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(February 7, 1891 - May 21, 1984) was
an American film actress whose career was most prolific during the
silent film era of the early 1910s through the early 1920s.
 Born
Mary Brooks on a ranch near the town of Mt. Shasta, California, she
began appearing in a traveling stock theater group after graduating
high school. After briefly relocating to San Francisco, California
in the early 1910s, she made the transition to films; first
appearing in one-reel Western shorts with actor and director Broncho
Billy Anderson. Her first film appearance was in the 1911 release
The Indian Maiden's Lesson as a Native American named 'Red Feather'.
Little would often appear as Native American characters in many of
her earliest films
By 1912, Little was appearing regularly in Thomas H. Ince directed
Western-themed serials, often as an "Indian princess" and usually
starring opposite Francis Ford, Grace Cunard, Olive Tell, Jack
Conway, Ethel Grandin, early American child actress Mildred Harris
and notable early cowboy star Art Acord for Essanay Studios. Between
1911 and 1914, Little would appear in approximately sixty shorts,
the overwhelming majority of them Westerns and many of the serials
that ran in installments.
Although possibly best recalled for her appearances in Westerns, Ann
Little showed versatility as an actress by appearing in a number of
well received roles in other dramatic genres and even comedies. Most
notably among her dramatic roles was the early American cinematic
Civil War serials directed by William J. Bauman and Thomas Ince.
Another notable film of the period was the 1914 Ruth Ann Baldwin
penned and Allan Dwan adapted epic Damon and Pythias, which included
a cast of thousands of extras. While signed under contract to
Universal Studios, she would make nearly six serials, most of them
Western-themed one and two-reel dramas.
By 1917, Little was signed to Paramount Pictures and often being
paired with the highly successful actor Wallace Reid in a number of
popular dramas and comedies, and while allegedly tired of being
typecast as an actress of Western serials starred opposite cowboy
actor Jack Hoxie in the popular 1919 serial Lightning Bryce. By the
early 1920s however, Little would only take dramatic roles outside
of the Western genre. Notable films of the period include the
race-car adventure films The Roaring Road (1919) and Excuse My Dust
(1920) with Wallace Reid, The Cradle of Courage with William S. Hart
and the crime-drama The Greatest Menace (1923) opposite Wilfred
Lucas. |
