1940’s pulp-fiction movie star Ann Savage passed away Christmas Day aged 87.
According to her manager, Savage died in her sleep at a nursing home from complications following a series of strokes.
Savage was best known for her roles in pulp-fiction movies during the 1940’s and early 1950s, with her best known role as the cigarette-puffing femme fatale in Detour. She fell from prominence by the mid 1950’s after leaving the business, although she did occasionally pop up on television and in films through to the 1970s.
In the 1980s, Savage returned to movies, appearing in the 1986 film Fire with Fire. A release of Detour into the public domain with frequent playing on cable and television saw her become a cult favorite, and in her later years she made appearances at film festivals.
Her last appearance was in the 2008 movie My Winnipeg, earning rave reviews.
Here’s a recent clip of her discussing her most famous role:
