Today marks what would have been Ann Dvorak’s 100th birthday. At the time of her death in 1979, only the most ardent classic film fans remembered her. Now, because of an increased accessibility to her films and info about her life and career, Ann’s fan base is growing. While she will always be relatively obscure, there seems to be more of an appreciation for performances now than anytime since her retirement in 1952. It’s just too bad that she did not live long enough to see this renewed interest.

This month, Turner Classic Movies pays tribute to Ann Dvorak with 24 hours of programming as part of its annual Summer Under the Stars. The festivities kick off at 3:00am PST on August 9th with 1932’s Crooner. TCM has launched a nifty section on its website devoted to all the actors featured on Summer Under the Stars, with Ann’s page including a nice biographical article as well as programming articles on all sixteen films being shown.

Check out Ann’s page here.

As we get closer to the date, I will be writing up a guide to all the films being shown In the meantime, take a minute to hold a good thought for Ann Dvorak on her centennial.