Ann Codee

Ann Codee
Codee in Drums of the Desert (1940)
Born	Anna Marie Vannuefflin 5 March 1890 Antwerp, Belgium
Died	18 May 1961 (aged 71) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Resting place	Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills
Other names	Anna Cody
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1928–1960
Spouse	Frank Orth ​ ​ (m. 1911)​
Children	2

Ann Codee (born Anna Marie Vannuefflin, 5 March 1890 – 18 May 1961) was a Belgian actress with numerous hit films on her résumé, such as Can-Can, Kiss Me Kate, and Interrupted Melody. Born in Antwerp, Belgium, her name was sometimes found in newspapers as Anna Cody.

Biography

Codee was born in Antwerp. She married actor Frank Orth around 1911. She and her husband toured American vaudeville in the 1910s and 1920s as the comedy act "Codee and Orth". The team made its film debut in 1929, appearing in a series of multilingual movie shorts. Thereafter, both Codee and Orth flourished as Hollywood character actors. Codee was seen in dozens of films as florists, music teachers, landladies, governesses and grandmothers. She played a variety of ethnic types, from the very French Mme. Poullard in Jezebel (1938) to the Gallic Tante Berthe in The Mummy's Curse (1941).

Codee's last film appearance was as a tight-corseted committeewoman in Can-Can (1960). Her career highlights include her part in the Natalie Wood film Kings Go Forth (1948) and the Oscar-nominated Ann Miller film Kiss Me Kate (1953). She also had an uncredited role as the biologist Dr. Dupree in the 1953 film The War of the Worlds.

She died of a heart attack in Los Angeles, California on May 18, 1961. She is buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery in the Hollywood Hills next to her husband.

Partial filmography