Anne Heywood
Heywood in The Chairman, 1969
Born
Violet Joan Pretty

(1931-12-11) 11 December 1931
Handsworth, Birmingham, Warwickshire, England
OccupationActress
Years active1951–1989
Spouses
​
​
(m. 1960; died 1988)​
    George Danzig Druke
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1991; died 2021)​
    ChildrenMark Stross (b. 1963)

    Anne Heywood (born Violet Joan Pretty; 11 December 1931) is a British retired film actress, who is best known for her Golden Globe-nominated performance in the 1967 film version of D.H. Lawrence's The Fox.[1]

    Early life and career

    Born as Violet Joan Pretty in 1931[2] to Harold James and Edna Elizabeth (née Lowndes) Pretty in Handsworth, Birmingham, she won the Miss Great Britain title under her real name in 1950.[3]

    In 1947, aged 15, she joined 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).[4]

    She made three TV 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).[5]

    Rank Organisation

    Heywood was signed to the Rank Organisation, who changed her name to Anne Heywood and gave her small supporting roles in Checkpoint (1956) and Doctor at Large (1957). The Danziger Brothers borrowed her for the lead femme fatale in the low-budget film noir The Depraved (1957) with Robert Arden.

    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.[6] 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). She was loaned to an Italian company for the historical costume drama Carthage in Flames (1960).[7]

    Raymond Stross

    Heywood starred in the war movie A Terrible Beauty (1960) opposite Robert Mitchum. It was produced by Raymond Stross, who married Heywood. She starred in some British comedies, Petticoat Pirates (1961) and Stork Talk (1962) then did three thrillers produced by Stross: The Brain (1962), The Very Edge (1963), and 90 Degrees in the Shade (1965).

    Heywood was making High Jungle for MGM with Eric Fleming but the film was cancelled when Fleming drowned.[8]

    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.[9] It was also a major commercial success. A newspaper referred to her and Stross as the "English Carlo Pontis."[10]

    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).[11][12] She was second-billed in an espionage adventure film with Gregory Peck, The Chairman (1969) but she was only on screen for five minutes.[13] She was mentioned as a possible star of Myra Breckinridge (1970), but did not appear in the final film.[14]

    Later career

    Heywood in The Nun and the Devil (1973)

    Heywood starred in I Want What I Want (1972), a box-office and critical flop produced by Stross, then went to Italy for the giallo film The Killer Is on the Phone (1972) and The Nun and the Devil (1973), again as a nun. In Hollywood, she was the female lead in Trader Horn (1973), a failed remake of a 1931 classic film, then she returned to Italy for Love Under the Elms (1974).[15]

    She starred in Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff (1979), produced by Stross[16] and in the Italian satanic horror Ring of Darkness (1979). Both films were failures. She then had supporting roles in Sadat (1981) and the science fiction film What Waits Below (1984). Her career declined in the 1980s. Her penultimate role was as Manon Brevard Marcel in a two-part episode of the popular US television series The Equalizer, starring fellow British actor Edward Woodward, in 1988.

    After the death of Stross in 1988, she retired from acting.[17]

    Personal life

    Heywood was married for twenty-eight years to British film producer Raymond Stross, who produced most of her films after they met in Ireland in July 1959 during the filming of A Terrible Beauty. After their marriage in Zurich, Switzerland on February 12, 1960, the couple subsequently collaborated on several British and international films, including The Brain, The Very Edge, Ninety Degrees in the Shade, The Fox, Midas Run, I Want What I Want, and Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff.[18]

    Following Stross' death in 1988, Heywood retired and has never appeared on screen since. 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, at the age of 98.[19] Heywood resides in Beverly Hills, California.

