An extra(ordinary) life in film and TV

Young Chang

NEWPORT BEACH -- In the 1940s, Ann Beeler would call Central Casting

every 15 minutes until she found a job.

An operator at the agency’s switchboard, which motion picture extras

called for open roles, would pick up. Beeler would say her first and last

name. The operator would say “no work” or “try later.” Beeler would until

she landed a part.

She is persistent to this day.

The motion picture extra for more than 700 television and movie

projects turned 100 this morning. She has some dementia, can’t walk and

cannot swallow food because of a throat infection. But Beeler smiles,

nods and sometimes talks.

The small bulletin board in her room at the Flagship Healthcare Center

in Newport Beach, a convalescent home where she lives, is her only

decoration. It holds photocopied pictures of family members and some of

herself as a youthful woman in the ‘40s.

Sometimes she recognizes her daughter, Donna Becker, and nephew, Jack

Grayce. Sometimes she doesn’t.

Beeler once had a sharp memory. She used to tell stories about the

actors, actresses and directors she worked with. She drove to movie sets

until January 1995, when she had a slight stroke. One of her most recent

appearances was in “Sister Act,” as one of the nuns sitting in the front

pew with the main nun, played by Maggie Smith.

“She never wanted to be the star,” Becker said. “Often, what she did

would end up on the cutting room floor. But she just enjoyed being in the

movies.”

Her credits include “Gone with the Wind,” “I’m No Angel,” which

starred Cary Grant and Mae West, “Grapes of Wrath,” “Tale of Two Cities,”

“The Inspector General” with Danny Kaye, “The Music Man,” “The Manchurian

Candidate,” “The Greatest Story Ever Told,” and Disney films, including

“Bedknobs and Broomsticks” and “Pete’s Dragon.”

She square-danced in western films and taught Errol Flynn how to

waltz. She often stood in for Helen Hayes and the Gabor sisters, as she

was their exact height, and also appeared in commercials.

“She was quite a dancer, too,” Grayce said.

Becker, 63, remembers all the stories her mother brought home.

Stories about how actor Tom Hanks hugged her on the set of “Joe Versus

the Volcano,” which she worked on as an extra. She had a small part in

the beginning, as a passerby lady walking her great big dog. Hanks gave

the dog a hug. Then he gave Beeler a hug.

Or about how Will Rogers would always hide at the end of the day. He

would disappear off the set, revealing himself only to the extras to ask

whether the cast was on overtime now. He wanted Beeler and her cohorts to

get extra pay.

While making one Warner Bros. film, Carlotta Monti gave Beeler a

yellow purse. Beeler had knit a blue Angora scarf for Monti’s role. The

actress drove up to Beeler’s house one day and dropped off the gift.

Beeler did whatever was asked of her, without question or complaint,

Becker said.

One time she had to lay in a casket for an episode of “Murder She

Wrote.” But Beeler hesitated -- she was scared. Crew members stuck a

little nail on the casket door, so it wouldn’t close completely. Beeler

got in.

Another role called for her to crouch perfectly still on the ground

while a helicopter landed just a few feet from her.

“[The directors] didn’t tell her what was gonna happen,” Becker said.

“But she didn’t move a bit. She did what she was told.”

Ask anyone -- Beeler’s daughters, nephews and former co-workers, and

they’ll tell you she loved her work and never turned down a job. Except

once.

MGM made a film about the sinking of the Titanic in the 1950s. Beeler

rejected the offer to be an extra. She remembered the disaster too

vividly, Becker said.

“But she loved to work,” said Helen Skinner, who worked as an extra

with Beeler decades ago. “We enjoyed doing what we did, and we were all

the same way in that respect. I don’t think any of us wanted to become

stars.”

Today, Beeler does not take any medication. Her hearing, teeth and

vision are unaffected. When she can’t talk, she smiles as if to

communicate an understanding of the words that are said. Recently, a

visitor to the convalescent home rose to leave. Beeler said “Don’t go.”

Becker remembers that her mother touched a lot of people’s lives.

“And that’s the thing,” she said. “Even in her real limited capacity,

the people at Flagship seem very fond of her. She is in a very, very good

mood all of the time.”