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Ann Dvorak: Hollywood's Forgotten Rebel
Possessing a unique beauty and refined acting skills, Ann Dvorak (1911-1979) found success in Hollywood at a time when many actors were still struggling to adapt to the era of talkies. Seemingly destined for A-list fame, critics touted her as "Hollywood's New Cinderella" after film mogul Howard Hughes cast her as Cesca in the gangster film Scarface (1932). Dvorak's journey to superstardom was derailed when she walked out on her contractual obligations to Warner Bros. for an extended honeymoon. Later, she initiated a legal dispute over her contract, an action that was unprecedented at a time when studios exercised complete control over actors' careers.
As the first full-length biography of an often-overlooked actress, Ann Hollywood's Forgotten Rebel explores the life and career of one of the first individuals who dared to challenge the studio system that ruled Tinseltown. The actress reached her pinnacle during the early 1930s, when the film industry was relatively uncensored and free to produce movies with more daring storylines. She played several female leads in films including The Strange Love of Molly Louvain (1932), and Three on a Match (1932), and Heat Lightning (1934), but after her walk-out, Warner Bros retaliated by casting her in less significant roles.
Following the casting conflicts and illness, Dvorak filed a lawsuit against the Warner Bros. studio, setting a precedent for other stars who eventually rebelled against the established Hollywood system. In this insightful memoir, Christina Rice explores the spirited rebellion of a talented actress whose promising career fell victim to the studio empire.
As the first full-length biography of an often-overlooked actress, Ann Hollywood's Forgotten Rebel explores the life and career of one of the first individuals who dared to challenge the studio system that ruled Tinseltown. The actress reached her pinnacle during the early 1930s, when the film industry was relatively uncensored and free to produce movies with more daring storylines. She played several female leads in films including The Strange Love of Molly Louvain (1932), and Three on a Match (1932), and Heat Lightning (1934), but after her walk-out, Warner Bros retaliated by casting her in less significant roles.
Following the casting conflicts and illness, Dvorak filed a lawsuit against the Warner Bros. studio, setting a precedent for other stars who eventually rebelled against the established Hollywood system. In this insightful memoir, Christina Rice explores the spirited rebellion of a talented actress whose promising career fell victim to the studio empire.
384 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2013
13 people are currently reading
244 people want to read
About the author
Christina Rice
76 books38 followersChristina Rice is a writer, librarian, and archivist who was born and bred in the greater Los Angeles region. While majoring in film at Cal State Fullerton in the 1990s, she began collecting memorabilia relating to actress Ann Dvorak which eventually lead her to document Dvorak's life, launch www.anndvorak.com, and ultimately write Ann Dvorak: Hollywood's Forgotten Rebel (University Press of Kentucky, 2013). After obtaining an MLIS from San Jose State University in 2004, she began a career as a librarian with the Los Angeles Public Library the following year. Since 2009, she has overseen the library’s historic photo collection. In addition to authoring books on Ann Dvorak and Jane Russell, she has also written numerous issues of the My Little Pony comic book series (IDW Publishing) and was a contributor to the Eisen-nominated anthologies Femme Magnifique (Black Crown, 2018) and Where We Live (Image Comics, 2018). She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, writer Joshua Hale Fialkov, their daughter, and two adorable dogs.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
June 8, 2017
This is a well-written biography of 1930s actress Ann Dvorak. While you can tell the author is a fan of Dvorak, she still manages to give a truthful account of the actress' career and life. Photos are included in the book that highlight films and events in Dvorak's life. I learned alot about one of my favorite actresses from Classic Hollywood, and I enjoyed the author's writing style. An enjoyable read for fans of classic films.
October 21, 2025
This is a very well written biography. I only took out a star because of how long and extensive It was. I wanted to know more but at the same time I wanted it to be written in less.
I didn’t know who Ann Dvorak was when I came across this book and once I started reading I wanted to know more. Straight from the beginning the author gives it away that she is a fan but at the same time, she researched very well to make sure of as much accuracy and truth as possible even if it would shine a negative light and that is respectable.
So Ann Dvorak. She was a strong yet vulnerable character. It seemed she was always at the cusp of something where instead of using her mind she followed her heart and what may have seemed as a good decision it would come to be that it was not well thought out and not for her best interest. An actress with so much potential yet under appreciated.
