Trivia

Was paralyzed from the waist down in an automobile accident, and acted in a wheelchair for more than two decades.

Goddaughter of Dame Sybil Thorndike and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

During World War II, Lee performed with Jack Benny and others in USO tours entertaining troops in North Africa and Europe. General George S. Patton awarded her a special medal for her efforts.

Passed away just a week before she was to have received a Daytime Emmy Award for lifetime achievement. Her actor son, Jeffrey Byron, accepted on her behalf at the New York ceremony.

From 1990 to 1991, Ms. Lee's granddaughter, Erin Everly, was married to Axl Rose, of Guns N' Roses, briefly making Axl Rose Ms. Lee's "grandson-in-law". Ms. Everly was the inspiration for the Guns N' Roses song "Sweet Child O' Mine" and is the daughter of Ms. Lee's daughter Venetia Stevenson and Don Everly of The Everly Brothers.

In the film Bedlam (1946), Anna darkened her hair so that audiences would take her more seriously and keep it dark for much of the next few years. One of her costumes was worn by Vivien Leigh in Gone with the Wind (1939).

Was good friends with Maureen O'Hara and Roddy McDowall.

Amber Tamblyn originally portrayed the adopted granddaughter of Lee's character on General Hospital (1963). In the 1950s (long before Tamblyn's birth), Tamblyn's father, Russ Tamblyn, was married to Lee's daughter Venetia Stevenson.

Anna Lee passed away on May 14, 2004. Just a couple of months afterwards, General Hospital (1963) aired a tribute to Lee by holding a memorial service for her character.

She did no work in the cinema between 1949 and 1958, because, she claimed, she had been blacklisted by the far-right supporters of Senator McCarthy. She found this ridiculous, especially as she was, in her own words, "an old-fashioned Winston Churchill conservative", and always gave her old friend John Ford the credit for breaking the blacklist.

Comedian Jack Hulbert served as Best Man at her first wedding, and Alfred Hitchcock gave her away at her second.

Had two daughters with first husband Robert Stevenson. Following their divorce in 1944, Anna was given custody of younger daughter Caroline, but Venetia chose to reside with her father. Anna was estranged from her daughter for 15 years. They reunited after appearing together in the films Jet Over the Atlantic (1959) and The Big Night (1960).

One of three children born to an Anglican clergyman at St. Peters Church in Ightham, Kent, her godmother was legendary actress Sybil Thorndike.

During World War II, she volunteered for overseas duty with the USO entertaining Allied troops in North Africa, Iran and Sicily.

Anna Lee played opposite a character named Allan Quartermain, in King Solomon's Mines (1937), then 46 years later played a character named Lila Quartermaine on the soap opera General Hospital (1963) who had a son Alan Quartermaine.

Mother of actress Venetia Stevenson, Jeffrey Byron and Steve Stafford.

She appeared in two Oscar Best Picture winners: How Green Was My Valley (1941) and The Sound of Music (1965), and one further nominee: Mutiny on the Bounty (1962).

Friends with: Jeanne Cooper, Ruth Warrick, Maureen O'Hara, George Gaynes, John Loder, John Ingle, John Beradino, John Ford, John Wayne, Rachel Ames, Stuart Damon, Ken Curtis, Constance Towers, Loretta Young, Claude Rains, Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Robert Nathan, Robert Conrad, Boris Karloff, Roddy McDowall, Walter Brennan, Richard Haydn, Donald Crisp and Patric Knowles.

Best remembered by the public for her starring role as Lila Quartermaine on the soap opera General Hospital (1963).

The blue-eyed blonde was occasionally a brunette in films. In Seven Sinners (1940), she wore her hair darker because star Marlene Dietrich insisted on no competing blondes in her pictures.

Initially studied with Elsie Fogarty at the Royal Albert Central School Hall in London. Later toured with the London Repertory Theatre where she earned the title "The British Bombshell".

Had three sons from her second marriage: John Stafford, Steven Stafford and Timothy Stafford. John Stafford passed away in 1986.

Dubbed the voice of Patricia Morison who was playing the writer George Sand in the film Song Without End (1960) because George Cukor, who did uncredited directing on the film after Charles Vidor's death, wanted the character to have harsher vocal tones.

She was awarded the MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) in the 1982 Queen's Birthday Honours List for her services to drama.

She was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6777 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on January 7, 1993.

She appeared in two films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: How Green Was My Valley (1941) and The Sound of Music (1965).

The progressive metal band Dream Theater named the character of one of their songs after her.

Acting mentor and friends with Leslie Charleson, Anthony Geary and Jacklyn Zeman.

Close friends with Jeanne Cooper. Cooper received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame seven months after Lee.

A political conservative.

Her brother Sir John Winnifrith served in the British government as undersecretary of state for Agriculture and Fisheries and was also director general for the National Trust. He passed away on January 1, 1993 at age 84.

Following her death, she was interred at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.

Grandmother of Erin Everly and Evan Stafford.

Her former General Hospital (1963) co-star, Jacklyn Zeman resided not too far from Jeanne Cooper, who was Lee's close friend.

May 21, 2004: Anna Lee's posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences was accepted on her behalf by her son, Jeffrey Byron, at the 31st Annual Daytime Emmy Awards. Ms. Lee's former "General Hospital" costar, Vanessa Marcil, was host of the ceremony and paid tribute to Ms. Lee prior to Mr. Byron's introduction and speech.

May 30, 2007: Release of her posthumously published memoir from McFarland publishing,"Anna Lee: Memoir of a Career on General Hospital and in Film," co-written with and completed by Barbara Roisman Cooper.

January 18, 1988: The airing of the 4th annual Soap Opera Digest Awards, where she won Outstanding Supporting Role: Actress - Daytime for her role as Lila Quartermaine on "General Hospital." Her category was presented by her costars, Ian Buchanan and Finola Hughes.