Anne Edwards (August 20, 1927 – January 20, 2024) was an American writer best known for her biographies, including those of celebrities such as

Maria Callas Maria Callas (born Maria Anna Cecilia Sophia Kalogeropoulos; December 2, 1923 – September 16, 1977) was an American-born Greek soprano and one of the most renowned and influential opera singers of the 20th century. Many critics praised ...

Judy Garland Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922June 22, 1969) was an American actress and singer. Possessing a strong contralto voice, she was celebrated for her emotional depth and versatility across film, stage, and concert performance. ...

Katharine Hepburn Katharine Houghton Hepburn (May 12, 1907 – June 29, 2003) was an American actress whose Katharine Hepburn on screen and stage, career as a Golden Age of Hollywood, Hollywood leading lady spanned six decades. She was known for her headstrong ...

Vivien Leigh Vivien Leigh ( ; born Vivian Mary Hartley; 5 November 1913 – 8 July 1967), styled as Lady Olivier after 1947, was a British actress. After completing her drama school education, Leigh appeared in small roles in four films in 1935 and progress ...

Margaret Mitchell Margaret Munnerlyn Mitchell (November 8, 1900 – August 16, 1949) was an American novelist and journalist. Mitchell wrote only one novel that was published during her lifetime, the American Civil War-era novel ''Gone With the Wind (novel), Gone ...

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

Barbra Streisand Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand ( ; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress, songwriter, producer, and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success across multiple fields of entertainment, being the ...

Shirley Temple Shirley Temple Black (born Shirley Jane Temple; April 23, 1928 – February 10, 2014) was an American actress, singer, dancer, and diplomat, who was Hollywood's number-one box-office draw as a child actress from 1934 to 1938. Later, she was na ...

and royalty including Queen Mary,

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

Princess Margaret Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon (Margaret Rose; 21 August 1930 – 9 February 2002) was the younger daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. She was the younger sister and only sibling of Queen Elizabeth II. ...

Princess Diana Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997), was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William ...

and Countess Sonya Tolstoy.

Early life and education

Anne Louise Josephson was born on August 20, 1927, in Port Chester, New York, to Milton and Marian (Fish) Josephson. Her father was a traveling clothes salesman and her mother was a homemaker. The family moved to Los Angeles in 1932, where Edwards started as a child actor on radio and the stage, performing with the Meglin Kiddies and the Gus Edwards troupe. In 1944, at age 17, she was hired by

MGM Studios Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American film and television production and distribution company headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. Metro ...

, becoming the youngest writer for the studio, where she earned $150 a week. Edwards attended the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

during the 1945–1946 school year, and also studied at

Southern Methodist University Southern Methodist University (SMU) is a Private university, private research university in Dallas, Texas, United States, with a satellite campus in Taos County, New Mexico. SMU was founded on April 17, 1911, by the Methodist Episcopal Church, ...

from 1947 to 1948. In 1949, at age 22, she sold her first screenplay, the film '' Quantez'', which starred

Fred MacMurray Frederick Martin MacMurray (August 30, 1908 – November 5, 1991) was an American actor. He appeared in more than one hundred films and a successful television series in a career that spanned nearly a half-century. His career as a major film le ...

and Dorothy Malone.

Career

Her early film credits include; '' A Question of Adultery'' starring

Julie London Julie London (born Julie Peck; September 26, 1926 – October 18, 2000) was an American singer and actress whose career spanned more than 40 years. A torch song, torch singer noted for her contralto voice, London recorded over thirty album ...

and Anthony Steel; and co-writing the first draft of the screenplay for the film '' Funny Girl'' starring

. She wrote her first novel, ''The Survivors'', in 1968 and subsequently wrote eight novels, sixteen biographies, three children's books, and two memoirs (one with her late husband Stephen Citron). In 1975, she wrote her first celebrity biography, ''Judy Garland: A Biography'', and her 1990 biography of

, ''Early Reagan: The Rise to Power'', was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. In the mid-1970s, Edwards was hired by the Zanuck-Brown Company to write a story that could be adapted as a film sequel to

Gone with the Wind Gone with the Wind most often refers to: * Gone with the Wind (novel), ''Gone with the Wind'' (novel), a 1936 novel by Margaret Mitchell * Gone with the Wind (film), ''Gone with the Wind'' (film), the 1939 adaptation of the novel Gone with the Wind ...

. She wrote a well–researched novel, which in the end was not used for the sequel and was itself never published. It was through working on this novel that she decided to write her biography of Margaret Mitchell. Edwards was a past president of the

Authors Guild The Authors Guild is the United States' oldest and largest professional organization for writers and provides advocacy on issues of free expression and copyright protection. Since its founding in 1912 as the Authors League of America, it has coun ...

and served on its board of directors. Her collection of literary manuscripts, papers, and related materials is now part of the Special Collections Department of the

Charles E. Young Research Library The Charles E. Young Research Library is one of the largest libraries on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles in Westwood, Los Angeles, California. It initially opened in 1964, and a second phase of construction was completed ...