    Filmography

    Year Film Role Notes
    1951 Lady Godiva Rides Again Dorothy Marlowe (beauty contestant) (as Violet Pretty)
    1956 Find the Lady Receptionist
    Checkpoint Gabriela
    1957 The Depraved Laura Wilton
    Doctor at Large Emerald
    Dangerous Exile Glynis
    1958 Violent Playground Catherine Murphy
    1959 The Heart of a Man Julie
    Floods of Fear Elizabeth Matthews
    Upstairs and Downstairs Kate
    1960 Carthage in Flames Fulvia
    A Terrible Beauty Neeve Donnelly
    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)[20]
    Midas Run Sylvia Giroux
    The Chairman Kay Hanna
    1972 The Killer Is on the Phone Eleanor Loraine
    I Want What I Want Roy/Wendy
    1973 The Nun and the Devil Mother Giulia Winner – Maschera D'Argento (Silver Mask) Award – Best Actress (Italy)[21]
    Trader Horn Nicole Mercer
    1974 The First Time on the Grass Margherita Entered into the 25th Berlin International Film Festival
    1979 Ring of Darkness Carlotta Rhodes Also known as Satan's Wife
    Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff Evelyn Wyckoff
    1984 What Waits Below Frieda Shelley

    Awards and nominations

    Year Award Category Title of work Result
    1968 Golden Globe Best Actress – Drama The Fox Nominated
    1968 Laurel Award Female Dramatic Performance The Fox 5th place

    Further reading

    • Weedman, Christopher (January 2017). "Anne Heywood: Britain's Daring Beauty". Cinema Retro: 56–59.

    References

    1. ↑ "Anne Heywood". Golden Globe Awards. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
    2. ↑ Joseph F. Clarke (1977). Pseudonyms. BCA. p. 83.
    3. ↑ Hill, Mike (28 November 2020). "Golden age of the beauty pageant when hopefuls flocked to Lancashire". Lancashire Evening Post. Archived from the original on 27 June 2022. Retrieved 17 September 2021.
    4. ↑ FANTASTIC LIVES: Anne's Pretty good start ... AND THEN: [FIRST Edition] Plimmer, John. Sunday Mercury; Birmingham (UK) [Birmingham (UK)], 14 September 2003: pg. 78.
    5. ↑ The Life Story of ANNE HEYWOOD, Picture Show; London Vol. 70, Iss. 1828 (12 April 1958): pg. 12.
    6. ↑ 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.
    7. ↑ McElwaine, Bernard (28 June 1959). "I Watch Anne Fired!". Sunday Pictorial. p. 22.
    8. ↑ Martin, Betty. MOVIE CALL SHEET: "'Fox' Next for Miss Heywood'", Los Angeles Times, 18 October 1966: pg. C13.
    9. ↑ Sterritt, David. "The Fox". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved 3 August 2009.
    10. ↑ Anne Heywood Playing Oscar Game by the Rules, Warga, Wayne. Los Angeles Times 3 February 1969: h1.
    11. ↑ Fred Leads Elegant Gypsies to 'Midas', Chicago Tribune, 17 May 1968: pg. B16
    12. ↑ Terry, Clifford. "Anne Heywood--After The Fox' Many Films Ahead", Chicago Tribune, 11 May 1969: pg F14.
    13. ↑ Thomas, Kevin. "'Chairman' Shot in Crossfire", Los Angeles Times, 6 February 1969: pg. H13.
    14. ↑ Norma Lee Browning. , "HOLLYWOOD TODAY: A new approach to 'Myra'", Chicago Tribune, 14 March 1969: pg. B-27.
    15. ↑ Lane, Lydia. "BEAUTY: Therapy in Travel for Anne", Los Angeles Times (1923-1995); Los Angeles, Calif. [Los Angeles, Calif], 21 October 1973: pg. K-11.
    16. ↑ Lane, Lydia. "Anne Heywood: From Contestant to Star", Los Angeles Times (1923-1995); Los Angeles, Calif. [Los Angeles, Calif], 16 July 1978: pg. J6.
    17. ↑ Obituary: "Raymond Stross, 72; Avant-Garde Motion Picture Producer": [Home Edition] Los Angeles Times, 2 August 1988, pg. 16.
    18. ↑ "Anne Heywood Marries". The Birmingham Mail. 12 February 1960. p. 1.
    19. ↑ Noble, Peter (18 August 1990). "In Confidence". Screen International.
    20. ↑ "Anne Heywood Voted Top Award in Italy". The Los Angeles Times. 13 October 1970. p. IV-13.
    21. ↑ Weedman, Christopher (January 2017). "Anne Heywood: Britain's Daring Beauty". Cinema Retro: 58.
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