17 Facts About Ann Savage

Ann Savage is best remembered as the greedy cigarette-puffing femme fatale in the critically acclaimed film noir Detour.

Ann Savage was featured in more than 20 B movies between 1943 and 1946.

Effectively leaving the film business in the mid 1950s, Savage made occasional appearances on television and worked for industrial and inspirational film producers from the 1950s to the 1970s.

Ann Savage made a number of live appearances at film festivals, especially for screenings of Detour.

Ann Savage was born Berniece Maxine Lyon in Columbia, South Carolina.

Ann Savage spent time among the more famous Hollywood kids of the day, such as Lana Turner, Judy Garland, Freddie Bartholomew, and Deanna Durbin.

Ann Savage was offered a screen test by Fox, but she decided not to turn up, as she knew the studio already had a bevy of pretty blondes.

Ann Savage was a tireless seller of war bonds on two nationwide drives coordinated by Hollywood studios with the United States government.

Ann Savage guest-starred in episodes of Front Page Detective, Gang Busters, City Detective, and Death Valley Days.

Ann Savage continued to act on the big screen as well, including in Allan Dwan's Woman They Almost Lynched with Audrey Totter, Joan Leslie and John Lund.

In Los Angeles in July 1938, while still using her birth name Berniece Lyon, Ann Savage married a 21-year-old gas station attendant, Clark Tennyson.

D'Armand, who was 18 years older than Ann Savage, proved to be a stabilizing influence on the actress's life.

Ann Savage's manager quoted her as saying that she loved flying because it put her "closer to God and Bert".

Ann Savage was keen on the "preservation and celebration of all things Hollywood", becoming a volunteer and advisory board member of Hollywood Heritage.

Ann Savage died in her sleep on December 25,2008, aged 87.

Ann Savage's remains are interred with her husband Bert D'Armand at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.

In 2005, Ann Savage was elevated to the status of "icon and legend" by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.