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.

Oh Turner Classic Movies! As if I needed another reason to love you. The schedule for their annual Summer Under the Stars month, in which an actor is featured each day in August, had been posted and the 9th is all about Ann Dvorak. That’s right, there is actually going to be 24 hours of Ann Dvorak films being broadcast.  The last time I remember TCM giving so much love to Ann was back in the fall of 1997, and even then it was maybe six or seven movies that were shown. This time around, they will be airing sixteen of Ann’s films.

There will be some old friends, like Scarface, Three on a Match, and G Men, along with seldom aired Warner Archive titles like Side Streets, Stranger in Town, and I Was an American Spy. I am especially excited for a few films that are neither available on DVD, nor recently shown, including Sweet Music, Massacre, Gentlemen Are Born, and Friends of Mr. Sweeney.

This will come one week after what would have been Ann’s 100th birthday, and I cannot think of a more appropriate tribute to her. As the day gets closer, I will post more in depth info about the films being shown. In the meantime, the full schedule for the entire month can be found here.

Huzzah!