Product Code Database
Anne Heywood (born Violet Joan Pretty; 11 December 1931 – 27 October 2023) was a British film actress, who is best known for her Golden Globe-nominated performance in the 1967 film version of D.H. Lawrence's The Fox. She was known in part for her long personal and professional association with producer Raymond Stross as well as playing a series of roles that broke on-screen sexual taboos.
In 1947, aged 15, she joined Highbury Little Theatre Highbury Little Theatre in Sutton Coldfield and then won a Birmingham University Carnival Queen competition. She then entered a National Bathing Beauty Contest and won. She had a small role in Lady Godiva Rides Again (1951).FANTASTIC LIVES: Anne's Pretty good start ... AND THEN: FIRST Plimmer, John. Sunday Mercury; Birmingham (UK) Birmingham, 14 September 2003: pg. 78.
Heywood made three television appearances on the Carroll Levis TV Show and then spent four years touring UK theatres. Later she also attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. She had a small part in the comedy Find the Lady (1956).The Life Story of ANNE HEYWOOD, Picture Show; London Vol. 70, Iss. 1828 (12 April 1958): pg. 12.
Rank gave Heywood the second female lead in Dangerous Exile (1957) and she was the female lead in Violent Playground (1958) with Stanley Baker, which established her as a film name.Veysey, Arthur. "THIS Beauty Queen Can Act!: Bored with Winning Cups, Our Cover Girl Broke the Habit and Became a Star A Hand from Her Majesty"
Chicago Daily Tribune, 27 April 1958: pg. C-37. Variety wrote "Getting her first big chance, as David McCallum’s elder sister, Anne Heywood shows up as one of the most promising young actresses lately to be introduced into British pix. The girl has warmth and charm and is extremely easy on the optics."
She made Floods of Fear (1958) with Howard Keel. Herbert Wilcox used her as Frankie Vaughan's leading lady in The Heart of a Man (1959), then for Rank she starred in a romantic comedy Upstairs and Downstairs (1959). In April 1959 Variety reported "Having jettisoned Belinda Lee, the Rank Organization is now pinning most of its faith to Anne Heywood. In the three or four recent releases in which she’s been given star roles this ex-beauty queen has come on apace."
In June 1959 Rank released a single from Heywood on its record label - "Love Is", which featured in The Heart of a Man.
She was loaned to an Italian company for the historical costume drama Carthage in Flames (1960).
In December 1960 Heywood announced she had terminated her seven year contract with Rank, which had two years to go. "I'm fed up with playing wishy-washy good girls," she said. "I want to play women with sex appeal... I haven't made a film for over a year and I have had to turn down some wonderful offers from Hollywood and the Continent. I've got plenty of sex appeal. British films just didn't give me the chance to use it. They are written around men. No one writes good, meaty dramatic parts for girls."
Heywood starred in some British comedies, Petticoat Pirates (1961) and Stork Talk (1962) then did three films produced by Stross: The Brain (1962), The Very Edge (1963), and 90 Degrees in the Shade (1965). Stross announced a film called Angel with Heywood but it appears to have not been made.
Heywood was making High Jungle for MGM with Eric Fleming but the film was cancelled when Fleming drowned.Martin, Betty. MOVIE CALL SHEET: "'Fox' Next for Miss Heywood'", Los Angeles Times, 18 October 1966: pg. C13.
Heywood starred in The Fox (1967), a screen adaptation of a D. H. Lawrence novella, which was produced by Stross and co-starred Sandy Dennis and Keir Dullea. The film generated controversy at the time due to its lesbian theme and nudity from Heywood. It was also a major commercial success. A newspaper referred to her and Stross as the "English ."Anne Heywood Playing Oscar Game by the Rules, Warga, Wayne. Los Angeles Times 3 February 1969: h1. She was signed to a four picture deal by Paramount.
