Ann E. Todd (born Ann Todd Phillips, later Ann Basart or Ann Phillips Basart; August 26, 1931 – February 7, 2020) was an American child actress. As an adult, she became a music reference librarian at

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

Early years

Todd was born in 1931 in

Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

, to Burrill L. and Alberta C. (née Mayfield) Phillips. She had a younger brother, Stephen (1937–1986). She was a distant relative of

Mary Todd Lincoln Mary Ann Todd Lincoln (December 13, 1818July 16, 1882) served as First Lady of the United States from 1861 until the assassination of her husband, President Abraham Lincoln in 1865. Mary Lincoln was a member of a large and wealthy, slave-owning ...

. Due to the privations of the Great Depression, she was raised by her maternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Albert Ulysses Mayfield, her adoptive name was Ann Todd Mayfield. (A Newspaper Enterprise Association story published June 13, 1940, refers to Mrs. A.U. Mayfield as Todd's mother.) In 1942, Todd was hospitalized in critical condition when blood poisoning developed after she cut her foot playing a game in her backyard. (Wayback Machine Archive)

Film career

Todd made her acting debut in '' Zaza'' (1939) directed by

George Cukor George Dewey Cukor (; July 7, 1899 – January 24, 1983) was an American film director and film producer. He mainly concentrated on comedies and literary adaptations. His career flourished at RKO when David O. Selznick, the studio's Head ...

. In a career spanning over 14 years, she appeared in almost 40 movies alongside such stars as Ingrid Bergman, Shirley Temple, James Stewart,

John Garfield John Garfield (born Jacob Julius Garfinkle, March 4, 1913 – May 21, 1952) was an American actor who played brooding, rebellious, working-class characters. He grew up in poverty in New York City. In the early 1930s, he became a member of ...

Bette Davis Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (; April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress with a career spanning more than 50 years and 100 acting credits. She was noted for playing unsympathetic, sardonic characters, and was famous for her pe ...

, Barbara Stanwyck and

Marlene Dietrich Marie Magdalene "Marlene" DietrichBorn as Maria Magdalena, not Marie Magdalene, according to Dietrich's biography by her daughter, Maria Riva ; however Dietrich's biography by Charlotte Chandler cites "Marie Magdalene" as her birth name . (, ; ...

. Due to the similarities between her name and the established British actress Ann Todd, she added the initial "E." to her name. Todd was a regular in ''

The Stu Erwin Show ''The Stu Erwin Show'' (also known as ''Trouble with Father'') is an American sitcom which aired on ABC from 1950 to 1955. Only four of the series’ five seasons on the network included new episodes; the 1953–54 season consisted entirely of re ...

'' from 1950 to 1953.Terrace, Vincent (2011). ''Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. 1109. She became a teacher and librarian in her later life.

Librarian and academic career

After graduating from the University of California, Los Angeles, she attended the University of California, Berkeley, where she obtained a master's degree in

library science Library science (often termed library studies, bibliothecography, and library economy) is an interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary field that applies the practices, perspectives, and tools of management, information technology, education, an ...

in 1958 and a Master of Arts in 1960.Mimi Tashiro, "Basart, Ann", ''Grove Music Online'' https://doi.org/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.A2083817 (accessed November 18, 2019). She was a reference librarian at U.C. Berkeley from 1960 to 1961 and 1970 to 1990. Among her accomplishments was founding and editing ''Cum Notis Variorum'', the library's newsletter, which gained a substantial reputation. Additionally Basart wrote reviews for the

Music Library Association The Music Library Association (MLA) of the United States is the main professional organization for music libraries and librarians (including those whose music materials form only part of their responsibilities and collections). It also serves corp ...

publication ''

Notes Note, notes, or NOTE may refer to: Music and entertainment * Musical note, a pitched sound (or a symbol for a sound) in music * ''Notes'' (album), a 1987 album by Paul Bley and Paul Motian * ''Notes'', a common (yet unofficial) shortened versio ...

'' as well as serving as its music review editor and book review editor. She taught at the San Francisco College for Women and at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1984, Basart established Fallen Leaf Press, publishing reference books in music as well as scores of contemporary American chamber music. Basart closed the business in 2000. In 1993, she was recognized by the

for lifetime achievement.

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Todd, Ann E. 1931 births 2020 deaths 20th-century American actresses Actresses from Denver American child actresses American film actresses American librarians American television actresses American women librarians Place of death missing University of California, Berkeley people 21st-century American women