Anjanette Comer


Actor
Anjanette Comer

About

Birth Place
Dawson, Texas, USA
Born
August 07, 1939

Biography

A pretty, dark-haired actress who often played roles of women not in control of the fraught environment around them, Anjanette Comer broke into feature films in the 1960s, added TV-movies to her repertoire in the 70s, took a sojourn from the cameras in the 80s and returned in supporting parts in the 90s. Comer's first feature was the comedy "Quick Before It Melts" (1965), in which she pl...

Notes

Some sources list 1942 as Ms. Comer's birthyear.

Biography

A pretty, dark-haired actress who often played roles of women not in control of the fraught environment around them, Anjanette Comer broke into feature films in the 1960s, added TV-movies to her repertoire in the 70s, took a sojourn from the cameras in the 80s and returned in supporting parts in the 90s.

Comer's first feature was the comedy "Quick Before It Melts" (1965), in which she played a woman brought to an Antarctica research station. That same year, she was the ditzy beauty Robert Morse lusts after in Tony Richardson's "The Loved One." She had another good shot as Marlon Brando's cohort in "The Appaloosa" (1966), but her follow-up in "Banning" (1967), was a barren sturm und drang that did nothing to promote her career. Comer was burdened by a ridiculous script in "Guns for San Sebastian" (1968), in which she supported the zealous Anthony Quinn. In 1970, she played the semi-pro hooker who lures former athlete James Caan from his family in the dull "Run, Rabbit." Feature roles came less regularly in the 70s. Comer was wife to Public Enemy Number One "Lepke" (1975), played by Tony Curtis and was in the disastrous "Fire Sale" (1977). She appeared in the direct-to-video fantasy "Netherworld" (1992) and returned to the big screen as Peter Gallagher's mother in Steven Soderbergh's noirish "The Underneath" (1995).

While Comer had some TV experience in the 60s, and guest starred on the 1969 pilot for the ABC series "The Young Lawyers," her work on the small screen began in earnest with a burst of TV-movies in the 70s. Her first was "Firechasers" (1970), and in 1971, she played one of the women on a resort island stalked by an escapee from a mental institution in "Five Desperate Women" (ABC). She was also in jeopardy in "The Deadly Hunt" (CBS, 1971), in which Comer was in the grips of two paid assassins and stuck in the center of a forest fire at the same time. She was the wife of Joseph Campanella stuck above a fire in a skyscraper in "Terror on the 40th Floor" (NBC, 1974) and the abducted wife of Vincent Edwards in "Death Stalk" (NBC, 1975). Comer was a woman in jeopardy long before than genre became a mainstay of TV longforms. After "The Long Summer of George Adams" (NBC, 1982), Comer was little seen on either TV or in the movies, and then reappeared on the two-part season opener of "Jake and the Fat Man" (CBS, 1991). She has since resumed her work in TV longforms in supporting roles. She played Beulah, in the miniseries "Larry McMurtry's Streets of Laredo" (CBS, 1995) and was featured in "Deadly Family Secrets" (NBC, 1995).

Life Events

1965

Made feature film debut in "Quick Before It Melts"

1970

Made TV-movie debut, "The Firechasers"

1975

Played wife to Tony Curtis in "Lepke"

1977

Last feature film for over fifteen years, "Fire Sale"

1982

Starred in TV-movie "The Long Summer of George Adams" (NBC)

1991

Guested on two-part opening episode of "Jake and the Fatman" season

1992

Appeared in the direct-to-video fantasy "Netherworld"

1995

Co-starred in miniseries "Larry McMurtry's Streets of Laredo" (CBS)

1995

Played supporting role in Steven Soderbergh's feature "The Underneath"

1999

Made guest appearance on "The Practice" (ABC), playing a nun

Photo Collections

The Loved One - Lobby Card Set
Here is a set of Lobby Cards from The Loved One (1965). Lobby Cards were 11" x 14" posters that came in sets of 8. As the name implies, they were most often displayed in movie theater lobbies, to advertise current or coming attractions.

Videos

Movie Clip

Rabbit, Run (1970) -- (Movie Clip) How About The Crotch? After leaving his family, out for an evening with his dissolute former basketball coach Tothero (Jack Albertson), “Rabbit” (James Caan) meets Virginia Vincent as Margaret, and winds up with Ruth (Anjanette Comer), in Rabbit, Run, 1970, with striking vulgarity, from the original John Updike novel.
Rabbit, Run (1970) -- (Movie Clip) That Doesn't Sound Like Mature Behavior After a fight with his drunken, pregnant wife and driving all night, one-time high school basketball star “Rabbit” (James Caan) is evidently back in his hometown, and finds Marty Tothero (Jack Albertson), his old coach, who’s not thriving, in Rabbit, Run, 1970, from the John Updike novel.
Loved One, The (1965) -- (Movie Clip) I'll Do The Baby First scene for chief embalmer Mr. Joyboy (Rod Steiger), at work on deceased Francis (John Gielgud) and determined to impress colleague Aimee (Anjanette Comer), in Tony Richardson's The Loved One, 1965.
Loved One, The (1965) -- (Movie Clip) Perpetual Eternal Or Standard Eternal Liberace (as "Mr. Starker) revels in his role as the casket specialist, for new customer Dennis (Robert Morse) and staffer Aimee (Anjanette Comer), in director Tony Richardson's The Loved One, 1965, from the Evelyn Waugh novel.
Baby, The (1973) -- (Movie Clip) Baby's New Worker Windswept-looking Marianna Hill (as sister "Germanine") introduces herself to Ann (Anjanette Comer), the keen new social worker, conferring with mom, Mrs. Wadsworth (Ruth Roman) about the title character (David Manzy) whom, we soon learn, is a most unusual case, early in The Baby, 1973.
Baby, The (1973) -- (Movie Clip) It Should Have Been Me Weird sister Germaine (Marianna Hill) is wondering why the new social worker Ann (Anjanette Comer) is so interested in her brother, a grown man who acts like a baby, and why she referred to her husband in past tense, soon explained, in The Baby, 1973.
Quick Before It Melts - (Original Trailer) The team at an Antarctic station try to fly in a planeload of girls in Quick, Before It Melts (1965).
Lepke (1975) -- (Movie Clip) Good Education Rising gangster Tony Curtis (title character) emerges from court with Lucky Luciano (Vic Tayback), then meets lawyer Kane (Michael Callan) and girlfriend to-be Bernice (Anjanette Comer) in Lepke, 1975.

Trailer

Family

Rufus Franklin Comer Jr
Father
Nola Dell Comer
Mother
Jerra Sue Comer
Sister
Born in September 1935.

Bibliography

Notes

Some sources list 1942 as Ms. Comer's birthyear.