Ann_Rork_Light

Ann Rork Light

Ann Rork Light

American actress


Helen Ann Rork Light (June 12, 1908 – January 23, 1988) was an American silent film actress. She was credited under the name Ann Rork.

Quick Facts Born, Died ...

Early life

Helen Ann Rork was born June 12, 1908, in Darien, Connecticut.[1][2] Her father, Sam E. Rork, was a film producer at First National Pictures, and her mother the former Helen Welch.[1][3] Actor Will Rogers was her godfather.[3]

Career

She starred in silent films such as The Blonde Saint and Old Loves and New in 1926, followed by The Notorious Lady, A Texas Steer and The Prince of Headwaiters in 1927. Her co-stars included Will Rogers and Rudolph Valentino.[4]

Personal life

She was married five times.[1] Her first husband was J. Paul Getty, an oil heir from San Francisco, California, from 1932 to 1935.[1][5] They had two sons: John Paul Getty, Jr. and Gordon Getty.[5] From her first-born son, John, she had a grandson, John Paul Getty III, who also became an actor.

She then married a succession of three other men.[1] In 1960, she married her fifth husband, Dr. Rudolph A. Light, an Upjohn Pharmaceutical Company heir and Professor of Neurosurgery at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.[1][3] Rork became the first female member of St Catherine's College, Oxford, being awarded an Honorary Fellowship in the 1970s in recognition of her and Dr Light's philanthropic donations to the College.[6]

Death

She died of emphysema and lung cancer on January 23, 1988, at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center. She is buried with her husband Dr. Rudolph Light, at the Royal Palm Memorial Gardens in West Palm Beach, Florida.[1] She was seventy-nine years old.[3]


References

  1. ANN RORK LIGHT, 79, Orlando Sentinel, January 25, 1998 Archived 2015-04-07 at the Wayback Machine
  2. "Getty Fee Suit Trial Begins". Los Angeles Times. June 8, 1938. p. 28.
  3. Associated Press, Ann Rork Light, Former Actress, 79, The New York Times, January 25, 1988
  4. St Catherine's College, 'International Women's Day 2024: Remembering the First Woman Member of Catz' (8 March 2024) The article does not make it clear whether Rork took up her Fellowship in 1973 or 1974.

Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Ann_Rork_Light, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.