great relief and our mothers' disappointment.

I was born in Mississippi in 1938. My mother was screen-struck and wanted to go to Hollywood and become an actress. My mom TAUGHT drama and speech – that was OK with her puritanical father – but she wasn’t allowed to perform and she wanted to. Short of her own success in movies and/or radio, she had a daughter who she thought was very talented. I would put on shows back in Georgia for family and neighbors, which included acrobatic dancing and dressing up like movie stars, and I was an early reader. In 1944, my mother drove the two of us on Route 66 out to Hollywood. My father was fighting in the Pacific. Before the war, he had been director of bands at Ole Miss, but gave it up for the move to Los Angeles. He then worked for the Veterans Administration.

Mother had written letters to radio producers in Hollywood, suggesting if they had any parts for a six year old they should consider Anne, as she could read very well. The letter that paid off was the one to Carlton Morse, producer/director/writer of ONE MAN’S FAMILY. I got the part of a seven year old whose family had been caught in the war in Germany and had come home. I still had a southern accent, but Mr. Morse masked it by having me speak only German at first (“Penelope” had ended up in a concentration camp, traumatized and separated from her family).

During ONE MAN’S FAMILY, I also had a part on Mr. Morse’s HIS HONOR THE BARBER and then a running part on CISCO KID. In time I had a running part on the FANNY BRICE SHOW, but ONE MAN’S FAMILY was the longest-running gig I had, and it even lurked in the background while I was doing the PHIL HARRIS/ALICE FAYE SHOW for six years.

As I remember, I auditioned for the PHIL HARRIS/ALICE FAYE SHOW more than once. I felt pressured to get the part and felt like maybe I had a slight advantage because I still had a bit of a southern accent, and Phil was from The South.

Q. What goes in to making a PHIL HARRIS/ALICE FAYE SHOW?

A. Well, there were rehearsals sitting around a table. The show was a comedy, and the writers were like the stars of it, and so they would laugh at their own jokes uproariously when you are reading one of their jokes. If it doesn’t work, then immediately everything stops and they do rewrites, so you are scribbling on the script like crazy. That’s a run-through. Then you get up and do it in front of the microphone and they gradually add in the sound effects and the music. There are several run-throughs with fewer and fewer stops by the director to correct something, and then the dress rehearsal. Then you have a show with a live audience and a warm-up ahead of the show where the announcer came out. Then Phil came out, and they would do things to warm up the audience. There was this warm-up for like a half an hour or at least fifteen minutes before the show. The thing I remember about the PHIL HARRIS/ALICE FAYE SHOW was that the announcer had this funny way to condition the audience to laugh. He’d be standing up and wearing probably a suit or a sport coat with trousers, and he would grab his pants at the knee and jiggle them up and down on one leg, just one leg, toward the audience. Somehow he conditioned the audience to laugh when he did that. So whenever they did a joke on the show and they wanted laughter from the audience, the announcer would come out and jiggle his pants.



Q. So, who is teaching you how to act? Who is teaching you comedic timing? Is the Director directing you? Do you feel like you are acting or like you are reading a script?

A. As far as the acting, I think I did have some talent, so I had an instinct how to do it, but the comedy thing really takes more experience and technique, and I really didn’t have any of it. My mother didn’t have any. She kept telling me how to read lines, when to pause, which word to emphasize, and stuff like that. In fact, she even had me mimicking her on certain things, but the comedy thing I just had to learn by doing. Fanny Brice taught me about when to come in after a laugh. You don’t come in after the laugh, you come in when the laugh is about 80% finished; and you have to project, otherwise you won’t be heard.



Q. So you were learning on the job?

A. Yes, exactly. Pretty stressful.



Q. How many years were you on the PHIL HARRIS/ALICE FAYE SHOW?

A. I think I started at eight years of age and finished at thirteen or fourteen.



Q. What was it like when there was a guest star?

A. I only remember Jack Benny and Dennis Day.



Q. When you were at a table read, who was sitting beside you?

A. Probably Jeanine, who played my older sister.



Q. How did Alice and Phil treat you? Were they maternal/paternal toward you?

A. Not especially. The only time they were particularly warm was at Christmas. There was a generation gap there, and I don’t think the people there were particularly mentoring to kid actors. I was just supposed to be professional –

don’t drop the script, pick up my cues, and don’t flub on the air.



Q. Since it was a comedy, was it a fun set?

A. Not really. You might think so. Comedy is the hardest, and these writers were just so nervous.


Mr. Morse didn’t like to share his cast with other shows, so when the PHIL HARRIS/ALICE FAYE SHOW ended, he brought me back into ONE MAN’S FAMILY.

I think the PHIL HARRIS/ALICE FAYE SHOW ended because Phil and Alice didn’t want to do it anymore, not because it lost popularity.

ANNE WHITFIELD

May 2, 2013

Note: Anne Whitfield is presently running a Bed and Breakfast in the Pacific Northwest.