Ann Robinson

Ann Robinson (born May 25, 1929) is an American former actress and stunt horse rider, perhaps best known for her work in the science-fiction classic The War of the Worlds (1953) and in the 1954 film Dragnet, in which she starred as a Los Angeles police officer opposite Jack Webb and Ben Alexander. Early life Robinson was born on May 25, 1929, and attended Hollywood High School. Her father was employed by the Bank of Hollywood, at the corner of Hollywood and Vine. He taught her how to ride horses, beginning when she was only three. Robinson became an accomplished rider, which led to her first professional work in Hollywood as a stunt rider in film Frenchie with Shelley Winters. Acting career After doubling for Winters in Frenchie (1950), Robinson starred and rode in several Westerns during her career such as The Cimarron Kid (1951) with Audie Murphy, Gun Brothers (1956), and Gun Duel in Durango (1957). Paramount Pictures signed Robinson as an actress in the early 1950s. Her first leading role was as "Sylvia Van Buren" in The War of the Worlds (1953) co-starring with Gene Barry, a role she quasi-reprised in two later films, first as Dr. Van Buren in Midnight Movie Massacre (1988) and then as Dr. Sylvia Van Buren in The Naked Monster (2005). She also reprised the role in three episodes of the television series War of the Worlds (1988).