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Ann Sheridan was born Clara Lou Sheridan in Denton, Texas in 1915. While in college, she won a beauty pageant where the first prize was a walk-on in a movie, Search for Beauty, and she went to Hollywood to claim her prize, and she never returned! She was just 19, and Paramount wisely signed her to a two year contract, and they put her in bit parts in 27 movies during those two years, but they could not see her as more than another pretty face, and after the two years they stupidly released her! After one movie for Universal, she signed with Warner Bros in 1937, and they changed her first name to Ann (at Paramount, she was billed as "Clara Lou") and they put her in 7 movies that year, and she finally got some leading roles, but it was her supporting role as Laury Ferguson opposite James Cagney in the classic Angels with Dirty Faces that really got her noticed, and she soon co-starred with John Garfield in "Castle on the Hudson". By 1940, she was so popular that she was billed "above the title" (even in a movie with Humphrey Bogart, "It All Came True"). She had an under-the-surface sexiness combined with a "girl next door" quality that many men found irresistible, and she was dubbed the "Oomph Girl", a nickname she hated. Even in the present day, there is no doubt that lots of young men continue to "discover" her, and fall in love with her onscreen image! Two of the movies that capitalized on her image were Naughty But Nice ("The 'OOMPH' Girls Greatest Tri'oomph'!") and Juke Girl ("She makes her living the hard way!"; "Sure she's easy to meet... but try and forget her!"). She remained quite popular during World War II, and was one of the top pin-ups of G.I.s. In Juke Girl she starred opposite Ronald Reagan, and she also co-starred with him in the serious (and uber-depressing) King's Row, but as the war ended her career began to wind down. She had one more memorable role, opposite Cary Grant in I Was a Male War Bride in 1949. Like many stars in a similar situation, she turned to television to revive her career, and she took a role on the soap opera, Another World, and got her own series, Pistols 'n' Petticoats, in 1966, but sadly she died of cancer before the first season was finished. She was one month shy of her 52nd birthday. Ann Sheridan had three very brief marriages, and no children. She was a private person who made no headlines, far different than the image Warner Bros tried to create for her during her glamour years. I wonder if she wouldn't have been happier if she had never entered that beauty contest when she was a teenager, and had stayed in Texas her entire life!

Important Added Info: Note that this letter has been personally autographed (signed) by Ann Sheridan! It was entirely handwritten by Miss Sheridan and sent to columnist Louella Parsons, and it is not dated, but it would seem to surely date from 1940 or 1941. For one reason, it has great content talking about how she is in New York City, and it is clear that she is there because of a contract dispute, and she talks about how she won't make another movie "until they give me a good part, with able direction and new support - or until they loan me out (and there have been several real requests which the studio has turned down) - or until they release me from my contract. All I want is a chance to act in something worthwhile." Because Miss Sheridan had several contract disputes with Warner Bros, we can't say for certain which one this was, but in late 1940 or early 1941, Frank Capra wanted her for the lead in "Meet John Doe", and Warner Bros refused it, and this is likely from that time (and in the letter, she refers to her boyfriend, "Steve", and she got married in 1942, so it surely dates from before that). She signs the letter "Annie", which is on her personal stationery with her New York address. Our consignor is a longtime dealer who acquired this signed item among many other purchases in his inventory, and he does not have a certificate of authenticity, but we believe the signature to likely be authentic.


     As is true of all the signed items we are currently auctioning, we give every buyer 30 days in which to review what they purchased and they can return any item as long as it is within 30 days of the end of the auction. On non-signed items, we give a "lifetime guarantee" on everything we auction, but on signed items, we give the above modified guarantee of 30 days after the auction closes.

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