Ann Richards (13 December 1917 – 25 August 2006) was an Australian actress, who achieved notability in Australian films as Shirley Ann Richards before moving to the United States where she continued her career as a film actress, mainly as an MGM starlet.
She was born Shirley Ann Richards in Sydney, Australia, to an American father and New Zealand mother, and was raised in Mosman and educated at Ascham School Edgecliff. Richards began acting on stage in amateur productions and was working as a receptionist at the photographic students of Russell Roberts.
She was spotted in an amateur theatre production when selected for Cinesound Production's Talent School, where she worked for six months. This led to her casting as Cecil Kellaway's daughter in It Isn't Done (1937) for director Ken G. Hall at Cinesound Productions.
Richards was a success with the public and critics, and Stuart F. Doyle, head of Cinesound, ordered Hall pull her under long-term contract so she would not be poached by a rival filmmaker such as F. W. Thring or Charles Chauvell. Hall later said "I think that Shirley Ann would be the only artist before or since to be placed under term contract by an Australian film
(This is information generated from a Wikipedia article, licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.)