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 Wife
  • Stranded in Paris
  • A Bird in the Hand
  • Music Hath Charms as Violin Teacher
  • Meine Frau as The Wife
  • Frank Orthe and Anne Codee in "Imagine my Embarrassment" as The Sleeping Wife
  • Taking Ways as The Wife
  • The Bitter Half as Ann, the Wife
  • Sleepy Head
  • Dumb Luck
  • Under the Pampas Moon as Madame LaMarr
  • Hi, Gaucho! as Doña Vincenta del Campo
  • Brilliant Marriage as Yvette Duval
  • Thin Ice as Interviewer
  • Fit for a King as Telephone Operator
  • Expensive Husbands as Maria
  • Jezebel 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 Landlady
  • Drums of the Desert as Mme. Fouchet
  • Arise, My Love as Mme. Bresson
  • Come Live With Me as Yvonne
  • Charlie Chan in Rio as Margo
  • Woman 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. Grandet
  • Paris 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. Zarka
  • Marriage 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' Dupray
  • Her Highness and the Bellboy as Countess Tradiska
  • Kitty as Madame Aurelie
  • Johnny Angel as Charwoman
  • This Love of Ours as Anna
  • Holiday in Mexico as Margaret, Evans' Housekeeper
  • It's Great to Be Young as Mrs. Johnson
  • So Dark the Night as Mama Michaud
  • Till the Clouds Roll By as Mme. Larouche
  • The Other Love as The Florist
  • Lured as Matilda
  • The Unfinished Dance as Mme. Borodin
  • Rose of Santa Rosa as Aunt Isabel
  • Tycoon as When Willie Comes Marching Home
  • That Midnight Kiss as Mme. Bouget
  • When 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 Pelan
  • Go 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 Marie
  • What 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. Lanet
  • Kiss Me Kate as Suzanne
  • The Last Time I Saw Paris as Nurse #2
  • Alfred Hitchcock Presents - Doctor's Wife
  • So This Is Paris as Grand'mere Marie
  • Interrupted Melody as Madame Gilly
  • Daddy Long Legs as Madame Sevanne
  • The Sun Also Rises as Mme. Blanche, Concierge
  • The Young Lions as French Woman
  • Kings Go Forth as Mme. Brieux
  • The Man Who Understood Women as French Maid
  • Can-Can as League president