Anne Gwynne was born on 10 December 1918.

She was the grandmother of Chris Pine. And so she was the mother-in-law of Robert Pine. I mention this only to point out that Hollywood is a meritocracy without a hint of nepotism!

Anne Gwynne is one of the original scream queens. But it isn’t like today. The great Brinke Stevens has starred in over a hundred horror films. Hell, she’s been in at least 5 horror films this year! The classic scream queens like Gwynne and Fay Wray starred in just a handful. But Norma Desmond had it right. They were big. “It’s the pictures that got small.”

Gwynne doesn’t look like she should be a scream queen. She’s way better looking than necessary! And during World War II, she was a popular pin-up model.

But her reputation is based mostly on her roles in early 1940s Universal horror films:

• Black Friday (1940)
• The Black Cat (1941)
• The Strange Case of Doctor Rx (1942)
• Weird Woman (1944)
• House of Frankenstein (1944)

Psychotronic fans may remember her in the Universal serial Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (1940). She plays the evil Lady Sonja.

Outside of these five films, Gwynne performed in little horror. Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome (1947) is often mentioned but it isn’t really horror despite it starring Boris Karloff.. Her only true horror film after House of Frankenstein was Teenage Monster (1957). She also happens to be the lead in it. She plays a mother who tries to protect her son after he turns into a beast from a meteorite. She does scream in it!

So let’s celebrate Anne Gwynne’s birthday by watching this surprisingly good horror cheapy!

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Anne Gwynne via Wikimedia. It is in the public domain.