Ann Codee
Ann Codee 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 to the Gallic Tante Berthe in The Mummy's Curse.
Codee's last film appearance was as a tight-corseted committeewoman in Can-Can. Her career highlights include her part in the Natalie Wood film Kings Go Forth and the Oscar-nominated Ann Miller film Kiss Me Kate. 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
42nd Street Meet The Wife as The WifeStranded in Paris A Bird in the Hand Music Hath Charms as Violin TeacherMeine Frau as The WifeFrank Orthe and Anne Codee in "Imagine my Embarrassment" as The Sleeping WifeTaking Ways as The WifeThe Bitter Half as Ann, the WifeSleepy Head Dumb Luck Under the Pampas Moon as Madame LaMarrHi, Gaucho! as Doña Vincenta del CampoBrilliant Marriage as Yvette DuvalThin Ice as Interviewer Fit for a King as Telephone Operator Expensive Husbands as MariaJezebel as Mme. Poullard The Roaring Twenties as Saleswoman Charlie Chan in City in Darkness as Complainant at Police I Was an Adventuress as Frenchwoman at Party Captain Caution as LandladyDrums of the Desert as Mme. FouchetArise, My Love as Mme. BressonCome Live With Me as YvonneCharlie Chan in Rio as MargoWoman of the Year as Madame Sylvia Dr. Renault's Secret as Passerby at Marcel's Shop Army Surgeon as Flower Woman Reunion in France as Rosalie Old Acquaintance as Tress, Greer Garson's Maid Tonight We Raid Calais as Mme. GrandetParis After Dark as Mme. Benoit Shine On, Harvest Moon as Wardrobe Woman Show Business as French Modiste Mr. Skeffington as French Modiste Bathing Beauty as Mme. ZarkaMarriage Is a Private Affair as Madame Cushine The Mummy's Curse as Tante Berthe Tonight and Every Night as Annette Hangover Square as Yvette, Netta's Maid The Clock as Lady on Bus Secret Agent X-9 as 'Mama Pierre' DuprayHer Highness and the Bellboy as Countess Tradiska Kitty as Madame Aurelie Johnny Angel as Charwoman This Love of Ours as AnnaHoliday in Mexico as Margaret, Evans' Housekeeper It's Great to Be Young as Mrs. JohnsonSo Dark the Night as Mama MichaudTill the Clouds Roll By as Mme. Larouche The Other Love as The Florist Lured as Matilda The Unfinished Dance as Mme. BorodinRose of Santa Rosa as Aunt IsabelTycoon as When Willie Comes Marching HomeThat Midnight Kiss as Mme. BougetWhen Willie Comes Marching Home as French Resistance Fighter The Secret Fury as Tessa Under My Skin as Henriette A Lady Without Passport as Maria, Marianne's Landlady Al Jennings of Oklahoma as Mme. Le Cler Mr. Imperium as Anna PelanGo for Broke! as Pianist On the Riviera as Mme. Madeleine Periton Rich, Young and Pretty as Mme. Milan An American in Paris as Therese Detective Story as French Woman The Lady Pays Off as MarieWhat Price Glory as Nun The Iron Mistress as Landlady The Clown as Ballet Instructor The War of the Worlds as Dr. Dupree Dangerous When Wet as Mrs. LanetKiss Me Kate as SuzanneThe Last Time I Saw Paris as Nurse #2 Alfred Hitchcock Presents - Doctor's WifeSo This Is Paris as Grand'mere MarieInterrupted Melody as Madame GillyDaddy Long Legs as Madame Sevanne The Sun Also Rises as Mme. Blanche, Concierge The Young Lions as French Woman Kings Go Forth as Mme. BrieuxThe Man Who Understood Women as French Maid Can-Can as League president