Introduction
In Hollywood’s Golden Age, there were many comediennes who avoided the perils of typecasting. This was mainly due to their diverse array of talents. Claudette Colbert could just as easily have won an Academy Award for the iconic comedy It Happened One Night (1934) while playing a stalwart mother in the tearjerker Since You Went Away (1944). Irene Dunne’s soprano voice garnered her praise in Showboat (1936). This was before she was a comedic revelation alongside Cary Grant in The Awful Truth (1937).
Ann Sothern also was one such star. She delighted audiences for seven decades with her beautiful voice and her zest for comedy. Many would agree that she belongs in that elite group of comediennes, alongside Lucille Ball, Carole Lombard, and Rosalind Russell, among others.
Humble Beginnings
Ann Sothern was born Harriette Lake in Valley City, North Dakota on January 22, 1909. She no doubt received her passion for show business from her mother who was a touring concert singer and a diction coach. She sadly experienced the abandonment of her father at the age of five, when he left the family. Despite that family struggle, she would eventually begin to take notice of her gifts in acting and singing.
While in high school, she earned distinction as a composer. This led to her being selected to participate in a national contest. By the time high school ended, her mother had started working as a singing teacher in Hollywood. It was these connections and circumstances which led to her being cast in bit parts in various films. This began with Broadway Nights, released in 1927. Unfortunately, many of these parts were uncredited and did not give her the exposure she needed.
As most struggling actresses did during the early years of the Great Depression, Sothern also tried her hand on Broadway. She missed a grand opportunity out of jealousy when Florenz Ziegfeld offered her a part in Smiles (1930). However, she lost the part when the star Marilyn Miller had her removed out of fear of competition. Despite this setback, she was able to work in the musical Of Thee I Sing (1931), which toured for seven months. When the show hit Broadway, she replaced Lois Moran and Columbia Pictures took notice.
Before the success of It Happened One Night, Columbia Pictures was one of the “poverty row” studios. They were always looking for new talent on the cheap. Sothern was signed by the studio and immediately began working in lightweight comedies and musicals. She appeared in four films with Eddie Cantor. Starting with Let’s Fall in Love (1933), Sothern also worked in a film with Maurice Chevalier in Folies-Bergere (1935). Despite getting positive notices, she soon grew tired of these marginal roles and wanted more. By 1936, she was married to fellow actor Roger Pryor, and as she once stated:
“I was just so sick of those pictures, I decided I wasn’t going to do them anymore.”
Dropped by Columbia Pictures in 1936, Ann Sothern went to RKO Radio Pictures. However, the roles she received there were similar to what she had done for Columbia. Her career soon stagnated. From 1936-37, she appeared in four romantic comedies with actor Gene Raymond, beginning with Walking on Air (1936) and ending with She’s Got Everything (1937). By this time, Gene Raymond was also on the downside of his career. Further, Sothern was still being offered roles only in “B” pictures. It was evident that RKO was not working to advance her career. However, Sothern’s fortunes changed in 1938.
Breakthrough and Further Success
The opening that Sothern desperately needed to revitalize her career ironically came in a supporting role in an “A” picture featuring Fredric March, Trade Winds (1938). In this film, she plays March’s secretary, who is on a murder case that leads to his pursuit of the suspect, played beautifully by Joan Bennett. New York Times critic Frank Nugent wrote:
“Ann Sothern is surprisingly successful as the leech on the bloodhound”
Despite the great cast which also included Thomas Mitchell and Ralph Bellamy, the film only barely made a profit. Her performance earned her another opportunity this time with the most prestigious studio of them all, Metro-Goldwyn Mayer.
In 1939, Sothern scored the lead role in a film that was originally purchased for Jean Harlow prior to her death in 1937. The script was about a wisecracking, down-on-her-luck woman named Maisie. It was intended to be a “B” picture but became a surprise hit for the studio. The film featured her second pairing with Robert Young, who several years later would work again with Sothern in a much bigger film, Lady Be Good (1942).
Maisie (1939) was such a success for the studio, that it led to nine more Maisie films featuring Sothern, concluding with Undercover Maisie (1947). Despite her success, Sothern still had not received the plum roles that she yearned for. MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer would not yield to her pleas for better roles. Sothern recalled that Mayer would always respond to her pleas by responding:
“No. Your movies pay for our mistakes”
Mayer’s sentiments were reasonable considering that MGM had experienced great success with movie serials such as the Andy Hardy movies with Mickey Rooney, and the Thin Man series with William Powell and Myrna Loy.
In between the Maisie films, Sothern did have the opportunity to work with other elite actors in other distinguished films. For instance, she once again showed her flair for comedy alongside heavyweights Edward G. Robinson and Humphrey Bogart, in Brother Orchid (1940). The film was a hit for Warner Brothers, and Sothern received glowing reviews. Sothern then teamed up once again with Robert Young in the musical comedy Lady Be Good (1941).
This film embodied Sothern’s talents as a comedienne and singer more than any of her preceding roles. In this film, she plays the wife of Young while also being his songwriter. Their marriage includes professional success and insecurity from Young which threatens to tear the marriage apart. In between their struggles, Sothern saves the day with her creativity and beautiful singing.
Sothern’s rendition of the song The Last Time I saw Paris won the Oscar for best song in 1942. The film was such a hit due in part to the ongoing Second World War. Owing to the film’s popularity, the U.S. Air Force named one of their planes, the “Lady Be Good” which eventually met its demise over the Libyan desert in 1943.
1943 proved to be a significant year for Sothern professionally and personally. She remarried, this time to actor Robert Sterling who worked with her in Ringside Maisie (1941). This second marriage produced Sothern’s only child Patricia, who herself would eventually be an actress. Sothern also did a noteworthy picture that featured an all-female cast, called Cry Havoc (1943). The film showcased Sothern’s versatility in a dramatic role as one member of a group of army nurses stationed in the pacific.
The stellar cast included Margaret Sullavan, Joan Blondell, Ella Raines, and Fay Bainter. The film proved successful for MGM and Sothern in particular. Sothern ended the 1940s with her finest role, in A Letter to Three Wives (1949). Sothern is one of a group of three married friends, who receives a letter informing them that one of their husbands has left them for a mutual friend. The film is considered a masterpiece by legendary director Joseph L. Mankiewicz and includes the plot unfolding via flashbacks from the three friends.
Sothern conveys the depth and warmth of character that she had always desired from her film career. The great cast including Linda Darnell, Jeanne Crain, Kirk, and Paul Douglas, made this into a classic which earned Mankiewicz two Oscars for best screenplay and best director. If Sothern had received roles like this earlier in her career, it’s reasonable to conclude that she would have achieved the stature in prominence that fellow comediennes Irene Dunne and Claudette Colbert achieved.
Transition to Television
After the success of A Letter to Three Wives, Sothern did receive a few meatier roles than what she was accustomed to. In Shadow on the Wall (1950), Sothern played the role of a woman who murders her sister after finding out she had an affair with her fiance. The New York Times commented that:
“Sothern, turns in a polished portrayal, but seems out of character as the worried villainess of the piece”
Southern played a supporting role to Anne Baxter in The Blue Gardenia (1953), directed by Fritz Lang. The film received mediocre reviews, but Variety magazine singled out Ann Sothern for praise. Variety stated that:
“…Sothern breathes life into a stock character and quips…”