Evelyn Ankers

Who was Evelyn Ankers?

Evelyn Ankers was a British actress born in Chile. She often played variations on the role of the cultured young leading lady in many American horror films during the 1940s, most notably The Wolf Man at age 23 opposite Lon Chaney, Jr., a frequent screen partner. Known as "the Queen of the Screamers", her other films include The Ghost of Frankenstein, Captive Wild Woman, Son of Dracula, The Mad Ghoul, Jungle Woman, Weird Woman, The Invisible Man's Revenge and The Frozen Ghost. Ankers also appeared in Hold That Ghost, Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror, His Butler's Sister, The Pearl of Death, Pardon My Rhythm, Tarzan's Magic Fountain, and played Calamity Jane in The Texan Meets Calamity Jane, one of many movies for which she received top billing.

Ankers made over fifty films between 1936 and 1950, then retired from movies at the age of 32 to be a housewife. She occasionally played television roles and returned ten years later to make one more film, No Greater Love, with her husband Richard Denning.

She died of ovarian cancer at the age of 67 on 29 August 1985 in Maui, Hawaii.