{"id":21787,"date":"2025-10-29T21:06:22","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T21:06:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/21787\/"},"modified":"2025-10-29T21:06:22","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T21:06:22","slug":"the-fabulous-life-of-chris-pines-grandmother-1940s-scream-queen-and-pin-up-girl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/21787\/","title":{"rendered":"The fabulous life of Chris Pine’s grandmother \u2014 1940s scream queen and pin-up girl"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the era of the “nepo baby,” one Hollywood star that doesn’t make it as apparent is Chris Pine<\/a>. The on-screen heartthrob, 45, may have come into his own with performances in films like The Princess Diaries 2 and Just My Luck before getting his big break in the Star Trek reboot series, but his legacy extends quite far back. His father is Robert Pine, now 84, an actor as well who was best known for playing Sgt. Joseph Getraer on the TV show CHiPs, along with a variety of other TV roles. And his mother Gloria Gwynne Gilford, now 79, appeared in a variety of bit parts throughout the ’70s and ’80s on TV and film before becoming a psychotherapist.<\/p>\n

But, as it turns out, Chris’ legacy goes back even further, to his legendary maternal grandmother. Anne Gwynne was not just a bonafide film star in the 1940s, she’s one of the defining names in the horror genre, and as a pin-up girl. Even with the industry’s constant evolution, her influence lives on.<\/p>\n

\"The\u00a9 Getty ImagesBeginnings<\/p>\n

Born Marguerite Gwynne Trice in December 1918, Anne grew up in both Texas and Missouri, studying drama in college. After accompanying her father to a convention in LA, she found her first job as a model for Catalina Swimwear. That continued into the rest of the ’30s as she continued working as a model, appearing in print, campaigns and TV spots like commercials.<\/p>\n

\"I\u00a9 Getty ImagesFilm career<\/p>\n

In 1939, Anne found her first film role in Unexpected Father playing a showgirl named Kitty. That transpired into several more films over the course of the next few years, with her peak being until 1950, sometimes making appearances in as many as 10 films or TV projects a year. Some of them were uncredited and bit parts, although as her profile increased, most notably with the advent of World War II, so did her lines.<\/p>\n

She found success appearing in sci-fi and westerns, including popular projects like Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (1940), Ride ‘Em Cowboy, Men of Texas (both 1942), The Ghost Goes Wild (1947), Call of the Klondike (1950), and her final film role, 1970’s Adam at 6 A.M., playing the mother of then-newcomer Michael Douglas<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"The\u00a9 Getty ImagesScream queen status<\/p>\n

From 1940 itself, Anne began earning considerable notice as a scream queen, especially through her work with Universal. She is considered among the very first stars to be bestowed that title, beginning with 1940’s Black Friday starring horror icons Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some of her other most notable turns in the genre include The Black Cat (1941), The Strange Case of Dr. Rx (1942), and House of Frankenstein (1944). Some of her other work also included film noir projects that added to her mystique like Fear (1946) and Teenage Monster (1958). Her on-screen persona contrasted her all-American girl-next-door self from her more mainstream projects with the damsel-in-distress identity of her horror flicks.<\/p>\n

\"circa\u00a9 Getty ImagesPin-up girl<\/p>\n

By the time the USA entered the War in the early 1940s after Pearl Harbor, efforts began to galvanize the American public to “support their troops,” per se, and Anne played a part in that. She starred in a few war propaganda movies, bolstered especially by her appearances in many westerns, like We’ve Never Been Licked (1943) and Ladies Courageous (1944). Those films, plus her dazzling beauty, turned her into a popular pin-up girl of the ’40s, known especially for her more wholesome charm, ironically enough.<\/p>\n

\"Gwynne\u00a9 Getty ImagesMarriage, family and later life<\/p>\n

In 1945, Anne married Max Gilford, with the two welcoming children Gregory and Gwynne (with Gregory going on to become a recording artist). Her husband passed away in 1965, and Anne worked as a secretary to support her kids and put them through college. Gwynne married Robert in 1969 and welcomed Chris and his sister Katherine, also an actress.<\/p>\n

In 1993, Anne suffered a stroke that led her to reduce appearances, and a decade later, she passed away at age 84 from resulting complications.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the era of the “nepo baby,” one Hollywood star that doesn’t make it as apparent is Chris…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21788,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[3998,14566,9,24,63,122,124,123,13894],"class_list":["post-21787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-celebrity-families","tag-chris-pine","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-tv-and-film"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21787\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}