Anne Robinson, the red-haired actress who was memorably threatened by Martians in the stunning 1953 science fiction classic War of the WorldsHe died. She was 96 years old.
Robinson died Sept. 26 at her home in Los Angeles, her granddaughter, Tori Bravo, said. Hollywood Reporter. Her death has not been publicly revealed yet.
Born in Hollywood, Robinson broke into the film world as a stunt performer and was an inexperienced contract player at Paramount Pictures when she auditioned for effects producer and effects producer George Pal and then played library science teacher Sylvia Van Buren in War of the Worlds.
In the Oscar-winning film, based on the 1898 H.G. Wells novel, Sylvia and Pacific technology professor Clayton Forrester (Gene Barry) try to figure out a way to defeat the Martians who have landed in a small town outside Los Angeles and across the planet, using a brilliant heat ray to wreak widespread devastation.
“The nations of the world are quickly mobilizing their armed forces to defend Earth against the unknown weapon of the super race coming from the Red Planet!” exclaims the narrator in the film’s trailer. “Isn’t there something that can stop the Martian death machines?”
In one terrifying scene, a Martian places his long, skinny fingers on an unsuspecting Sylvia’s shoulder, but Clayton comes to her rescue and kills the creature with an axe.
“I always thought that guy might have been nice! Maybe we spoiled a chance for peace because Gene Barry got too excited and threw the axe,” the jovial Robinson told Tom Weaver in an interview for his 1994 book. Attack the monster movie makers.
“This Martian was coming up behind me to tap me on the shoulder – he wasn’t aggressive, he wasn’t mean. Of course, Martians king He blew up my uncle along with a bunch of other people, but this guy was probably the nice guy who wanted to negotiate.
Steven Spielberg invited Robinson and Barry to reenact this scene in his 2005 version of the horror-thriller War of the Worldsstarring Tom Cruise.
“Steven was absolutely adorable,” she told Nick Thomas in 2016. “He came up behind me, squatted down, put three fingers on my left shoulder and shouted, ‘Someone take my picture!’” Apparently, War of the Worlds It was one of his favorite movies growing up.
“They treated me like royalty,” she added. “My son who was with me told me he heard people saying, ‘She’s here, she’s here!'” after we arrived on set. For the Ziegfeld Theater premiere, they flew me to New York first class, put me in a beautiful hotel overlooking Central Park, and arranged a limousine to transport my family. I’ve waited 60 years to get this treatment!
Robinson also played Sylvia in several episodes from 1988-1990 War of the Worlds Syndicated TV series.
“I got more mileage out of it War of the Worlds Than Vivien did to me Gone with the wind“Weaver said.
Robinson was born on May 25, 1929, and attended Hollywood High School and Sacred Heart Academy in La Cañada Flintridge. In one of her first films, she starred in June Havoc and was caught on a 15-foot barbed wire fence while trying to escape from Tehachapi State Prison in Molly X’s story (1949).
“I lied like crazy to get the job and told everyone how experienced I was!” Weaver said. “I looked and thought to myself: What have I gotten myself into?” But when you’re that young and stupid, nothing bothers you.
She also rode horses Midnight black (1949), starring Roddy McDowall, who played Shelley Winters in the film Frenchie (1950) and served as an extra in A place in the sun (1951), in which director George Stevens gave her a line of dialogue.
Robinson joined the Circle Theater in Hollywood, then signed with Paramount for $125 a week as one of the studio’s “golden circle” of future stars.
after War of the Worlds He was loaned to Colombia to work on a noir film Glass wall (1953), Paramount decided not to renew its contract. In 1954, she played a Los Angeles cop opposite Jack Webb in the first film Dragnet Movie and space queen in a joint science fiction program for children, Rocky Jones, Space Ranger.
Robinson put her show business on hold in 1957 when she fled to Mexico to marry Jaime Bravo, a famous bullfighter. It “directly blew up my career,” Weaver said. “When I came home, Hollywood had passed me by. I’d screwed it up. I’d screwed it up.” She and Bravo had two children before divorcing in 1967.
However, Robinson guest-starred in the 1960s on several television shows, including… Perry Mason, Father Bachelor, The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, Peter Gunn, Death Valley days and 77 Sunset Strip.
In addition to her granddaughter, survivors include her son, Jaime Bravo Jr., director of ABC Sports and ESPN, and her grandson, Sammy.
