Editing Ann Harding (section)

==Career==
{{More citations needed section|date=November 2019}}
Harding's initial employment in the entertainment industry began as a [[script analyst]]. She then began acting and made her [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] debut in ''Like a King'' in 1921.<ref>{{cite web|title=Like a King cast|url=http://www.playbill.com/personlistpage/person-list?production=00000150-aea3-d936-a7fd-eef7d7ff0004&type=op#oc|website=Playbill Vault|access-date=July 13, 2016}}</ref> Three years later she found her "home theater" in Rose Valley, Pennsylvania, after being directed by [[Hedgerow Theatre]] founder Jasper Deeter<ref name="ot">{{cite news|title=They Done Her Wrong|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5871895/oakland_tribune/|work=Oakland Tribune|date=February 10, 1935|location=California, Oakland|page=55|via = [[Newspapers.com]]|access-date = July 12, 2016}} {{Open access}}</ref> in ''The Master Builder.'' Over the years she returned to Hedgerow to reprise several of her roles. She soon became a leading lady; she kept in shape by using the services of [[Sylvia of Hollywood]].<ref>Hollywood Undressed: Observations of Sylvia As Noted by Her Secretary (1931) Brentano’s.</ref> She was a prominent actress in [[Theatre in Pittsburgh|Pittsburgh theatre]] for a time, performing with the Sharp Company and later starting the Nixon Players with [[Harry Bannister]].<ref>Conner, Lynne (2007). Pittsburgh In Stages: Two Hundred Years of Theater. University of Pittsburgh Press. pp. 105–106. {{ISBN|978-0-8229-4330-3}}. Retrieved June 6, 2011.</ref> In 1929, she made her film debut in ''[[Paris Bound]]'', opposite [[Fredric March]].<ref name="sw">{{cite book|last1=Monush|first1=Barry|title=Screen World Presents the Encyclopedia of Hollywood Film Actors: From the silent era to 1965|date=2003|publisher=Hal Leonard Corporation|isbn=9781557835512|pages=308–309|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=toTIb1Ek2WwC&q=%22Dorothy%20Walton%20Gatley%22&pg=PA308|access-date=September 23, 2017|language=en}}</ref> In 1931, she purchased the Hedgerow Theatre building from Deeter for $5,000 and donated it to the company.

[[File:Leslie Howard-Ann Harding in The Animal Kingdom.jpg|left|thumb|Leslie Howard and Ann Harding in ''The Animal Kingdom'', 1932]]
First under contract to [[Pathé]], which was subsequently absorbed by [[RKO Pictures]], Harding was promoted as the studio's 'answer' to [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]]'s superstar [[Norma Shearer]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Carman|first1=Emily|title=Independent Stardom: Freelance Women in the Hollywood Studio System|date=2015|publisher=University of Texas Press|isbn=9781477307335|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S_ACCwAAQBAJ&q=%22Ann%20Harding%22%20actress&pg=PT67|access-date=September 23, 2017|language=en}}</ref> She co-starred with [[Ronald Colman]], [[Laurence Olivier]], [[Myrna Loy]], [[Herbert Marshall]], [[Leslie Howard (actor)|Leslie Howard]], [[Richard Dix (actor)|Richard Dix]], and [[Gary Cooper]], and was often on loan to other studios, such as MGM and [[Paramount Pictures|Paramount]]. At RKO, Harding, along with [[Helen Twelvetrees]] and [[Constance Bennett]], comprised a trio who specialized in the "women's pictures" genre.

Harding's performances were often heralded by the critics, who cited her diction and stage experience as assets to the then-new medium of "[[Sound film|talking pictures]]." In Harding's second film, ''Her Private Affair,'' she portrayed a wife of questionable morality, and the film was a commercial success. During this period, she was generally considered to be one of cinema's most beautiful actresses, with her waist-length blonde hair being one of her most noted physical attributes. Films during her peak include ''[[The Animal Kingdom (1932 film)|The Animal Kingdom]],'' ''[[Peter Ibbetson]],'' ''[[When Ladies Meet (1933 film)|When Ladies Meet]],'' ''[[The Flame Within (film)|The Flame Within]],'' and ''[[Biography of a Bachelor Girl]].'' Harding, however, eventually became stereotyped as the innocent, self-sacrificing young woman. Following lukewarm responses by both critics and the public to several of her later 1930s films,{{Contradictory inline|date=October 2023}} she eventually stopped making movies after she married the conductor [[Werner Janssen]] in 1937. She returned to the big screen in 1942 to make ''[[Eyes in the Night]]'' and to take secondary roles in other films. She played "Mary," the estranged wife of Charlie Ruggles, in the Christmas film ''[[It Happened on Fifth Avenue]]'' in 1947. In 1956, she again starred with Fredric March in ''[[The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit]].''

The 1960s marked Harding's return to Broadway after an absence of decades—having last appeared in 1927. In 1962, she starred in ''General Seeger,'' directed by and co-starring [[George C. Scott]], and in 1964 she appeared in ''Abraham Cochrane'' ("her last New York stage appearance").<ref name=sw/> Both productions had brief runs, with the former play lasting a mere three performances (including previews). Harding made her final acting performance in 1965 in an episode of television's ''[[Ben Casey]]'' before retiring.