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Annie Ross

Annie Ross brought the instincts of a jazz singer to acting: precision, timing and an ability to make a brief appearance register. Born in Surrey in 1930 to Scottish vaudevillians, she first took the stage at three and moved to New York with her family the following year. A children’s radio contest led to a token MGM contract, and she later settled in Los Angeles with her aunt, singer and actress Ella Logan. Her early screen work included singing “The Bonnie Banks o’ Loch Lomond” in Our Gang Follies of 1938 and playing the sister of Judy Garland’s character in Presenting Lily Mars. Music became the defining thread of Ross’s career. At 14, she wrote “Let’s Fly,” which won a songwriting contest and was recorded by Johnny Mercer and the Pied Pipers. After leaving school, adopting the surname Ross and returning to Europe, she established herself as a singer. Her 1952 recording of “Twisted,” with lyrics written to Wardell Gray’s composition, became a classic example of vocalese and earned her Down Beat magazine’s New Star award. From 1957 to 1962, Ross recorded seven albums with Lambert, Hendricks & Ross. The trio’s success took them around the world and placed her voice at the centre of records including Sing a Song of Basie, Sing Ellington and The Real Ambassadors. She later opened Annie’s Room in London, a nightclub whose guests included Nina Simone, Blossom Dearie, Anita O’Day and Erroll Garner. Ross’s adult acting career was varied and pleasingly hard to pin down. She appeared in Superman III, Throw Momma from the Train, Pump Up the Volume and Robert Altman’s The Player, then played Tess Trainer in Altman’s Short Cuts and Lydia in Blue Sky. Horror audiences may know her as Granny Ruth in Basket Case 2 and Basket Case 3: The Progeny. Her vocal skill also served the screen in less visible ways: she supplied Britt Ekland’s speaking voice in The Wicker Man and Ingrid Thulin’s singing voice in Salon Kitty. Across music, film and theatre, Ross built a career around the expressive possibilities of a voice—and knew how to use it whether she was singing, speaking or acting.