| Anna Townsend | |
| Birth Date: | 5 January 1845 |
| Birth Place: | Utica, New York |
| Death Place: | Los Angeles, California, US |
| Yearsactive: | 1913-1923 |
| Occupation: | Actress |
| Children: | 1 |
Mrs. Anna Townsend (January 5, 1845 – September 11, 1923) was a silent film actress who first turned to acting as a career very late in life. Featured in several Harold Lloyd films,[1] Townsend is probably best known for her role as Harold's good-hearted grandmother in Grandma's Boy (1922).[2] That film was developed around Townsend's personality.[3]
Townsend was born in Utica, New York. She moved from there to Los Angeles in 1885. Her film career began in 1919.
According to a 1922 profile published in the Los Angeles Evening Express, Townsend's sole acting experience prior to her brief silent screen heyday was an even briefer pre-Civil War tour of duty with the Holman Light Opera Company.[4] This was in large part corroborated the following year by the Sacramento Bee, whose obituary for Townsend states that the actress's emergence "three years ago" constituted the first time "she [had] ever considered pursuing acting as a profession."[3]
Married at least once and predeceased by her husband,[5] Mrs. Townsend died on September 11, 1923, at her home in Los Angeles,[6] apparently due to an unspecified illness contracted two months earlier while sightseeing at Yosemite National Park.[3]
She was survived, at the very least, by one grown child, a daughter.[7] [6] Moreover, judging from a profile of Townsend published that spring, in which references made to both "grown-up children" and "grandchildren" figure prominently,[5] there were almost certainly additional survivors.
| Film | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
| 1913 | The Hoyden's Awakening | Unknown role (as Mrs. Anna Townsend) | |
| 1914 | The Real Thing in Cowboys | Mrs. Mitchell | |
| 1917 | A Marked Man | Harry's Mother (as Mrs. Townsend) | Lost film |
| 1918 | Three Mounted Men | Harry's Mother (as Mrs. Anna Townsend) | Lost film |
| 1921 | Beyond the Trail | Unknown role | Uncredited |
| 1922 | Grandma's Boy | His Grandma | |
| 1922 | Dr. Jack | Jamison's Mother | Uncredited |
| 1923 | Daddy | Mrs. Holden | |
| 1923 | Safety Last! | very small woman at the Sale | Uncredited |
| Television | |||
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1989 | American Masters | Harold's Grandmother in 'Grandma's Boy' | Archive footage, posthumously release, episode: Harold Lloyd: The Third Genius |