Remembering Ann Sheridan

Putting the "Oomph" back in "The Oomph Girl"

Ann Sheridan
The Role I Liked Best...


Ann SheridanBefore I played my favorite role -- Randy Monaghan in Kings Row -- I appeared mostly in musical and B pictures, and I was fed up with the monotony of dozens of the same kind of parts .

On top of that, a press agent's brain storm established me as the oomph girl, and I felt people were assuming that I couldn't' do anything besides show my figure. I wanted a chance to try to act.

Then Humphrey Bogart told me that Warner's had bought the Bellamann novel and urged met to apply for the part of Randy.  Reading the book, I knew that this was just the kind of girl I wanted to portray -- a kid born on the wrong side of the tracks, but with a character and spirit which everybody must admire.

Warner's hesitated about giving me the part. I didn't get it until I'd gone on suspension for refusing to play another which I disliked very much, and then had done a picture about which I wasn't nearly as enthusiastic -- Navy Blues.

Everything combined to make the Kings Row role so pleasant that it hardly seemed like work.  Sam Wood's directing was a wonderful experience for me; few directors are so painstaking and at the same time so patient. We were lucky to be in the hands of the talented Chinese cameraman, James Wong Howe.

All of the cast got along very well with one another, and there never was a gayer, friendlier set between scenes. Then, too, most of my scenes were with Ronald Reagan and Bob Cummings, both of whom I had known for a long time -- a condition which helped greatly to put me at ease.

All in all, I couldn't have asked for a more favorable and gratifying opportunity that Randy brought me.

by Ann Sheridan


Return from Ann Sheridan The Role I LIked Best to Ann Sheridan Article Main Page