Ann Rutherford

On television, she portrayed Suzanne Pleshette's mother on the popular Bob Newhart Show during the 1970s. She won a Tony Award in 1990 for Actress in a Play for Lettice and Lovage. On radio, Ann Rutherford replaced Penny Singleton as Blondie. She played the title character in the stage production of Alan Bennett's Lady in the Van and starred as Peter Pan in Sir J.M.Baries fairytale story "Peter Pan". She retired from films in 1950, but returned to her old studio in 1972 to make They Only Kill Their Masters on the old Andy Hardy set. She has two sons by Stephens, actors Toby Stephens and Chris Larkin. She left MGM to freelance in the early 1940s, starring in such films as Orchestra Wives (1942) (with the Glen Miller Orchestra), Two O'Clock Courage (1945) and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947). She has been married twice, first to Robert Stephens (divorced) and then to Beverley Cross (his death).

She also starred in a series of mystery/comedies with Red Skelton (Whistling in the Dark (1941), Whistling in Dixie (1942), and Whistling in Brooklyn (1943)). In 1969 she won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. From 1937 until 1942, she portrayed Polly Benedict in the very successful Andy Hardy series. She started her career at the Oxford Playhouse Theatre with Frank Shelley, and first appeared on the movie screen in 1956. She was loaned to Selznick International to appear as Careen O'Hara in Gone With The Wind (1939). She received numerous honours throughout her career, culminating in a DBE in 1990. At MGM, she appeared in such films as A Christmas Carol (1938) and Pride and Prejudice (1940). Dame Margaret Natalie Smith Cross DBE (born December 28, 1934 in Ilford, Essex), better known as Maggie Smith, is a British film, stage, and television actress.

Afterward, she was placed under contract with MGM. Mascot merged with Republic Pictures, and Miss Rutherford soon established herself as a popular leading lady of Westerns with Gene Autry and John Wayne. She began her film career in starring roles in Waterfront Lady for Mascot Pictures in 1935. At an early age, she performed in various radio shows.

Miss Rutherford was born in Toronto, Canada. In the long-running, Academy Award-winning Andy Hardy film series, she played Polly twelve times, with the last appearance being in Andy Hardy's Double Life in 1942. It was in 1938 that her first notable role came as Andy Hardy's girlfriend, Polly Benedict, in Judge Hardy's Children. She appeared in seventeen films between 1935 and 1938.

Her first film role was in Melody Trail in 1935. She has had a long career starring and co-starring in films. Ann Rutherford (November 2, 1920 - ) is a Canadian/American actress in film, radio, and television.