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Cathy O'Donnell

American actress (1923–1970)

Cathy O'Donnell (born Ann Steely, July 6, 1923 – April 11, 1970) was an American actress who appeared in The Best Years of Our Lives,Ben-Hur, and films noir such as Detective Story and They Live by Night.[1]

Early life

O'Donnell was born Ann Steely in Siluria, Alabama. Her father, Grady Steely, was a schoolteacher and owned a local movie theater. Her family moved to Greensboro, Alabama when she was seven,[2] then to Oklahoma City when she was twelve. There she attended Harding Junior High School and Classen High School. She told a Boston Globe reporter in 1946 that she first became interested in acting at age fourteen after seeing Janet Gaynor in A Star Is Born.[3] After high school she worked in a U.S. Army induction center as a stenographer. She left that job to study acting at Oklahoma City University,[1] where she played Juliet in a college production of Romeo and Juliet.[3] She then saved money for a two-week trip to Hollywood, where she hoped t

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Cathy O'Donnell Biography

Date of Birth:
Jul 6, 1923Birth Place:
Siluria, Alabama, USA

Biography

Though she performed in numerous films that featured top talent both behind and in front of the camera, actress Cathy O'Donnell is best remembered for her first major part, in the Academy Award-winning post-World War II drama, "The Best Years of Our Lives." O'Donnell studied at Oklahoma City University before heading to Hollywood to pursue acting. A chance meeting with an agent led to an introduction to film icon Samuel Goldwyn, who saw something in O'Donnell but felt she needed further training. He sent her to study at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, urging her to lose her Southern accent. After gaining a bit of stage experience, she appeared in the Goldwyn-produced all-star ensemble picture "The Best Years of Our Lives" as the fiancée of double-amputee WWII veteran Harold Russell. Though the film was enormously successful, O'Donnell's subsequent roles didn't make her a star, despite a number of quality pictures. She played opposite Farley Granger i
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ANN STEELY was born to Henry Grady Steely, a school teacher and local theatre operator, and his wife Ora Lecher Steely, on July 6, 1923 in the small town of Siluria, Alabama. Ann attended elementary school in Greensboro, Alabama, but her father died in 1935, and at age twelve, she moved with her mother and younger brother, Joe, to Oklahoma City. In Oklahoma she attended Harding Junior High School and graduated from Classen High School in 1942.  Between 1942 and 1943, Ann studied stenography at Hill's Business College and dramatics at Oklahoma City University where she appeared in some student productions. Upon leaving school, she got a job as a secretary with Oklahoma City's army induction center, but had caught the acting bug, and in 1944, packed her bags to try her luck in Hollywood.

Ann's only contact in the movie industry was photographer Paul Hesse who did his best to introduce her to people, but her break came while sitting at a lunch counter in Schwab's drugstore. There she met an agent named Ben Medford who offered to introduce her to producer Samuel Goldwyn. Goldwy

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