Trivia

Her paternal grandfather, Simon Lake, was the inventor of the modern submarine. Her sister Marion was once a secretary to columnist Abigail Van Buren ("Dear Abby"). Her mother, Annette, was a concert singer who traveled; Ann followed suit studying singing and musical composition. In later years, her mother became a diction and vocal coach and taught microphone technique for talking pictures.

Good friends with Lucille Ball and Ann Dvorak, both of whom she met while working as a chorus girl (Ball at the Goldwyn Studios, Dvorak at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer).

In her role as Susie McNamara on Private Secretary (1953) (which ran 1953-1958), Sothern played the first working woman on an American sitcom.

A singer in her early career, she sang with Artie Shaw and His Orchestra, among others. She was also a published songwriter and recorded two albums.

Among her numerous business interests were a dress shop and gift shop in Idaho, a ranch for breeding Black Angus beef, a music publishing company and a sewing-center shop.

She replaced Jean Harlow in Maisie (1939) after the actress' unexpected death.

Sang the Oscar-winning song "The Last Time I Saw Paris" in Lady Be Good (1941).

Appeared with her daughter in The Whales of August (1987), in the prelude scene, portraying a younger-day Ann.

Good friends with Zachary Scott's former wife, Elaine Anderson, stage manager for many Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II's Broadway productions, Ann introduced Elaine to novelist John Steinbeck, who eventually married her. Upon his death, Elaine became the administrator of the writer's estate.

Her younger sister was the prolific singer/songwriter Bonnie Lake who wrote several popular standards such as "Sandman", "I've Got Your Number" and "Gracias" - songs later recorded by such big band stars as Tommy Dorsey and Benny Goodman. In the 1940s, Bonnie founded the Bonnie Lake Music Publishing Company.

Had been so busy in the entertainment industry for so many years, once quipped that she had done everything in the business except rodeo.

Sothern was lifelong friends with Merv Griffin. They met when Merv was the "house singer" at the Pebble Beach Lodge in Monterey, California and she was a struggling starlet at Columbia Pictures. When Sothern's film career waned in the early 1950s, she starred in the hit sitcom Private Secretary (1953), and it was she who encouraged Griffin to try his luck in the then new medium of television. He would, of course, go on to become one of the most successful men in showbiz.

In 1953, her film career waned and she decided to give television a chance. When a television series based on her popular "Maisie" film character failed to materialize, she made her series debut with Suzie McNamara on Private Secretary (1953).

Left visibly overweight by a bout of hepatitis, she only wore black outfits in her 1950s sitcoms Private Secretary (1953) and The Ann Sothern Show (1958).

She was a lifelong conservative Republican who was a strong supporter of Dwight D. Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George Bush and George W. Bush. She was also an outspoken anti-Communist who supported the HUAC hearings of the 1940s and 1950s, and attended several Republican National Conventions.

She wanted to play the prostitute in Lost Horizon (1937), but the role went to Isabel Jewell.

Portrayed Maisie Ravier on Mutual Radio's "The Adventures of Maisie" (1949-1951).

In the television remake of A Letter to Three Wives (1949) (A Letter to Three Wives (1985)) she played the role played by Connie Gilchrist in the original.

Her sister Marion was once a secretary to columnist Abigail Van Buren ("Dear Abby").

Replaced Kim Stanley at the last minute in A Death of Innocence (1971), featuring her daughter Tisha Sterling, when Stanley was unable to perform.

Although she was announced for Du Barry Was a Lady (1943), the role was eventually played by Lucille Ball.

After appearing in 20th Century-Fox's Hotel for Women (1939), she turned down the studio's offer of a long-term contract in favor of signing one with rival Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. 20th Century-Fox reportedly then cut down Sothern's role in order to favor newcomer Linda Darnell.

She sang on tour with husband Roger Pryor's band. They divorced in 1942.

On August 12, 2019, she was honored with a day of her film work during the Turner Classic Movies Summer Under the Stars.

Gave birth to her only child at age 35, a daughter Patricia Ann Sterling, aka Tisha Sterling, on December 10, 1944. Child's father was her second husband, Robert Sterling.

Following her death, she was interred at Ketchum Cemetery in Ketchum, Idaho.

Ann Sothern has the distinction of co-starring (with Franchot Tone) in the first American film to play in newly-liberated Copenhagen (May 1945), following Denmark's five-year German occupation in World War II; the film is Fast and Furious (1939).

She was awarded 2 Stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Motion Pictures at 1612 Vine Street; and for Television at 1634 Vine Street in Hollywood, California.

Classmate (Minneapolis Central High School, 1926) of actor Eddie Albert.

Profiled in book "Funny Ladies" by Stephen Silverman. (1999)

Became a grandmother for the first time at age 57 when her daughter Tisha Sterling gave birth to a daughter, Heidi K. Baum, on March 3, 1966.

Daughter of Walter (January 10, 1885 - January 14, 1970), born in the state of Illinois, and Annette (née Nielsen) Lake (June 23, 1884 - December 13, 1962), born in Denmark. Paternal granddaughter of Frank and Sarah (née Conway) Lake. Both were born in England and emigrated to America as children.

Was two months pregnant with her daughter Tisha Sterling when she completed filming on Maisie Goes to Reno (1944).

Returned to work eight months after giving birth to her daughter Tisha Sterling to begin filming Up Goes Maisie (1946).

She and Robert Young co-starred in three movies: Dangerous Number (1937), Maisie (1939), and Lady Be Good (1941).