This showed me and proved to me yet again that for Hollywood it’s only driven by money. Quantity rather than quality and you see it today. With movies that are made and you think to yourself “why would they make that film” “why would they sign up for it” it’s all contract. It doesn’t matter if your bigger and better. It doesn’t matter if you just finished a film. It doesn’t matter if you want to take a break. If you want to get paid and everything else that comes with it then you have to put in the extra work.
Although Ann may have felt she didn’t fall victim to it because she fought. She didn’t fight the right way. She was driven, she was talented, she was beautiful yet it wasn’t enough. 3 marriages later and alcoholism took her to an almost forgotten realm which is why generations later many don’t even know who she is, an admirable film star. It’s so sad. Overall message: Hollywood will suck you in and spit you out either the system itself or what you become of it.
“I’ll just keep working and remember that one can never hold a job too small -that is, if we aren’t big enough to do little things, we certainly aren’t big enough to do big things. And then, too, a ladder must be climbed, not flown.”
“I believe you can do anything in the world, if you really want to hard enough. It isn’t even intelligence perhaps its a sense of values”
I enjoyed your story, whatever was true and whatever was not, Ann Dvorak you are Hollywood’s Forgotten Rebel.
I didn’t know who Ann Dvorak was when I came across this book and once I started reading I wanted to know more. Straight from the beginning the author gives it away that she is a fan but at the same time, she researched very well to make sure of as much accuracy and truth as possible even if it would shine a negative light and that is respectable.
So Ann Dvorak. She was a strong yet vulnerable character. It seemed she was always at the cusp of something where instead of using her mind she followed her heart and what may have seemed as a good decision it would come to be that it was not well thought out and not for her best interest. An actress with so much potential yet under appreciated.
This showed me and proved to me yet again that for Hollywood it’s only driven by money. Quantity rather than quality and you see it today. With movies that are made and you think to yourself “why would they make that film” “why would they sign up for it” it’s all contract. It doesn’t matter if your bigger and better. It doesn’t matter if you just finished a film. It doesn’t matter if you want to take a break. If you want to get paid and everything else that comes with it then you have to put in the extra work.
Although Ann may have felt she didn’t fall victim to it because she fought. She didn’t fight the right way. She was driven, she was talented, she was beautiful yet it wasn’t enough. 3 marriages later and alcoholism took her to an almost forgotten realm which is why generations later many don’t even know who she is, an admirable film star. It’s so sad. Overall message: Hollywood will suck you in and spit you out either the system itself or what you become of it.
“I’ll just keep working and remember that one can never hold a job too small -that is, if we aren’t big enough to do little things, we certainly aren’t big enough to do big things. And then, too, a ladder must be climbed, not flown.”
“I believe you can do anything in the world, if you really want to hard enough. It isn’t even intelligence perhaps its a sense of values”
I enjoyed your story, whatever was true and whatever was not, Ann Dvorak you are Hollywood’s Forgotten Rebel.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 7, 2020
Very readable. Kindle edition has a few typos. For a few minutes I wasn't sure if one person was a reverend or merely revered. Turns out he was a reverend.
Ms. Rice became interested in Ann Dvorak in college and started collecting data on her. After having been at Chapter 5 for quite some time her husband suggested that perhaps just write the book. She is currently a librarian in Los Angeles so she is aptly placed.
A second generation actress. Both she and her mother worked in the silents. Mother was also in vaudeville. They had an on again-off again relationship. At one time they were estranged for 10 years. It probably didn't help much that Mom had dated Ann's first husband, Leslie Fenton - probably best remembered for his role in Public Enemy.
Like others, she felt abused by the studio system. Her problem was that she did it in public in California. Whereas people like Bette Davis and Olivia de Havilland tried to assert their freedom in England and France. She may have actually been on the verge of getting the decent roles when she went off on an around the world trip with Fenton. Her later husbands weren't much better. There seemed to be a tendency to marry because she was a movie star but once married, they don't appear to have liked her working.
A number of photos adorn even the kindle edition. Also notes, bibliography and an index. Although if you want to use the index on the kindle you basically have to search on terms.
Ms. Rice became interested in Ann Dvorak in college and started collecting data on her. After having been at Chapter 5 for quite some time her husband suggested that perhaps just write the book. She is currently a librarian in Los Angeles so she is aptly placed.
A second generation actress. Both she and her mother worked in the silents. Mother was also in vaudeville. They had an on again-off again relationship. At one time they were estranged for 10 years. It probably didn't help much that Mom had dated Ann's first husband, Leslie Fenton - probably best remembered for his role in Public Enemy.
