Anne Haney Biography

In 1970, Anne Haney started appearing in TV commercials and on stage. She was noticed by a touring company and cast as the maid in Noël Coward’s play ‘Fallen Angels’. This continued for the next two years and culminated in her joining the Screen Actors Guild‐American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. In 1978, she was seen in one of her first TV roles as Mrs. Benn in the Emmy-winning show ‘Summer of My German Soldier’. In spite of dabbling in drama, TV, and radio here and there, Haney truly started her acting career when she was in her forties. Before that, she was dedicated to being a wife and mother. She didn’t begin a full-time career in acting until the untimely death of her husband in 1980. After that, she moved to southern California and found an agent. After appearing in a small role in the TV series ‘ABC Weekend Specials’, Haney made her movie debut as Mrs. Myerson in the comedy-drama ‘Hopscotch’ (1980). Her career took off after that and she found herself making appearances in TV movies like ‘The Mating Season’ (1980) and the comedy series ‘The Dukes of Hazard’ (1981). Soon, Haney started getting offers to appear on both TV and in movies. This was largely due to her relative ease in portraying both comedic and dramatic characters. Some of her early notable performances were in movies ‘The Children Nobody Wanted’ (1981) and ‘The Osterman Weekend’ (1983).

She went on to receive critical acclaim for her intense performance as Mrs. Sims in the drama ‘Missing Children: A Mother’s Story’ (1982). From 1983 to 1984, she also played different characters in the series ‘After MASH’ and had a recurring role in ‘Celebrity’ (1984). The actress managed to bring a new dimension to each of her characters. Her next major roles were in the TV shows ‘Hill Street Blues’ (1984 – 1987) and the recurring role of Evelyn Camp in ‘Lime Street’ (1985 – 1986). But it was her portrayal of Virginia Taft in the series ‘Our House’ (1986 – 1988) that added to her popularity.

During the next few years, Haney continued to entertain the audience with her powerful performances. Not only did she give great performances in TV movies like ‘Jailbirds’ and ‘Plymouth’ in 1991, but also played multiple roles in popular series like ‘Matlock’ (1986 – 1991) and ‘Quantum Leap’ (1991). She went on to earn praise for her recurring role as Judge Marilyn Travelini in the drama series ‘L.A. Law’ (1986 – 1994). She also gained a following in the science fiction community by appearing as Rishon Uxbridge in ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ (1989) and later as Renora in ‘Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’ (1993). Haney also earned acclaim for her TV portrayals of Martha Hayes in ‘Leaving L.A.’ (1997) and Francine Hardin in ‘Movie Stars’ (1999). But perhaps she gave her most memorable performances as Mrs. Sellner in the film ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’ (1993) and Greta in ‘Liar Liar’ (1997). The actress continued acting in series like ‘Providence’ (2001) and ‘Dharma & Gregg’ (2000 – 2001) until her death.

Anne Haney was born in Memphis, Tennessee, USA, on March 4, 1934, to Robert Ryan and Dorothy Ryan. She majored in drama, TV, and radio from the University of North Carolina. While at the University, she fell in love with TV producer John Haney and later married him. The couple had a daughter together named Melissa. John passed away in 1980. Anne Haney died from heart failure on May 26, 2001, in California, USA.