Remembering Ann Sheridan

Putting the "oomph" back in "The Oomph Girl"

Ann Sheridan Trivia


Ann Sheridan was named after a neighbor, Clara Evans. Appeared under her real name through 1935.



Was named Max Factor's "Girl of the Year" for 1939. Was used as a body double (hands, legs, shoulders) while at Paramount.



Was Frank Capra's first choice for the role of Ann Mitchell in Meet John Doe (1941) but she was vetoed by Warner Bros. in a contract dispute.



Due to her being known as "The Oomph Girl" Ann Sheridan later became the inspiration for the brand of woman's house-slippers called "Oomphies".



Her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is located at 7024 Hollywood Blvd.



After making San Quentin (1937), in which they played brother and sister, Ann Sheridan and Humphrey Bogart became friends and began referring to each other as "Sister Annie" and "Brother Bogie".



She was the original choice for Panama Smith in The Roaring Twenties (1939). The role eventually went to Gladys George.



Measurements: 36-25-35 1/2 (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine)



In 1952 was included by the Fashion Academy of New York in the eight best dressed women of America.



Her biography on "This Is Your Life" (1952) was canceled because she found out in advance what was being planned.



In her will, she asked that her cremated remains be placed in a columbarium at a cemetery in Los Angeles.



Her biographer Karen McHale discovered that the actress' instructions had not been followed and arranged to have her final wishes fulfilled. Hollywood Forever Cemetery donated a niche and held a dignified service (presided over by her cousin, the Rev. Sallie Watson) on February 21, 2005 - which would have been her 90th birthday.



Warner Bros. was eager to portray Ann as a "Girl about town," so her contract demanded that she hit the nightclubs at least three times a week.



According to an article in The Newark Evening News, Ann kept busy during her 1941 strike from Warner Bros. by rebuilding abandoned cars at a friend's garage.



In 1939 a fraternity bet inspired a UCLA student to handcuff himself to Ann during a movie premiere and then swallow the key. A locksmith had to be summoned to the theatre to unlock her.



Had a large gap between her front teeth. She always wore a porcelain cap when having her picture taken.



Profiled in "Killer Tomatoes: Fifteen Tough Film Dames" by Ray Hagen and Laura Wagner (McFarland, 2004).



Was considered for the role of Ilsa Lund in Casablanca (1942), but Ingrid Bergman was cast instead.



A messenger boy delivered some script changes to her bungalow on the lot around five in the afternoon after filming had finished for the day. The adolescent wasn't particularly shocked by the sight of Annie with her feet up, reading the paper and sipping an adult beverage. He was startled by the unsettling sight of a foam outline of Miss Sheridan's artificially generous and very bosomy torso stuffed into a wastebasket.

Ann had never pretended to be zaftig. She vocally and repeatedly told others that she loathed the fact that she--the alleged "oomph" girl--wore this annoying apparatus at the behest of Warner Brothers since they deemed nature inadequate. Noting the youth's acute embarrassment, Sheridan simply raised an eyebrow, and said, "Well, I've got to put it somewhere and it won't fit in the toilet."

- from "Those Crazy, Wonderful Years When We Ran Warner Bros" by Jerome Stuart (Lyle Stuart, 1983)



At the door, Lamarr paused and looked back at Kate and the crew members. "I'm still mad at Paul. He said he was going to use his influence to get me cast in Casablanca. After Algiers, I would have been the most natural choice for the role, and I'm sure everybody in his dressing room agrees with me. Only I could have played Ilsa the way she should have been acted.

"At least we agree on one point," Kate said. "I too think Bergman, a sort of clodhopper, was wrong for the part. But I always tell everybody that the role should have gone to Ann Sheridan. Good day, Miss Lamarr!"

-- from "Katharine The Great: (1907-1950) secrets of a lifetime ... revealed" by Dawin Porter





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