Like others, she felt abused by the studio system. Her problem was that she did it in public in California. Whereas people like Bette Davis and Olivia de Havilland tried to assert their freedom in England and France. She may have actually been on the verge of getting the decent roles when she went off on an around the world trip with Fenton. Her later husbands weren't much better. There seemed to be a tendency to marry because she was a movie star but once married, they don't appear to have liked her working.
A number of photos adorn even the kindle edition. Also notes, bibliography and an index. Although if you want to use the index on the kindle you basically have to search on terms.
July 13, 2020
For every star that emerged after the Hays Code that was imposed on Hollywood there were many more that didn't attain the same amount of fame, actors like Warren William, David Manners, Ricardo Cortez, and actresses like Aline McMahon, Leila Hyams and Ann Dvorak.
The Ann Dvorak story is a bizarre tale, almost bipolar in her perpetual options of pursuing a film career and then constantly sabotaging it. She had the talent to illuminate every film she starred in and garner rave reviews. Her response to stardom was to throw it away by caving in to her exploitative husbands who drained her of every penny she had.
Christina Rice's exhaustive research into an actress who had no surviving husbands, no siblings or children, and very few personal contacts, is truly remarkable. One of the best pre-Code biographies around.
The Ann Dvorak story is a bizarre tale, almost bipolar in her perpetual options of pursuing a film career and then constantly sabotaging it. She had the talent to illuminate every film she starred in and garner rave reviews. Her response to stardom was to throw it away by caving in to her exploitative husbands who drained her of every penny she had.
Christina Rice's exhaustive research into an actress who had no surviving husbands, no siblings or children, and very few personal contacts, is truly remarkable. One of the best pre-Code biographies around.
January 11, 2021
A well researched biography that shines a light on this forgotten star of pre-code cinema. Highly recommended.
June 23, 2014
I had seen and liked Ann Dvorak in a few movies (Scarface, Three on a Match, Heat Lightning, Love is a Racket and The Crowd Roars), but knew little about her. Christina Rice took on the task of becoming Dvorak's biographer and for years researched every source (and sadly, that wasn't an easy task since AD had no survivors or journals), watched every movie that still exists and collected a massive amount of memorabilia. She turned all of this into a fascinating and informative book. Rice writes about the films, but not too exhaustively as in the trend in some modern bios. (I watched several that were new to me while reading it.) The most interesting chapter for me was Dvorak's work in England during WWII where she went at a certain amount of risk and difficulty to be near her husband, British-born actor Leslie Fenton who joined the Royal Navy in 1941. Dvorak drove and ambulance and other service vehicles, was a journalist and a farm worker for four years during the war. Highly recommended for classic film lovers.
September 4, 2022
as with all effectively written hollywood biographies, this added a lot to my letterboxd watchlist though i’m gonna need to order an army of out-of-print DVDs just to put a dent in watching most of these obscure 70-minute dramas.
Christina Rice: “this film is mostly unremarkable—“
me: “oh okay, guess i can skip…”
Christina Rice: “—except for Ann, who looks beautiful”
me: *smashes that Add to Cart button on Amazon*
Christina Rice: “this film is mostly unremarkable—“
me: “oh okay, guess i can skip…”
Christina Rice: “—except for Ann, who looks beautiful”
me: *smashes that Add to Cart button on Amazon*
April 10, 2014
A lively yet bittersweet tale of a Hollywood actress poised for superstardom but whose inability to conform to the studio system left her floundering just outside of the A-list. A life lived admirably and to the fullest, but with a legacy shrouded in "what ifs."
March 8, 2019
It’s amazing how much it can help when a biographer is naturally funny – and an artful writer. Christina Rice faced an uphill struggle with this one: profiling a pre-Code star who left no personal papers and no family, and whose collaborators are almost all long dead. But through lengthy digging and neat, witty writing, it really works. Unlike many other biographers of Golden Age stars, Rice is neither a grave-robbing gossip-monger nor a blinkered fan, and she treats her sources just right: she knows when to prune and when to elaborate – no endless descriptions of Hollywood addresses here – contextualises without getting distracted, and evinces an effortless ability to know how long to tell a story: recaps of films are punchy and perceptive. (Having said that, her knowledge of British cinema is a little lacking: she describes Emeric Pressburger as merely the writer of The Red Shoes, and Gaslight only as a 1944 Hollywood movie.)
