Biography for Evelyn Ankers
Evelyn Ankers as Gwen
Upon the death of his brother, Larry Talbot returns from America to his ancestral home in Wales. He visits a gypsy camp with village girl Jenny Williams, who is attacked by Bela, a gypsy who has turned into a werewolf. Larry kills the werewolf but is bitten during the fight. Bela's mother tells him that this will cause him to become a werewolf at each full moon. Larry confesses his plight to his unbelieving father, Sir John, who then joins the villagers in a hunt for the wolf. Larry, transformed by the full moon, heads for the forest and a fateful meeting with both Sir John and Gwen.
Biography for Evelyn Ankers
Date of birth
17 August 1918
Valparaiso, Chile
Date of death
29 August 1985
Haiku, Maui, Hawaii, USA.
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Evelyn Ankers was born in Valparaiso, Chile on August 17, 1918. She would be interested in acting at an early age, participating in school productions. At 18, Evelyn struck out on her own in search of a career. As with all struggling actresses, she haunted casting offices in search of a part, any part. In 1936 she landed a bit role in REMBRANDT. For the next two years and seven films, that would be the extent of her on screen exploits. It was almost like magic when Evelyn turned 20. She landed the second lead next to Edward Ashley in 1938's THE VILLIERS DIAMOND. For unknown reason's Evelyn's schedule went flat after that year. She had made five fairly good movies and would not be seen again until she returned to the screen in 1941's BACHELOR DADDY. For the balance of the 1940's Evelyn was swamped making films, 38 of them. Most of the films were horror pictures such as THE GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN (1942), THE MAD GHOUL (1943), THE PEARL OF DEATH (1944), and THE FROZEN GHOST (1945). Even though her movies were not exactly "top of the line", Evelyn did have a following in the "B" picture genre. No wonder she was known as the "Queen of the Screamers". No one could give a blood-chilling scream like Evelyn could. By the time she made THE TEXAN MEETS CALAMITY JANE (1950), where she had the lead, she was to appear in no other flicks until 1960. That year she was 42 when she appeared in 1960's BO GREATER LOVE. After that she retired. She lived out her remaining days in Hawaii. It was there she died of ovarian cancer on August 29, 1985. She was 67 years old.
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Trivia
She was called "Queen of the Screamers", on account of her blood- curdling vocal outbursts in "B" suspense thrillers of the 40's.
Ankers was engaged to actor Glenn Ford, but Ankers broke the engagement when she met Richard Denning (I) while Ford was on location.
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Biography from Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia:
If Fay Wray was the "Scream Queen" of the 1930s, then this handsome, auburn-haired leading lady surely held that title in the 1940s. Of British parentage, she embarked on her film career in the U.K., appearing in such films as Rembrandt (1936), Fire Over England, Knight Without Armour, Wings of the Morning (all 1937), The Villiers Diamond (her first lead), and Murder in the Family (both 1938, opposite an equally youthful Jessica Tandy). She came to Hollywood after Britain had been attacked by the Nazis, and was contracted by Universal in 1941. Her first break came in the Abbott and Costello starrer Hold That Ghost (1941); immediately after, she costarred opposite Lon Chaney, Jr., in the smash hit The Wolf Man That pretty much sealed her fate, and for the next few years she exercised her larynx in Ghost of Frankenstein, Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror (both 1942), Son of Dracula, Captive Wild Woman, The Mad Ghoul (all 1943), The Invisible Man's Revenge, Jungle Woman (both 1944), and The Frozen Ghost (1945). She occasionally got to play a villainess, as in 1944's Weird Woman and the Sherlock Holmes entry The Pearl of Death And to be fair, there were some nonhorror films among Ankers' Universal output, too, among them His Butler's Sister (1943), Ladies Courageous and Pardon My Rhythm (both 1944).
