ANITA LOUISE: Depression Era Dreamgirl

Beautiful blonde Anita Louise is Titania, under a love potion, falls instantly in love with Bottom (James Cagney), transformed by Puck into a donkey, in A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM (1935)
Riding instructor Richard Greene and teacher Anita Louise make a very handsome couple in the Shirley Temple vehicle THE LITTLE PRINCESS (1939)

Classic Images,
Issue Number 468,
June 2014

“My looks hindered my picture progress. I just sat and sat and sat, waiting for the studio to cast me in a role into which I could sink my teeth. None came.”

One of the tender beauties of the 1930s and 1940s, ANITA LOUISE (1915-1970), known as “the gal with two first names,” was a cinematographer’s dream and ultimate eyeful for Depression-weary males in period pieces and stirring melodramas. Few actresses, before or since, have surpassed the ethereal beauty of this leading lady. Best recalled for her glistening portrayals of Titania in A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM (1935) and Marie Antoinette in MADAME DuBARRY (1934), she embraced many a handsome leading man while being protected, saved or adored. Men like Gary Cooper, Errol Flynn, Henry Fonda, Louis Hayward and Lew Ayres were just a few of the lucky guys to win or lose her.

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