Dvorak was not a particularly fascinating woman, aside from her film work, and even her reputation there rests largely on a handful of movies made from 1932-3: Hawks’ indelible Scarface, the absurd but arresting Three on a Match, Heat Lightning. And when Rice switches from Dvorak-as-filtered-through-the-fan-magazines to Dvorak-in-her-own-words, the actress doesn’t come across as very nice (some of these letters were written under great strain or the influence of drink, but the earlier ones weren’t). Rice, though, humanises Dvorak by bringing to light – and to life – her selfless wartime work in Britain, which wasn’t just USO shows but journalism, ambulance driving and Land Girl farmwork, after she braved the Blitz in following first husband Leslie Fenton (The Public Enemy’s toothy Nails Nathan) to his home turf.
Dvorak followed the standard actress template of ‘paternal husband, sexy husband, psychopathic husband’, ending her life in relative poverty and obscurity in Hawaii. It may all have been so different (or may not, Rice acknowledges) if she hadn’t gone on an eight-month honeymoon at the peak of her popularity in 1932, badmouthing her studio, Warner Bros, from the boat. The author never quite manages to sell you on the book’s titular boast – it seems Dvorak was greedy, naïve and badly-advised rather than really rebellious – but this is a zippy, entertaining if ultimately rather depressing biog of an actor who for one brief, brilliant moment seemed to have it all.
Dvorak was not a particularly fascinating woman, aside from her film work, and even her reputation there rests largely on a handful of movies made from 1932-3: Hawks’ indelible Scarface, the absurd but arresting Three on a Match, Heat Lightning. And when Rice switches from Dvorak-as-filtered-through-the-fan-magazines to Dvorak-in-her-own-words, the actress doesn’t come across as very nice (some of these letters were written under great strain or the influence of drink, but the earlier ones weren’t). Rice, though, humanises Dvorak by bringing to light – and to life – her selfless wartime work in Britain, which wasn’t just USO shows but journalism, ambulance driving and Land Girl farmwork, after she braved the Blitz in following first husband Leslie Fenton (The Public Enemy’s toothy Nails Nathan) to his home turf.
Dvorak followed the standard actress template of ‘paternal husband, sexy husband, psychopathic husband’, ending her life in relative poverty and obscurity in Hawaii. It may all have been so different (or may not, Rice acknowledges) if she hadn’t gone on an eight-month honeymoon at the peak of her popularity in 1932, badmouthing her studio, Warner Bros, from the boat. The author never quite manages to sell you on the book’s titular boast – it seems Dvorak was greedy, naïve and badly-advised rather than really rebellious – but this is a zippy, entertaining if ultimately rather depressing biog of an actor who for one brief, brilliant moment seemed to have it all.
September 13, 2025
This biography is a true gift to classic Hollywood film buffs. The start with, it's likely this will be the only biography we'll ever get of Ann Dvorak, and it's miraculous that we even got this one. Second, I've always considered myself a huge fan (ever since a friend sat me down to watch "A Life of Her Own" which I'm in the minority here in adoring), but this book inspired me to seek out all of her films (many on YouTube, and I also had to resort to ok.ru for others) that seemed remotely worthwhile and I watched them as they came up in my reading the book. Decent films that I'd never heard of: "The Way to Love" (1933 and she was never more gorgeous), "Massacre" (1934), "Sweet Music" & "Dr. Socrates" (both 1935). "Cafe Hostess" and "Girls of the Road" (both 1940) were pretty good despite their limited budgets. She had an intensity that was perfect for Pre-Code films, and in later B-pictures she also gets to use that intensity. I was gobsmacked by how gorgeous she was in "Flame of the Barbary Coast", with a beautiful coiffure high on her head, and playing well with John Wayne. Like her friend Joan Crawford, she was equally good in supporting roles as in starring. Her few scenes in "Our Very Own" (1950) are among her best, and her last starring role in "I Was An American Spy" (1951) was good too.
She was an actress who could make a deep impression. As a person, she could be oddly reclusive, introverted (so many books she collected, and apparently wrote), and unfortunately went along with her husbands' wishes too easily. Yet she was also strong; she was the first of Warners' stars to go to court in 1936. (James Cagney and Bette Davis followed and had more success.) She seems to have done a lot for the war effort in Britain, whether as an actress or a 'Land Girl'. She was so intellectually curious and wished to soak up all the knowledge she could, all over the world.
