By JOE WINTERS

She was perhaps menaced by more monsters and madmen than any other woman in Universal Studio’s horror film history…perhaps in all of horror film history.

She was Evelyn Ankers, and she was to the 1940’s what Fay Wray had been to the 1930’s. The perennial lady in distress at the hands of a veritable who’s who of horror; in Evelyn’s case, the Wolf Man…Frankenstein’s Monster…the Mad Ghoul…Count Dracula…the Invisible Man…the Ape Woman…and the Creeper. At one time or another each had the opportunity to turn the auburn-haired beauty’s tresses white!

Born in Valparaiso, Chile on August 17, 1918 to British parents, Evelyn Ankers lived in South America until she was ten and didn’t speak much English until around that time. When her family returned to England, Evelyn mastered the language, studied dance and theater and landed small roles in such films as Rembrandt (1936) and Fire Over England (1937). A brief return to South America put her singing voice to use in The Evelyn Ankers Hour radio program in Argentina.

She made her way to the United States and her Broadway stage debut in the gothic thriller Ladies In Retirement. Among other things, her role required her to scream. That scream, along with her good looks and acting ability led to a contract with Universal Pictures.

The studio’s haunted house comedy Hold That Ghost (1941) starred box office favorites Abbott & Costello and featured Joan Davis as a professional radio screamer. As another of the supporting characters, Evelyn’s own scream proved effective enough to propel her through a stream of Universal chillers over the next three years.

As Gwen Conliffe in The Wolf Man (1941) Evelyn embodied the new breed of love interest, which the studio had introduced with such actresses as Peggy Moran (in The Mummy’s Hand) and Anne Nagel (in Man Made Monster). Whereas 1930’s leading ladies of horror were generally passive, weak and whining, the 1940’s gave us smarter, more responsible working class girls, yet thoughtful to the plight of men and monsters such as doomed lycanthrope Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney, Jr.).

Chaney would menace Ankers again and again beginning with Ghost Of Frankenstein (1942), where as the daughter of Ludwig Frankenstein (Cedric Hardwicke) she displays a protective instinct toward little Cloestine Hussman (Janet Ann Gallow), the would-be brain donor to the determined Monster (Chaney).

In addition to looking properly terrified, Evelyn appears quite fetching in gowns by studio costumer Vera West, whose creations included an array of then-stylish hats that upon reflection could have played a part in driving men and monsters crazy. Sometime take a close look at some of the headwear Miss Ankers and others wore during that time.

She appeared in Sherlock Holes And The Voice Of Terror (1942), the first of Universal’s adventures of the renowned detective played by Basil Rathbone. As barmaid Kitty our heroine goes undercover as mistress to a Nazi spy chief (Thomas Gomez) and ultimately sacrifices her life for England.

Evelyn’s other encounter with Holmes, 1944’s Pearl Of Death, found her on the opposite side of the law. As Naomi Drake she wore a variety of disguises to assist master criminal Giles Conover (Miles Mander). Meanwhile she avoided her amorous admirer, Conover’s other main accomplice, the hulking, spine snapping, acromegalic Creeper (Rondo Hatton in the first of his three Creeper features).

In Captive Wild Woman (1943), Evelyn played Beth Colman, whose sister was instrumental in mad doctor Walters’ (John Carradine) efforts to create a superior race which resulted in one of Universal’s inferior monsters, the Ape Woman, played in two outings by the incomparable Acquanetta.

Beth, with her own life and her sister’s in peril, unlocked the cage unleashing the beast’s alter ego Cheela the ape upon the deadly doc. Ankers had much less to do in the flashback-laden sequel Jungle Woman even though that time she got top billing.

She also had less to do in Son Of Dracula as Claire Caldwell whose sister Katherine (Louise Allbritton) had designs on eternal life at the fangs of Count Alucard (Dracula spelled backwards and played by Lon Chaney, Jr.).

As Isobel Lewis, Ankers was the melodic and emotionally torn object of affection to Turhan Bey (as her pianist), George Zucco (as mad doctor Morris) and David Bruce (as the medical student-turned title creature) in The Mad Ghoul (1943).

As a potential victim of The Invisible Man’s Revenge (1944), Evelyn played daughter to Sir Jasper (sometimes horror hero Lester Matthews) and Lady Irene Herrick (sometimes villainess Gale Sondergaard). They were all targeted in one way or another by a deranged man (Jon Hall) turned transparent by a local scientist (always-dependable John Carradine).

After playing mostly good girls, Evelyn was uncomfortable portraying evil-minded Ilona in Universal’s Weird Woman (1944), one of the studio’s six "Inner Sanctum" mysteries and based on Fritz Leiber, Jr.’s novel Conjure Wife. Near the core of her character’s many machinations, Evelyn had to menace her good friend Anne Gwynne, who played the suspected witch-wife of a university professor (Lon Chaney, Jr.).

When it became apparent that Ilona (Ankers) was behind everyone’s manipulated misfortunes, Chaney and Company turned the tables on the woman whose guilt drove her mad and, in attempting to escape, to her death by hanging vine, punctuated by a final piercing scream.

Miss Ankers’ vocal chords were not quite as stressed in her other "Inner Sanctum" film The Frozen Ghost (1945) where she helped hypnotist Gregor the Great (Chaney again) unravel a sinister plot. This was Evelyn Ankers’ final film made under contract to Universal. In 1942 she had married actor Richard Denning, and during the filming of The Frozen Ghost was pregnant with her first and only child, a daughter, Dee.

Ankers appeared in a few more movies and some television through the 1950s before retiring. During the Fifties, her husband, Richard Denning’s familiar face and stalwart presence to monster movie fans for his largely heroic roles in such films as Unknown Island (1948), Creature From The Black Lagoon (1954), Target Earth (1954), Creature With The Atom Brain (1955), The Day The World Ended (1956) and The Black Scorpion (1957).

Around 1968 the Dennings moved to Hawaii where Richard played the recurring role of the Governor on TV’s Hawaii Five-O.

A generally joyful, active life continued until Evelyn Ankers lost a battle with cancer on August 29, 1985 at age 67. Richard Denning passed away on October 11, 1998. He was 84.

Throughout her film career Evelyn Ankers appeared in musicals, westerns, comedies and more, but it is for her portrayals of brave, resourceful women in the Universal shockers that she is best remembered. On screen she was a beautiful screamer…a talented performer…and a glowing goodness in so many of our favorite films of fright. In these, Evelyn Ankers was often our anchor…to happy endings and hopeful realities.