Anne Whitfield Dies: ‘White Christmas’, Prolific TV Actor Was 85

Anne Whitfield, who appeared at age 15 in the 1954 Hollywood Christmas chestnut White Christmas and went on to a prolific career in episodic TV throughout the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s, died February 15 at a hospital in Yakima, Washington. She was 85.

The actor, whose TV credits stretch from I Married Joan and Father Knows Best through The Six Million Dollar Man and Adam-12, suffered what her family describes as an “unexpected accident” during a walk in her neighborhood.

“Through the kindness of neighbors who provided expert medical support, family had the gift to say goodbye and express love and gratitude, a gift we will always cherish,” her family said.

Born August 27, 1938, in Oxford, Mississippi, Whitfield was four years old when she moved to Hollywood with her mother Frances Turner Whitfield, who served as the aspiring child performer’s agent and acting coach. By age 7 Whitfield was appearing on such radio series as The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show and radio soap One Man’s Family.

At 15 she was cast by director Michael Curtiz in the movie musical White Christmas starring Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen. Whitfield played Susan Waverly, granddaughter of Dean Jagger’s Major General Thomas Waverly.

“Just this past December during the holidays, Annie was able to watch White Christmas with her family on the movie’s 70th anniversary,” her family writes.

Over the next several decades, Whitfield made guest appearances on dozens of TV shows, including The Donna Reed Show, Bonanza, The Many Loves Of Dobie Gillis, One Step Beyond, 77 Sunset Strip, Perry Mason, Gunsmoke, Ironside, Adam-12 and Kolchak: The Night Stalker.

After leaving Hollywood for Washington State in the 1970s, Whitfield, in her 40s, returned to college to earn a degree in communications. She later worked as a steward for clean water at the Department of Ecology for the State of Washington, and served as an activist and community organizer to fight climate change, transparency in political campaign financing, fair electoral systems, voter registration in swing states, and caring for the un-housed, among other causes.

She is survived by daughters Julie Stevens and Allison Phillips, son Evan Schiller, in-laws and seven grandchildren. A celebration of life is scheduled for March 22.