It's sad to read about her leaving on an eight month honeymoon with first husband Leslie Fenton right as she was about to catapult to stardom. Even if her career hadn't reached heights like Bette Davis', the author posits that had Ann been making films in late 1932 and early 1933, she would have a few more daring Pre-Code films in her body of work. The problem isn't entirely the fault of this honeymoon, however. Warners put little thought into stretching their contract players to help build their careers and nurture their talent or even bring out their beauty as MGM would have. If a star was good in a certain kind of role, Warners kept putting them in that kind of role. This clearly happened to Ann as she was put in thankless housewife roles.
It's sad to read about the last 28 years of Ann's life in Hawaii. Being married to the wrong person, not wanting to discuss her 20 year career as a movie star because the ultimate disappointment was too much, and all of this leading to alcohol. It's sad to think that she was disappointed in herself for her 1932 honeymoon walkout. It's sad to think of a great talent dying in obscurity. The author does as well as she can to convey these final decades, but as Ann had always been private, and as she and third husband Nick Wade did a great job of alienating people, there weren't a lot of sources for this part of Ann's story. Ann had already been a difficult person to know. There are stars who have had long careers and you can get to know them, to some degree, through their work alone when there is scant reliable information. (Rita Hayworth is a great example of this phenomenon as the people who've said the most about her are her self-serving ex-husbands, and therefore everything must be taken with a grain of salt.) But Ann's career can't exactly be based on its own merit because so much of it is 'what might have been' rather than what was. And this is also what possibly got to her in the end.
She was an actress who could make a deep impression. As a person, she could be oddly reclusive, introverted (so many books she collected, and apparently wrote), and unfortunately went along with her husbands' wishes too easily. Yet she was also strong; she was the first of Warners' stars to go to court in 1936. (James Cagney and Bette Davis followed and had more success.) She seems to have done a lot for the war effort in Britain, whether as an actress or a 'Land Girl'. She was so intellectually curious and wished to soak up all the knowledge she could, all over the world.
It's sad to read about her leaving on an eight month honeymoon with first husband Leslie Fenton right as she was about to catapult to stardom. Even if her career hadn't reached heights like Bette Davis', the author posits that had Ann been making films in late 1932 and early 1933, she would have a few more daring Pre-Code films in her body of work. The problem isn't entirely the fault of this honeymoon, however. Warners put little thought into stretching their contract players to help build their careers and nurture their talent or even bring out their beauty as MGM would have. If a star was good in a certain kind of role, Warners kept putting them in that kind of role. This clearly happened to Ann as she was put in thankless housewife roles.
It's sad to read about the last 28 years of Ann's life in Hawaii. Being married to the wrong person, not wanting to discuss her 20 year career as a movie star because the ultimate disappointment was too much, and all of this leading to alcohol. It's sad to think that she was disappointed in herself for her 1932 honeymoon walkout. It's sad to think of a great talent dying in obscurity. The author does as well as she can to convey these final decades, but as Ann had always been private, and as she and third husband Nick Wade did a great job of alienating people, there weren't a lot of sources for this part of Ann's story. Ann had already been a difficult person to know. There are stars who have had long careers and you can get to know them, to some degree, through their work alone when there is scant reliable information. (Rita Hayworth is a great example of this phenomenon as the people who've said the most about her are her self-serving ex-husbands, and therefore everything must be taken with a grain of salt.) But Ann's career can't exactly be based on its own merit because so much of it is 'what might have been' rather than what was. And this is also what possibly got to her in the end.
December 31, 2016
Interesting overview of this immensely talented but underknown actress. She had a spotty career, often by her own choice, but quite an eventful life including living and working for the war effort in England during the WWII blitz. For any movie fan this would be good choice.
February 10, 2021
THIS is how you do a biography! Thoroughly researched, well-written, compelling, and satisfying. Outstanding!
July 14, 2014
I wasn't really sure I wanted to read a biography of Ann Dvorak, but this is such an excellent piece of historical writing I'm glad I did. Author Christina Rice is a Dvorak fan, but she does not allow that to color her analysis of her subject's character and career. The biography is exhaustively researched (big snaps for tracking down all those contacts) and thank heavens Rice does not default to padding the text with lengthy film synopses when information is lacking. I found Dvorak's WWII story far more interesting than her film career.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews