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The talented actress with the once bright future was destined to be one of the most tragic of Universal's leading ladies of the 1940's. Alcohol, suicide and divorce all played a part in the decline of Anne Nagel's career, and her ultimate demise, at far too young an age.

Born Anne Dolan in Boston, Massachusetts, various sources give her date of birth as September 29 or 30th, between the years 1912 and 1916. Although her parents initially encouraged her to be a nun, an interest in modeling and dance eventually led her toward a career in the performing arts.

Nagel found her way to Hollywood in the early 1930's when her stepfather was employed as a Technicolor expert by the Tiffany Studios. The 5'4" beauty attained her first screen work in the shorts he was directing. Soon, she was placed under contract by Warner Brothers, and began a string of mostly unbilled appearances in their features, usually as a chorus girl or dancer.

In 1936, Nagel garnered her first featured role, appearing opposite Warners young and upcoming leading man Ross Alexander in "Here Comes Carter." There must have been some chemistry between the two performers that was more than just mere Hollywood fantasy, as they married on September 16th of that year. The wedding came just nine months after the suicide of actress Aleta Friele, Alexander's second wife.

Tragically, yet perhaps expectedly, marital bliss was to be denied the young couple. Despondent about his previous wife's death and a slowing career, Ross Alexander took his own life on January 2, 1937. Hollywood lore has it that the twenty-nine year old actor used the same gun to kill himself as did his previous wife.

Meanwhile, Nagel's promising career maintained some momentum for a time, with more featured roles in several productions. As 1937 progressed, the aspiring starlet was seen with Mickey Rooney in "Hoosier Schoolboy" and with western star Dick Foran in "Guns of the Pecos." She and Foran also costarred in "Devil's Saddle Legion" with perennial western heavy and future Frankenstein Monster Glenn Strange. At the end of the year, Warners released Nagel, a move that probably had more to do with the lingering effects of her husband's suicide rather than a lack of faith in her abilities on the studio's part.

In 1939, following a brief stint with Monogram, Nagel found her way to Universal. There, the veteran actress joined screen newcomer Anne Gwynne, Dorothy Arnold and Joy Hodges as a group of showgirls in the Baby Sandy comedy "Unexpected Father." Arnold would soon end her Hollywood career to marry baseball legend Joe DiMaggio. Their union produced a son, but the two would ultimately divorce in 1944. Hodges departed Universal within a year as well.

Peggy Moran and Anne Nagel in a 1940 publicity shot.

Following such an inauspicious beginning for an experienced film actress, Nagel quickly worked her way to the female lead in her first serial, "The Green Hornet." Starring Gordon Jones and Keye Luke, it stands as one of the studios finest chapterplays, and perhaps second only to the Flash Gordon series in popularity. It quickly inspired a follow up, released in 1940 as "The Green Hornet Strikes Again." Nagel again reprised her role as Lenore Case, with Keye Luke returning as Kato. Gordon Scott, however, was replaced in the title role by Warren Hull.

In fact, Nagel was arguably Universal's top serial queen of the early 1940's. In addition to the aforementioned titles, she also appeared opposite Dick Foran yet again in "Winners of the West" in 1940. The next year she costarred in "Don Winslow of the Navy," a cliffhanger based on the popular comic book hero and starring Don Terry.

In addition to her serial duty, Nagel demonstrated her versatility by appearing in numerous other film genres successfully. She was cast in various comedies such as "Argentine Nights" with the Ritz Brothers, the Andrews Sisters and Peggy Moran in 1941, and "Meet the Chump" with Hugh Herbert the following year. Nagel appeared opposite Richard Arlen and sidekick Andy Devine in three of their action/adventure films, "Legion of Lost Flyers" in 1939, "Hot Steel" in 1940 and "Mutiny in the Arctic" in 1941.

For all of her other screen appearances, Nagel is perhaps most fondly remembered today for her horror film work while at Universal. In 1940, she was cast alongside Boris Karloff, Stanley Ridges and Bela Lugosi in "Black Friday." Her portrayal of Sunny Rogers, girlfriend of gangster and cold-blooded killer Red Cannon (Ridges), is quite good. In spite of the fact that she betrays her suitor to his rival, Marnay (Lugosi), one still feels a twinge of compassion for her when Cannon does her in. Clearly, her character is afraid of the ruthless criminals in her life, yet drawn to the trinkets they provide and the promises of a better existence than that of a nightclub singer.

Also in 1940, she had a minor role in the comedy "The Invisible Woman." Nagel, the soon to be a star Maria Montez, and the lovely Kathryn Adams were cast as co-workers of title character Virginia Bruce. Her next encounter with a Universal horror film was much more substantial. In 1941 she attained the female lead in "Man Made Monster," a role that the studio had initially assigned to Anne Gwynne. When a replacement was urgently needed for "Melody Lane," already in production, the studio assigned Gwynne to that picture, and pressed Nagel into service for their upcoming thriller. Directed by George Waggner, "Man Made Monster" helped transform Lon Chaney, Jr. into a bona fide horror film star, and began Waggner's ascension into the upper echelon of Universal's producers and directors. Nagel's performance ranks as one of the finest of the 1940's by a leading lady in the genre. The titian haired actress is totally believable in the part, and imbues her role with charm, tenaciousness and appeal.

Frank Albertson and Anne Nagel in "Man Made Monster"

Alas, after a string of successful performances, her parts began to decline in size and scope. Nagel's role in the 1941 W.C. Fields classic "Never Give a Sucker an Even Break" was reduced substantially in editing. She was cast alongside Dick Foran once more in "Road Agent," but Anne Gwynne attained the female lead. Her appearance in the 1942 release of "The Mad Doctor of Market Street" was so small that one has a hard time remembering that she was in the picture at all. As the tearful spouse of mad scientist Lionel Atwill's initial human guinea pig, Nagel is only visible for the first few minutes of the film.

Nagel and Universal parted ways when the studio chose not to renew her contract in late 1941, shortly after the completion of that film and the Johnny Mack Brown western "Stagecoach Buckaroo," both of which would be released the following year. One of her contemporaries from this period has said that her behavior was often weird, causing one to wonder if she was already finding some solace in drink, or if perhaps her own personal demons were surfacing in some other way. Regardless, she subsequently married for a second time, to Lt. James Keenan, on December 4, 1941. Nagel then found work at Columbia and appeared in her last serial effort there, "The Secret Code" with Paul Kelly in 1942. One of her other more memorable films of this period was "The Mad Monster," also released that year. In it, George Zucco performs his experiments on Glenn Strange, converting him into an overall clad beast. While not an outstanding film, this cheaply made effort has attained cult status to some degree. At least one source says that this picture was filmed while Nagel was still under contract to Universal, and that she was loaned out to PRC for it by her then home studio.

After 1943, Nagel's career was practically non-existent until 1946. The next four years found her in minor roles in occasional features, her final film being the 1950 release "Armored Car Robbery" with Charles McGraw and Adele Jergens. Nagel was unbilled, something that was unfortunately by this time a common occurrence for the one-time Warner Brothers and Universal star. Some television work followed, with her last credit in the medium being an episode of "Circus Boy" in 1957. The series starred Micky Dolenz, son of former Universal player George Dolenz, as well as one-time studio stars Noah Beery, Jr. and Robert Lowery. Her former leading man, Dick Foran, also appeared in the episode.

Not much is known about Nagel's life beyond her film career. Her marriage to Keenan ended in divorce in 1951, although they would appear in Court again several years later when she claimed that they had reconciled. Years of alcoholism took its toll, and on July 6, 1966, she died of liver cancer in Hollywood. Although there is much conflict about her age at the time of her death, Nagel was no older than fifty-four when she succumbed to her illness. According to Greg Mank's excellent volume, Women in Horror Films, 1940's, there is no marker on Anne Nagel's grave. Sadly, she had no children, and apparently, no surviving relatives.

In all, Anne Nagel appeared in well over seventy films. While many of her roles were minor, she did achieve some degree of fame for a time. Although it has been over a half-century since the release of her last feature film, to fans of the "B" western, serial and Universal horror films, she will forevermore remain a star.