Anne Shirley (actress)

Anne Shirley
from the trailer for the film Vigil in the Night (1940)
Born	Dawn Evelyeen Paris (1918-04-17)April 17, 1918 New York City, New York, U.S.
Died	July 4, 1993(1993-07-04) (aged 75) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Other names	Dawn O'Day
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1922–1944
Spouse(s)	John Payne (1937–1943) (divorced) 1 child Adrian Scott (1945–1948) (divorced) Charles Lederer (1949–1976) (his death) 1 child
Children	Julie Payne Daniel Lederer

Anne Shirley (April 17, 1918 – July 4, 1993) was an American film actress and former child actress.

Beginning her career as a child actress under the stage name Dawn O'Day, Shirley adopted the name of the character she played in the film adaptation of Anne of Green Gables in 1934, and achieved a successful career in supporting roles. Among her films is Stella Dallas (1937), for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

She retired from acting in 1944, at the age of 26. She remained in Los Angeles, where she died at the age of 75.

Born as Dawn Evelyeen Paris, in New York City, she began acting under the name of Dawn O'Day. As a baby she began modeling, and made her film debut with a featured role in 1922's Moonshine Valley. She began acting at the age of five, and had a highly successful child star career in Pre-Code movies, appearing in such films as Liliom, Tom Mix's Riders of the Purple Sage, So Big, Three on a Match and Rasputin and the Empress.

In 1934 she starred as the character of Anne Shirley in Anne of Green Gables, and took that character's name as her stage name.

After adopting the name Anne Shirley, she starred in Steamboat 'Round the Bend, Make Way for a Lady and Stella Dallas, for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.