Anne Lee Patterson ~ The Pageant Winner

Anne Lee Patterson was a beauty pageant winner who became a Ziegfeld Girl

She was born in Ludlow, Kentucky on October 20, 1912. Her father, John W. Patterson, worked on the railroad. Anne attended St. James Elementary School and the LaSalette Academy. After graduating from high school she worked at a soft drink company in Covington, Kentucky. The eighteen year old won the title of Miss Northern Kentucky in 1931. Then she was crowned Miss United States and was runner up in the Miss Universe pageant. She was five feet, five inches tall and weighed 118 pounds. Anne joined the cast of Ziegfeld Follies during the Summer of 1931. The following year she appeared on Broadway in Showboat.

Anne posed nude for Alfred Cheney Johnston

When she visited her hometown of Ludlow in June of 1932 the city sponsored a large parade in her honor. She told reporters she enjoyed modeling but wasn’t really interested in being an actress. Anne married Joseph Bandler, a New York merchant, in 1936 and retired from show business. The couple moved to Bel Air, California and had two sons – Joseph Jr. and Robert. She and Joseph remained happily married until his death in 1993. In her later years she enjoyed spending time with her grandchildren and doing charity work.  On December 12, 2003 she died from natural causes at the age of ninety-one. Anne was buried at
Hillside Memorial Park in
Culver City, California.