Ann Sothern, Jack Haley - What Is This Power (1935)

Ann Sothern (Jan.22,1909 -- March 15,2001) was an American film and television actress whose career spanned six decades.

She was born Harriette Arlene Lake in Valley City, North Dakota, but was raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where she graduated from Minneapolis Central High School in 1926. Sothern left home and began her film career as an extra in the 1927 film Broadway Nights at the age of 18. During 1929 and 1930, she appeared as a chorus girl in such films as The Show of Shows and Whoopee!. She appeared on Broadway and had a trained voice, occasionally singing in films.

On Broadway in 1931, she had leading roles in America's Sweetheart (135 performances in which she sang "I've Got Five Dollars" and "We'll Be The Same") and in Everybody's Welcome.

Sothern was married to actor Roger Pryor from 1936 until May 17, 1943. Less than a week after her divorce, she married actor Robert Sterling. The couple had one daughter, actress Tisha Sterling, before divorcing six years later. In 1987, Sothern retired from acting and moved to Ketchum, Idaho, where she spent her remaining years.

On March 15, 2001, Sothern died from heart failure at 92. She has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, for motion pictures and television.

-----

John Joseph "Jack" Haley (Aug.10,1897 -- June 6,1979) was an American stage, radio, and film actor best known for his portrayal of the Tin Man and Kansas farmworker Hickory in The Wizard of Oz.

Haley starred in vaudeville as a song-and-dance comedian. One of his closest friends was fellow vaudeville alumnus Fred Allen, who would frequently mention "Mr. Jacob Haley of Newton Highlands, Massachusetts" on the air. In the early 1930s Haley starred in comedy shorts for Vitaphone in Brooklyn, New York. His wide-eyed, good-natured expression landed him supporting roles in musical feature films like Poor Little Rich Girl with Shirley Temple, Higher and Higher with Frank Sinatra and the Irving Berlin musical Alexander's Ragtime Band. Both Poor Little Rich Girl and Alexander's Ragtime Band were released by Twentieth Century-Fox.

He married Florence McFadden, a native of Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania on Feb.25,1921, and they remained married until his death. Flo Haley opened a successful beauty shop and counted many show people among her customers.

The couple had one son, Jack Haley, Jr. (later a successful film producer) and one daughter, Gloria. Jack Haley, Jr. was married to Liza Minnelli, daughter of his father's Oz co-star Judy Garland, in 1974. The marriage ended in divorce in 1979. Haley, Jr. died in 2001.

In 1972, Haley made his daughter, Gloria, the sole owner of his written memoirs. In 1978, she published them in the form of the hardcover book Heart of the Tin Man. Gloria Haley-Parnassus died on May 1st,2010.

Jack Haley and his wife Flo were the Godparents to Miel Roman, the daughter of singer Dick Roman and model Honey Merrill Roman. He was the uncle of Republican congressman Bob Dornan.

Haley died of a heart attack on June 6, 1979 in Los Angeles, California, aged 81. Only a short time previously, he had made an appearance at that year's Academy Awards ceremony with Ray Bolger, who had played the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz. He was still active only a week prior to his death. He is buried in Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California.


Ann Sothern, Jack Haley - What Is This Power (1935)

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Ann
• Sothern
• Jack
• Haley
• 1935
• 20s
• 30s