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

, where she had taught writing. In an interview for ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

'', Edwards said, "An idea hits me, then I develop the story or, in the case of a biography, think of a person who exemplifies that theme. Vivien eigh Judy arlandand Sonya olstoywere vastly interesting people and symbolic of certain things: Judy, the exploitation of a woman; Vivien, somebody who suffered from manic-depression; Sonya, an intelligent woman subjugated to a man who used her, drained her, made a villain of her."

Personal life

Edwards was married three times. Her first husband, whom she married in 1947, was Harvey Wishner, nephew of screenwriter, producer, and director

Robert Rossen Robert Rossen (March 16, 1908 – February 18, 1966) was an American screenwriter, film director, and producer whose film career spanned almost three decades. His 1949 film '' All the King's Men'' won Oscars for Best Picture, Best Actor and B ...

. Her second marriage was to film producer Leon Becker, and her third marriage was to pianist and composer Stephen Citron, who died in 2013. In the 1950s, she moved overseas, where she lived as an

expatriate An expatriate (often shortened to expat) is a person who resides outside their native country. The term often refers to a professional, skilled worker, or student from an affluent country. However, it may also refer to retirees, artists and ...

in England, Switzerland and France. According to her autobiography, ''Leaving Home: A Hollywood Writer's Years Abroad'', the reason for her leaving the United States was because she was on the master blacklist of the

House Un-American Activities Committee The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative United States Congressional committee, committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 19 ...

, whose goal was to "wipe out progressives and unionists in the film business and all socially critical picture-making." While living in London, she crossed paths several times with

, who was the subject of her first celebrity biography. Ironically, the pair had first met when they were children, having been represented by the same talent agency representing child actors. In 1973, she returned to the States, where she resided in Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York before finally returning to Beverly Hills. Edwards died in Beverly Hills, California, on January 20, 2024, at the age of 96.

Bibliography

Biographies

*1975: ''Judy Garland: A Biography'' (

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...

) *1977: ''Vivien Leigh: A Biography'' (Simon & Schuster) *1981: ''Sonya: The Life of Countess Tolstoy'' (Simon & Schuster) *1983: ''Road to Tara: Life of Margaret Mitchell'' (

Hodder & Stoughton Hodder & Stoughton is a British publishing house, now an imprint of Hachette.H ...

) *1984: ''Matriarch: Queen Mary and the House of Windsor'' ( William Morrow and Company) *1985: ''A Remarkable Woman: A Biography of Katharine Hepburn'' (Morrow) *1988: ''The DeMilles: An American Family'' ( Harry N. Abrams) *1988: ''Shirley Temple: American Princess'' (Morrow) *1990: ''Early Reagan: The Rise to Power'' (Morrow) *1990: ''Royal Sisters: Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret'' (Morrow) *1992: ''The Grimaldis of Monaco: Centuries of Scandal/Years of Grace'' (Morrow) *1995: ''Throne of Gold: The Lives of the Aga Khans'' (Morrow) *1997: ''Streisand: A Biography'' (Little, Brown) *1997: ''Diana: The Life She Led'' (

St. Martin's Press St. Martin's Press is a book publisher headquartered in Manhattan in New York City. It is headquartered in the Equitable Building (New York City), Equitable Building. St. Martin's Press is considered one of the largest English-language publishe ...

) *2001: ''Maria Callas: An Intimate Biography'' (St. Martin's Press) *2003: ''The Reagans: Portrait of a Marriage'' (St. Martin's Press)

Novels

*1968: ''The Survivors'' ( Holt Rinehart Winston) *1970: ''Miklos Alexandrovitch Is Missing'' (Coward-McCann) *1971: ''Shadow Of A Lion'' (Coward, McCann & Geoghegan) *1974: ''Haunted Summer'' (

Bantam Books Bantam Books is an American publishing house owned entirely by parent company Random House, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House; it is an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group. It was formed in 1945 by Walter B. Pitkin Jr., Sidney B. K ...

) *1974: ''The Hesitant Heart'' (Random House) *1975: ''Child of Night'' (Random House) *1991: ''Wallis: The Novel'' (Morrow) *1996: ''La Divina'' ( Mandarin Publishing)

Autobiography

*1976 ''The Inn and Us'' (Random House), co-authored with husband Stephen Citron *2011: "Scarlett and Me" (The Marietta Gone with the Wind Museum) *2012: ''Leaving Home'' (Scarecrow Press)

Children's books

*1977: ''P. T. Barnum'' ( Putnam) *1977: ''The Great Houdini'' (Putnam) *1987: ''A Child's Bible'' (Topeka Bindery), co-authored with Shirley Steen

References

External links

The Reagans
Anne Edwards at

C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American Cable television in the United States, cable and Satellite television in the United States, satellite television network, created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a Non ...

(talking about her biography, ''The Reagans: Portrait of a Marriage'') * {{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, Anne 1927 births 2024 deaths American children's writers 20th-century American novelists American women screenwriters Novelists from New York (state) People from Port Chester, New York American women children's writers American women novelists 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers University of California, Los Angeles alumni Southern Methodist University alumni American women television writers American television writers 20th-century American biographers 21st-century American biographers American women biographers Screenwriters from New York (state) Historians from New York (state)