Volume III: Biographies

DREW, Ann *

Actress (1912-1913)

Postcard courtesy Thanhouser Company Film Preservation, Inc.

Thanhouser Career Synopsis: Ann Drew appeared in Thanhouser films in 1912 and 1913.

Biographical Notes: Ann Drew was born in New York in 1891, and is said to have entered films in 1909 with American Biograph, where she was hired by D.W. Griffith. She played in Thanhouser films in 1912. At the Thanhouser employees' outing on September 7, 1912 she won the ladies' bowling contest. Ann Drew went to the West Coast with members of the Thanhouser stock company in late 1912. When the Thanhouser players left Los Angeles for New Rochelle on April 30, 1913, Ann Drew remained behind and was transferred to the Majestic company, which was controlled by Charles J. Hite and which occupied the just-vacated Thanhouser West Coast studio. For Majestic, her first release was The Fraternity Pin, which was distributed beginning June 1, 1913.

The "From the Inside" column by Jean Darnell, in the August 1913 issue of The Photoplay Magazine, contained this item: "Ann Drew, who was recruited to the Majestic from the Thanhouser forces before they left for the East, says she is getting to be a regular Westerner now. Of course, we all remember how Ann cried when the Thanhouser bunch pulled out from the station and left her there. But now she's a full-fledged Westerner. Hurrah! - She should worry!"

In September 1913, her marriage to H.D. Turner was announced, to the surprise of her friends. For a time her name was designated as Ann Drew-Turner. Ann Drew remained in films through the 1920s. She died on February 6, 1974 in Miami, Florida.

Thanhouser Filmography:

1912: Put Yourself in His Place (10-29-1912), The Forest Rose (11-29-1912), A Militant Suffragette (12-29-1912)

1913: When Dreams Come True (2-28-1913)

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