Anna Chappell (née Oksanen; September 15, 1925 – July 31, 2005) was a Canadian-American actress. She appeared in two feature films: '' Mountaintop Motel Massacre'' (1983) and ''

The Man in the Moon ''The Man in the Moon'' is a 1991 American coming of age drama film. It was the final film directed by Robert Mulligan, from a screenplay written by Jenny Wingfield. It stars Reese Witherspoon in her film debut, Sam Waterston, Tess Harper, Em ...

'' (1991), and was a longtime resident of Shreveport, Louisiana, where she was a prolific theater actress.

Biography

Chappell was born Anna Oksanen in 1925 to Finnish parents Carl and Aino Oksanen. Although born in Finland, Chappell relocated to

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

, Canada in her early childhood. Both her parents were actors. Chappell was raised in Toronto, where she became interested in theater at a young age. As a child, she sang with the

Canadian Navy The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; french: Marine royale canadienne, ''MRC'') is the naval force of Canada. The RCN is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of 2021, the RCN operates 12 frigates, four attack submar ...

entertainment corps. She met her husband, American musician Harry Chappell, while working as a singer. The couple married in Binghamton, New York in 1946, and relocated to Shreveport, Louisiana in the mid-1950s; there, Chappell became active in local theater. She appeared as Lady Thiang in a production of ''

The King and I ''The King and I'' is the fifth musical by the team of Rodgers and Hammerstein. It is based on Margaret Landon's novel '' Anna and the King of Siam'' (1944), which is in turn derived from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, governess to the chil ...

'', which toured in

Corning, New York Corning is a city in Steuben County, New York, United States, on the Chemung River. The population was 10,551 at the 2020 census. It is named for Erastus Corning, an Albany financier and railroad executive who was an investor in the company t ...

in 1959. In 1970, Chappell earned critical acclaim for her performance in ''

Mame MAME (formerly an acronym of Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) is a free and open-source emulator designed to recreate the hardware of arcade game systems in software on modern personal computers and other platforms. Its intention is to preserve ...

'' at the Marjorie Lyons Playhouse in Shreveport. For her performance, she was awarded a Best Actress award from ''

The Shreveport Times ''The Times'' is a Gannett daily newspaper based in Shreveport, Louisiana. Its distribution area includes 12 parishes in Northwest Louisiana and three counties in East Texas. Its coverage focuses on issues affecting the Shreveport-Bossier mar ...

''. Chappell's husband, Harry, who ran a music store in Shreveport, died on March 31, 1981. In 1983, she starred as Mme. Danzard in a production of ''My Sister in this House'' at the

Kennedy Center The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (formally known as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, and commonly referred to as the Kennedy Center) is the United States National Cultural Center, located on the Potom ...

, directed by Robert Buseick. The same year, she made her feature film debut in the slasher film '' Mountaintop Motel Massacre'', playing an unhinged woman who begins murdering guests in the hotel she operates. Terry Lawson of the ''

Dayton Daily News The ''Dayton Daily News'' (''DDN'') is a daily newspaper published in Dayton, Ohio, United States. It is owned by Cox Enterprises, Inc., a privately held global conglomerate headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, with approximately ...

'' praised her performance as being handled with "a comic intensity." She later had a supporting role in

Robert Mulligan Robert Patrick Mulligan (August 23, 1925 – December 20, 2008) was an American director and producer. He is best known for his humanist dramas, including ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' (1962), '' Summer of '42'' (1971), ''The Other'' (1972), '' Same ...

's drama film ''

'' (1991).

Death

In the spring of 2005, Chappell relocated from Shreveport to live with her daughter in

Appleton, Wisconsin Appleton ( mez, Ahkōnemeh) is a city in Outagamie, Calumet, and Winnebago counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. One of the Fox Cities, it is situated on the Fox River, southwest of Green Bay and north of Milwaukee. Appleton is the c ...

. She died two months later in Appleton on July 31, 2005. A memorial service for Chappell was arranged in Shreveport.

Filmography

Select stage credits

* ''

'' (1959) * ''

Peter Pan Peter Pan is a fictional character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie. A free-spirited and mischievous young boy who can fly and never grows up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood having adventures on the mythi ...

'' (1960) *''

'' (1970)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chappell, Anna 1925 births 2005 deaths Actresses from Louisiana Actors from Shreveport, Louisiana Actresses from Toronto American film actresses American stage actresses American people of Finnish descent Canadian expatriates in the United States Canadian film actresses Canadian people of Finnish descent Canadian stage actresses 20th-century American actresses 20th-century American people 21st-century American women