Ann Sothern Net Worth

Ann Sothern's Quotes

• Good night . . . and stay happy.
• Hollywood sold its stars on good looks and personality build-ups. We weren't really actresses in the true sense. We were just big names--the products of a good publicity department. Today's crop of actresses and actors have real talent. Good looks are no longer an essential part of the business.
• Sometimes, I'll watch an old movie on television and, once in a while, one of mine--such as April Showers (1948)--will come on and I'll watch it. And you know something? I'm always amazed at what a lousy actress I was. I guess in the old days, we just got by on glamour.
• [on her long-time friend Lucille Ball and her second series, The Ann Sothern Show (1958)] Lucy used to complain that she got all the parts I turned down. Now I produce the show, and she owns the studio. I guess that settles that.
• Listen, I never asked to be in show business. It was my mother's idea.

Interesting Facts about Ann Sothern

1. Appeared with her daughter in The Whales of August (1987), in the prelude scene, portraying a younger-day Ann.
2. Left visibly overweight by a bout of hepatitis, she only wore black outfits in her 1950s sitcoms Private Secretary (1953) and The Ann Sothern Show (1958).
3. In her role as Susie McNamara on Private Secretary (1953) (which ran 1953-1958), Sothern played the first working woman on an American sitcom.
4. Had been so busy in the entertainment industry for so many years, once quipped that she had done everything in the business except rodeo.
5. Portrayed Maisie Ravier on Mutual Radio's "The Adventures of Maisie" (1949-1951).
6. Her sister Marion was once a secretary to columnist Abigail Van Buren ("Dear Abby").
7. Her paternal grandfather, Simon Lake, was the inventor of the modern submarine. Her sister Marion was once a secretary to columnist Abigail Van Buren ("Dear Abby"). Her mother, Annette, was a concert singer who traveled; Ann followed suit studying singing and musical composition. In later years, her mother became a diction and vocal coach and taught microphone technique for talking pictures.
8. A singer in her early career, she sang with Artie Shaw and His Orchestra, among others. She was also a published songwriter and recorded two albums.
9. In 1953, her film career waned and she decided to give television a chance. When a television series based on her popular "Maisie" film character failed to materialize, she made her series debut with Suzie McNamara on Private Secretary (1953).
10. Her younger sister was the prolific singer/songwriter Bonnie Lake who wrote several popular standards such as "Sandman", "I've Got Your Number" and "Gracias" - songs later recorded by such big band stars as Tommy Dorsey and Benny Goodman. In the 1940s, Bonnie founded the Bonnie Lake Music Publishing Company.
11. Good friends with Zachary Scott's former wife, Elaine Anderson, stage manager for many Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II's Broadway productions, Ann introduced Elaine to novelist John Steinbeck, who eventually married her. Upon his death, Elaine became the administrator of the writer's estate.
12. Good friends with Lucille Ball and Ann Dvorak, both of whom she met while working as a chorus girl (Ball at the Goldwyn Studios, Dvorak at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer).
13. Profiled in book "Funny Ladies" by Stephen Silverman. [1999]
14. Replaced Kim Stanley at the last minute in A Death of Innocence (1971), featuring her daughter Tisha Sterling, when Stanley was unable to perform.
15. After appearing in 20th Century-Fox's Hotel for Women (1939), she turned down the studio's offer of a long-term contract in favor of signing one with rival Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. 20th Century-Fox reportedly then cut down Sothern's role in order to favor newcomer Linda Darnell.
16. Among her numerous business interests were a dress shop and gift shop in Idaho, a ranch for breeding Black Angus beef, a music publishing company and a sewing-center shop.
17. She was a lifelong conservative Republican who was a strong supporter of Dwight D. Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George Bush and George W. Bush. She was also an outspoken anti-Communist who supported the HUAC hearings of the 1940s and 1950s, and attended several Republican National Conventions.
18. She wanted to play the prostitute in Lost Horizon (1937), but the role went to Isabel Jewell.
19. Sang the Oscar-winning song "The Last Time I Saw Paris" in Lady Be Good (1941).
20. She replaced Jean Harlow in Maisie (1939) after the actress' unexpected death.