Ann Carter (June 16, 1936 – January 27, 2014) was an American child actress who worked with dozens of film stars, compiling an "unimaginably distinguished résumé" despite an acting career which lasted only slightly more than a decade.
"[3] After briefly residing with her maternal Aunt Stell (short for Estelle) and Uncle Jack in Glendale, California, on Idlewood Road, Carter and her mother moved "to a place near Olympic and Robertson in West Los Angeles, with [her father] there again part-time.
[4]Some 60 years later, Carter confesses that she doesn't recall much personally about Last of the Duanes, which was shot in April–May, 1941, but was subsequently told what happened by her "very focused" mother.
[4] In her first fantasy film, and most notable early role, she played Veronica Lake's young daughter in I Married a Witch (1942), an experience which "made [a big] impression" on the then-five year old actress.
[4] A scene she remembers clearly, which later "ended up on the cutting room floor," she flew down a staircase on a broomstick, specially fitted with a little seat crafted specifically for her.
Carter recalls: That was during the war and, because of fear of a Japanese attack, there were little boats in the harbor, right in front of the Empress [Hotel], in case we had to evacuate.
[4]Her most substantial film role came when the seven-year-old Carter played the part of Amy Reed in the classic fantasy The Curse of the Cat People (1944).
[4] Carter played the lonely and imaginative child who is unable to relate to the prosaic activities of her schoolmates, in a role described by Weaver as making her "practically the star" after only "a few small, sometimes uncredited parts.
[4] Carter worked for 32 of the 33 days of filming, under two directors (Gunther von Fritsch and Robert Wise), but "felt no pressure" over the exacting schedule.
[4] Initially diagnosed with summer flu, Carter thought she was over her symptoms when, during filming on The Member of the Wedding, director Fred Zinnemann noticed her "'leaning to port'," and it was discovered that "the muscles were all gone down one side of [her] back.
"[4] After an electromyogram at Memorial Hospital in Los Angeles, and physical therapy and swimming (at the Hollywood Athletic Club), she was strengthened enough to "carry around a cast, [which was] huge and weighed 55 pounds.
"[4] During her recovery from polio, Carter's parents "helped bring Lawrence Welk to prominence," when Dodge, the automobile corporation, was "looking for someone to sponsor on television" c.1950/51.
[4] Carter's mother was "all excited about The Lawrence Welk Show, which she thought was wonderful," convincing her husband to "present that as a good idea for Dodge to sponsor.
[4] In retrospect, Carter acknowledges that this decision "just about broke my mother's heart," who was so involved in her daughter's career and felt that she should have continued to act.
[2][4] A mother of three – to Gail, David and Carol – Carter retired, in part to help care for her grandchildren, allowing her children and their partners to work.
"[4] Finding "hope and a very, very aggressive chemo treatment" from Dr Saul Rivkin at the Swedish Cancer Institute in Seattle, she got through it "with help from [her] family and friends.
[2]In 2008, convicted (in 2013) murderer and Rockefeller impersonator, German-born Christian Gerhartsreiter, claimed that Carter was his mother when he was arrested for custodial kidnapping.