Heywood went to Italy to play a nun in The Lady of Monza (1969), playing The Nun of Monza, then did a movie with Richard Crenna produced by Stross, Midas Run (1969).Fred Leads Elegant Gypsies to 'Midas', Chicago Tribune, 17 May 1968: pg. B16Terry, Clifford. "Anne Heywood--After The Fox' Many Films Ahead", Chicago Tribune, 11 May 1969: pg F14. She was second-billed in an espionage adventure film with Gregory Peck, The Chairman (1969) but she was only on screen for five minutes.Thomas, Kevin. "'Chairman' Shot in Crossfire", Los Angeles Times, 6 February 1969: pg. H13. She was mentioned as a possible star of Myra Breckinridge (1970), but did not appear in the final film.Norma Lee Browning. , "HOLLYWOOD TODAY: A new approach to 'Myra'", Chicago Tribune, 14 March 1969: pg. B-27.
Heywood starred in Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff (1979), produced by StrossLane, Lydia. "Anne Heywood: From Contestant to Star", Los Angeles Times (1923-1995); Los Angeles, Calif. Los, 16 July 1978: pg. J6. and in the Italian satanic horror Ring of Darkness (1979). Both films were failures. She then had supporting roles in Sadat (1983) and the science fiction film What Waits Below (1984). Her career declined in the 1980s. Her penultimate role was portraying Manon Brevard Marcel in a 1988 two-part episode, "The Mystery of Manon," of the popular US television series The Equalizer, starring fellow British actor Edward Woodward.
After the death of Stross in 1988, she retired from acting.Obituary: "Raymond Stross, 72; Avant-Garde Motion Picture Producer": Home Los Angeles Times, 2 August 1988, pg. 16.
Following Stross' death in 1988, Heywood retired and never appeared on screen again. In 1990, she married her second husband, George Danzig Druke, a former Assistant Attorney General of New York State, who died on 7 October 2021 in Beverly Hills, aged 98. Heywood lived in Beverly Hills, California.
Anne Heywood died from cancer in Houston, Texas on 27 October 2023, aged 91. Her death was announced 7 months later.
| + Anne Heywood film and television ! Year !! Film !! Role !! Notes ! scope="col" class="unsortable" | ||||
| 1951 | Lady Godiva Rides Again | Dorothy Marlowe (beauty contestant) | AKA Bikini Baby (as Violet Pretty) | |
| 1956 | Find the Lady | Receptionist | ||
| Checkpoint | Gabriela | |||
| 1957 | Doctor at Large | Emerald | ||
| The Depraved | Laura Wilton | |||
| Dangerous Exile | Glynis | |||
| 1958 | Violent Playground | Catherine Murphy | ||
| 1959 | Floods of Fear | Elizabeth Matthews | ||
| The Heart of a Man | Julie | |||
| Upstairs and Downstairs | Kate | |||
| 1960 | Carthage in Flames | Fulvia | ||
| A Terrible Beauty | Neeve Donnelly | AKA The Night Fighters | ||
| 1961 | Petticoat Pirates | Chief Officer Anne Stevens | ||
| 1962 | Stork Talk | Lisa Vernon | ||
| The Brain | Anna Holt | |||
| 1963 | The Very Edge | Tracey Lawrence | ||
| 1965 | Ninety Degrees in the Shade | Alena | Nominated – Golden Globe Nominee for Best English-Language Foreign Film | |
| 1967 | The Fox | Ellen March | Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama | |
| 1969 | The Lady of Monza | Virginia de Leyva | Winner – Maschera D'Argento (Silver Mask) Award – Best Actress (Italy) | |
| Midas Run | Sylvia Giroux | |||
| The Chairman | Kay Hanna | |||
| 1972 | I Want What I Want | Roy/Wendy | ||
| The Killer Is on the Phone | Eleanor Loraine | |||
| 1973 | The Nun and the Devil | Mother Giulia | Winner – Maschera D'Argento (Silver Mask) Award – Best Actress (Italy) | |
| Trader Horn | Nicole Mercer | |||
| 1974 | The First Time on the Grass | Margherita | ||
| 1979 | Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff | Evelyn Wyckoff | ||
| Ring of Darkness | Carlotta Rhodes | AKA Satan's Wife | ||
| 1983 | Sadat | Frieda Shelley | Television miniseries | |
| 1984 | What Waits Below | Frieda Shelley | ||
| 1988 | The Equalizer | Manon Brevard Marcel | ||
| 1988 | Ohara | Violet Kane |
| + | ||||
| 1968 | Golden Globe | Best Actress – Drama | The Fox | |
| 1968 | Laurel Award | Female Dramatic Performance | The Fox | 5th place |
|
|
