{"id":98,"date":"2026-05-17T20:07:44","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T20:07:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=98"},"modified":"2026-05-17T20:07:44","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T20:07:44","slug":"ann-robinson-star-of-the-war-of-the-worlds-dies-at-96","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=98","title":{"rendered":"Ann Robinson, Star of \u2018The War of the Worlds,\u2019 Dies at 96"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\n\tAnn Robinson, the red-haired actress who was memorably menaced by Martians in the spectacular 1953 sci-fi classic <em>The War of the Worlds<\/em>, has died. She was 96. <\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=96\">Barbra Streisand Unable to Attend Cannes Closing Ceremony After Suffering Knee Injury<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\tRobinson died Sept. 26 at her home in Los Angeles, her granddaughter, Tori Bravo, told <em>The Hollywood Reporter<\/em>. Her death had not been publicly revealed until now.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tBorn in Hollywood, Robinson had broken into the movies as a stuntwoman and was an inexperienced contract player at Paramount Pictures when she auditioned for producer and effects wiz George Pal and then cast as library science teacher Sylvia Van Buren in <em>War of the Worlds.<\/em>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tIn the Oscar-winning film, based on the H.G. Wells\u2019 1898 novel, Sylvia and Pacific Tech professor Clayton Forrester (Gene Barry) try to figure out a way to defeat Martians who have landed in a small town outside Los Angeles and all over the planet, employing a fantastic heat-ray to inflict widespread destruction.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cThe nations of the world mobilize their armed might rushing to defend the Earth against the unknown weapon of the super race from the Red Planet!\u201d the narrator on the movie trailer exclaims. \u201cIs there nothing that can stop the Martians\u2019 death machines?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n\tIn one creepy scene, a Martian places his long, skinny fingers on the shoulder of an unsuspecting Sylvia, but Clayton comes to the rescue and kills the creature with a hatchet.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cI always thought, \u2018This guy might have been nice! Maybe we ruined a chance for peace because Gene Barry got overzealous and threw that hatchet,&#8217;\u201d a playful Robinson told Tom Weaver in an interview for his 1994 book, <em>Attack of the Monster Movie Makers<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cThis Martian was just coming up behind me to tap me on the shoulder \u2014 he wasn\u2019t aggressive, he wasn\u2019t mean. Of course, the Martians <em>had<\/em> blown my uncle apart, along with a bunch of other people, but maybe this guy was the nice one who wanted to negotiate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\nSteven Spielberg invited Robinson and Barry to reprise that scene in his 2005 version of <em>War of the Worlds<\/em>, starring Tom Cruise.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cSteven was just so adorable,\u201d she told\u00a0Nick Thomas in 2016. \u201cHe came up behind me, squatted down and placed three fingers on my left shoulder and yelled, \u2018Someone take my picture!\u2019 Apparently, \u2018War of the Worlds\u2019 was one of his favorite films growing up.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cThey treated me like royalty,\u201d she added. \u201cMy son, who was with me, told me he heard people saying, \u2018She\u2019s here, she\u2019s here!\u2019 after we arrived on the set. Then for the Ziegfeld Theater premiere, they flew me to New York first class, put me up in a beautiful hotel overlooking Central Park and arranged for a limousine to drive my family around. I waited 60 years to get that treatment!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=94\">Dan Levy on Filming \u2018Big Mistakes\u2019 Drug Scene and \u201cDoing Lines and Lines of Cocaine\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\tRobinson also played Sylvia on a few episodes of a 1988-90 <em>War of the Worlds<\/em> syndicated TV series.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cI\u2019ve gotten more mileage out of <em>War of the Worlds<\/em> than Vivien Leigh did on <em>Gone With the Wind<\/em>,\u201d she told Weaver.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tBorn on May 25, 1929, Robinson attended Hollywood High and Sacred Heart Academy in La Canada Flintridge. In one of her first movies, she doubled for June Havoc and got caught on a 15-foot barbed-wire fence trying to escape the Tehachapi state prison in <em>The Story of Molly X<\/em> (1949).<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cI had lied like crazy to get the job, telling everybody how experienced I was!\u201d she told Weaver. \u201cI looked and thought to myself, \u2018What have I got myself into?\u2019 But when you\u2019re that young and stupid, nothing fazes you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n\tShe also rode horses in <em>Black Midnight<\/em> (1949), starring Roddy McDowall, stepped in for Shelley Winters in <em>Frenchie<\/em> (1950) and served as an extra in <em>A Place in the Sun<\/em> (1951), for which director George Stevens gave her a line of dialogue.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tRobinson joined the Circle Theatre in Hollywood, then was signed by Paramount for $125 a week as one of the studio\u2019s \u201cGolden Circle\u201d of future stars.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tAfter <em>War of the Worlds<\/em> and a loan-out to Columbia to work in the film noir <em>The Glass Wall<\/em> (1953), Paramount decided not to renew her contract. In 1954, she played an L.A. cop opposite Jack Webb in the first <em>Dragnet<\/em> movie and an alien queen on a syndicated kids sci-fi show, <em>Rocky Jones, Space Ranger<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tRobinson put show business on hold in 1957 when she ran off to Mexico to marry Jaime Bravo, a famous matador. That \u201cblew my career right out of the water,\u201d she told Weaver. \u201cWhen I got back home, Hollywood had passed me by. I just ruined it, I blew it.\u201d She and Bravo had two children before divorcing in 1967.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tRobinson, however, did guest-star in the 1960s on many TV shows, including <em>Perry Mason<\/em>, <em>Bachelor Father<\/em>, <em>The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp<\/em>, <em>Peter Gunn<\/em>, <em>Death Valley Days<\/em> and <em>77 Sunset Strip<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tIn addition to her granddaughter, survivors include a son, Jaime Bravo Jr., a director for ABC Sports and ESPN, and a grandson, Sammy.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=92\">\u2018Avedon\u2019 Review: Ron Howard\u2019s Admiring Profile of Groundbreaking Photographer Richard Avedon Embraces His Genius, Flair and Mystery<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ann Robinson, the red-haired actress who was memorably menaced by Martians in the 1953 sci-fi classic The War of the Worlds, has died. She was 96.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":97,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[39,90,91],"class_list":["post-98","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting","tag-obituaries","tag-steven-spielberg","tag-tom-cruise"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Ann Robinson, Star of \u2018The War of the Worlds,\u2019 Dies at 96 - US Property Moves<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=98\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ann Robinson, Star of \u2018The War of the Worlds,\u2019 Dies at 96 - US Property Moves\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ann Robinson, the red-haired actress who was memorably menaced by Martians in the 1953 sci-fi classic The War of the Worlds, has died. 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