Alma Mabel Conner (February 12, 1927 – January 31, 2018), known professionally as Ann Gillis, was an American actress, best known for her film roles as a child actress. She performed the voice of Faline in the 1942 Disney animated film ''

Bambi ''Bambi'' is a 1942 American animated drama film directed by David Hand (supervising a team of sequence directors), produced by Walt Disney and based on the 1923 book ''Bambi, a Life in the Woods'' by Austrian author and hunter Felix Salten ...

''.

Biography

Gillis was born in

Little Rock, Arkansas ( The "Little Rock") , government_type = Council-manager , leader_title = Mayor , leader_name = Frank Scott Jr. , leader_party = D , leader_title2 = Council , leader_name2 ...

. She started her career in the early 1930s, when she was seven years old. After some smaller roles, she got her first major part in ''

King of Hockey ''King of Hockey'' is a 1936 American drama film directed by Noel M. Smith and written by George Bricker. The film stars Dick Purcell, Anne Nagel, Marie Wilson, Wayne Morris, George E. Stone and Joseph Crehan. The film was released by Warner ...

'' (1936). In the following years she played supporting roles, and her film studio, Warner Brothers Pictures, wanted her to be another

Shirley Temple Shirley Temple Black (born Shirley Jane Temple;While Temple occasionally used "Jane" as a middle name, her birth certificate reads "Shirley Temple". Her birth certificate was altered to prolong her babyhood shortly after she signed with Fox in ...

, but she mostly played "spoiled brats". Among her biggest roles were Becky Thatcher in

David O. Selznick David O. Selznick (May 10, 1902June 22, 1965) was an American film producer, screenwriter and film studio executive who produced '' Gone with the Wind'' (1939) and ''Rebecca'' (1940), both of which earned him an Academy Award for Best Picture. ...

's '' The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' (1938) and Annie in ''

Little Orphan Annie ''Little Orphan Annie'' is a daily American comic strip created by Harold Gray and syndicated by the Tribune Media Services. The strip took its name from the 1885 poem " Little Orphant Annie" by James Whitcomb Riley, and it made its debut on ...

'' (1938). She also provided the voice of Faline in ''

'' (1942). She ended her Hollywood film career in 1947 and married her second husband, British actor Richard Fraser, in 1952. Following her Hollywood career, she turned to occasional television work in the UK. Gillis appeared in two episodes of '' The Saint'' in 1964/1965, followed by a small part in '' 2001: A Space Odyssey'', playing Dr Poole's mother. She is seen onscreen congratulating her son on his birthday. She later lived in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

. On January 31, 2018, Gillis died in a nursing home in Horam, East Sussex, England.

Filmography

References

Bibliography

* Best, Marc. ''Those Endearing Young Charms: Child Performers of the Screen'' (South Brunswick and New York: Barnes & Co., 1971), pp. 95–99.

External links

*
Ann Gillis
at the

American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private funding and public membership fees. Lead ...

1927 births 2018 deaths 20th-century American actresses Actresses from Little Rock, Arkansas American child actresses American expatriates in Belgium American expatriates in England American film actresses American radio actresses Warner Bros. contract players 21st-century American women {{US-film-actor-1920s-stub