Ann Rork Light (June 12, 1908 – January 23, 1988) was an American silent film actress.

Early life

Ann Rork was born June 12, 1908, in

Darien, Connecticut Darien ( ) is a coastal town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. With a population of 21,499 and a land area of just under 13 square miles, it is the smallest town on Connecticut's Gold Coast. It has the youngest population of any n ...

.ANN RORK LIGHT, 79
''

Orlando Sentinel The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is the primary newspaper of Orlando, Florida, and the Central Florida region. It was founded in 1876 and is currently owned by Tribune Publishing Company. The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is owned by parent company, '' Tribune P ...

'', January 25, 1998 Her father, Sam E. Rork, was a film producer at

First National Pictures First National Pictures was an American motion picture production and distribution company. It was founded in 1917 as First National Exhibitors' Circuit, Inc., an association of independent theatre owners in the United States, and became the count ...

, and her mother the former Helen Welch.Associated Press
Ann Rork Light, Former Actress, 79
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', January 25, 1988 Actor

Will Rogers William Penn Adair Rogers (November 4, 1879 – August 15, 1935) was an American vaudeville performer, actor, and humorous social commentator. He was born as a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, in the Indian Territory (now part of Oklahoma ...

was her godfather.

Career

She starred in silent films such as ''

The Blonde Saint ''The Blonde Saint'' is a 1926 American silent romantic adventure film directed by Svend Gade. It was produced by Sam E. Rork and released through First National Pictures. Lewis Stone and Doris Kenyon star and young newcomer Gilbert Roland is ...

'' and ''

Old Loves and New ''Old Loves and New'' is a 1926 American silent drama film directed by Maurice Tourneur in one of his final American films. The romance and adventure story has the virtuous Lord Carew and the good-for-nothing Lord Geradine competing for the a ...

'' in 1926, followed by ''

The Notorious Lady ''The Notorious Lady'' is a surviving 1927 American silent drama film produced by Sam E. Rork and distributed by First National Pictures. It was directed by veteran director King Baggot and starred Barbara Bedford and Lewis Stone. The film wa ...

'', ''

A Texas Steer ''A Texas Steer'' is a lost 1927 American silent film directed by Richard Wallace and starring Will Rogers. It was a cinematic adaptation from an eponymous play by Charles H. Hoyt.Mordaunt HallA Texas Steer (1927) ''The New York Times'', Janu ...

'' and ''

The Prince of Headwaiters ''The Prince of Headwaiters'' is a 1927 American silent drama film directed by John Francis Dillon. Premise A maitre d' at the Hôtel Ritz Paris finds out his son, wealthy thanks to his mother, might be blackmailed by Mae Morin (played by Lilya ...

'' in 1927. Her co-stars included Will Rogers and

Rudolph Valentino Rodolfo Pietro Filiberto Raffaello Guglielmi di Valentina d'Antonguolla (May 6, 1895 – August 23, 1926), known professionally as Rudolph Valentino and nicknamed The Latin Lover, was an Italian actor based in the United States who starred ...

.Ann Rork Light
''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'', January 31, 1988

Personal life

She was married five times. Her first husband was

J. Paul Getty Jean Paul Getty Sr. (; December 15, 1892 – June 6, 1976) was an American-born British petroleum industrialist who founded the Getty Oil Company in 1942 and was the patriarch of the Getty family. A native of Minneapolis, he was the son of pi ...

, an oil heir from

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, from 1932 to 1935.Stacy Finz, Jaxon Van Derbeken
Getty's Secret Double Life / Second family in L.A. – 3 daughters
''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...

'', August 21, 1999 They had two sons:

John Paul Getty, Jr. Sir Paul Getty (; born Eugene Paul Getty; 7 September 1932 – 17 April 2003), known widely as John Paul Getty Jr., was a British philanthropist and book collector. He was the third of five sons born to J. Paul Getty (1892–1976), one of the ...

and

Gordon Getty Gordon Peter Getty (born December 20, 1933) is an American businessman and classical music composer, the fourth child of oil tycoon J. Paul Getty. His mother, Ann Rork, was his father's fourth wife. When his father died in 1976, Gordon assumed ...

. From her first-born son, John, she had a grandson,

John Paul Getty III John Paul Getty III (; born Eugene Paul Getty II; November 4, 1956February 5, 2011) was the grandson of American oil tycoon J. Paul Getty, who was once the richest man in the world. While living in Rome in 1973, he was kidnapped by the 'Ndrangh ...

, who also became an actor. She then married a succession of three other men. In 1960, she married her fifth husband, Dr. Rudolph A. Light, an Upjohn Pharmaceutical Company heir and Professor of Neurosurgery at

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

Death

She died of emphysema and lung cancer on January 23, 1988, at the

Vanderbilt University Medical Center The Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) is a medical provider with multiple hospitals in Nashville, Tennessee, as well as clinics and facilities throughout Middle Tennessee. VUMC is an independent non-profit organization, but maintains acad ...

. She is buried with her husband Dr. Rudolph Light, at the Royal Palm Memorial Gardens in

West Palm Beach, Florida West Palm Beach is a city in and the county seat of Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is located immediately to the west of the adjacent Palm Beach, which is situated on a barrier island across the Lake Worth Lagoon. The populati ...

. She was seventy-nine years old.

References

External links

* 1908 births 1988 deaths People from Darien, Connecticut People from Nashville, Tennessee 20th-century American actresses Getty family Actresses from Connecticut American silent film actresses Deaths from emphysema Deaths from lung cancer Deaths from cancer in Tennessee {{US-film-actor-1900s-stub