Ankers worked less frequently on-screen after leaving Universal in 1946, turning up in Queen of Burlesque, The French Key (both 1946), The Lone Wolf in London (1947), Tarzan's Magic Fountain (1949), and The Texan and Calamity Jane (1950, as Jane). Her only noteworthy appearance thereafter was in a 1960 religious film, No Greater Love She was married to actor Richard Denning, and they eventually retired to Hawaii, where she was content to stay out of camera range for the remainder of her life.
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No Greater Love (1960)
Texan Meets Calamity Jane, The (1950) .... Calamity Jane
Parole, Inc. (1949) .... Jojo Dumont
Tarzan's Magic Fountain (1949) .... Gloria James Jessup
... aka Tarzan and the Arrow of Death (1949) (USA)
Lone Wolf in London, The (1947) .... Iris Chatham
Last of the Redmen (1947) .... Alice Munro
... aka Last of the Redskins (1947) (UK)
Spoilers of the North (1947) .... Laura Reed
Flight to Nowhere (1946) .... Kathie Forrest
Black Beauty (1946) .... Evelyn Carrington
Queen of Burlesque (1946) .... Crystal McCoy
French Key, The (1946) .... Janet Morgan
Fatal Witness, The (1945) .... Priscilla Ames
Frozen Ghost, The (1945) .... Maura Daniel
Pardon My Rhythm (1944) .... Julia Munson
Bowery to Broadway (1944) .... Bonnie Latour
Pearl of Death, The (1944) .... Naomi Drake
Invisible Man's Revenge, The (1944) .... Julie Herrick
Jungle Woman (1944/I) .... Beth
Follow the Boys (1944) .... Herself
... aka Three Cheers for the Boys (1944) (USA)
Weird Woman (1944) .... Ilona Carr
Ladies Courageous (1944) .... Wilhelmina Van Kronk
... aka Fury in the Sky (1944) (USA: reissue title)
Crazy House (1943) .... Cameo appearance
His Butler's Sister (1943) .... Elizabeth Campbell
Keep 'Em Slugging (1943) .... Sheila
You're a Lucky Fellow, Mr. Smith (1943) .... Lynn Smith
Hers to Hold (1943) .... Flo Simpson
Mad Ghoul, The (1943) .... Isabel Lewis
Son of Dracula (1943) .... Claire Caldwell
All by Myself (1943) .... Jean Wells
Captive Wild Woman (1943) .... Beth Colman
Eagle Squadron (1942) .... Nancy Mitchell
Pierre of the Plains (1942) .... Celia Wellsby
Great Impersonation, The (1942) .... Muriel Dominey
Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror (1942) .... Kitty, Gavin's Wife
... aka Voice of Terror (1942) (UK)
Ghost of Frankenstein, The (1942) .... Elsa Frankenstein
North to the Klondike (1942) .... Mary Sloan
Bachelor Daddy (1941) .... Beth Chase
... aka Sandy Steps Out (1941)
Burma Convoy (1941) .... Ann McBragel
Wolf Man, The (1941) .... Gwen Conliffe
Hold That Ghost (1941) .... Norma Lind
... aka Oh, Charlie (1941)
Hit the Road (1941) .... Patience Ryan
Claydon Treasure Mystery, The (1938) .... Rosemary Claydon
Coming of Age (1938) .... Christine Squire
Murder in the Family (1938) .... Dorothy Osborne
Second Thoughts (1938) .... Molly Frame
... aka Crime of Peter Frame, The (1938)
Villiers Diamond, The (1938) .... Joan
Bells of St. Mary's (1937) .... Village girl
Over the Moon (1937) (uncredited) .... Girl
Knight Without Armour (1937) (uncredited) .... Bit Part
... aka Knight Without Armor (1937) (USA)
Wings of the Morning (1937) (uncredited) .... Bit Part
Fire Over England (1937) (uncredited) .... Bit Part
Land Without Music (1936) (uncredited) .... A Lady of the Court (segment "Who said Carlini?")
... aka Forbidden Music (1938) (USA)
Rembrandt (1936) (uncredited) .... Girl
