With heavy hearts we announce the passing of this beloved actress at 96 See more

A beloved Hollywood actress who rose to fame in a classic 1950s science-fiction film has passed away at 96. She died at her Los Angeles home last September, but news of her death was only recently made public. Her unforgettable performance as Sylvia van Buren made her a lasting icon, with a career spanning decades. The legendary actress was Ann Robinson, best known for the original War of the Worlds (1953)..

Robinson’s association with The War of the Worlds reached far beyond the original release. A film can remain familiar to audiences long after the period in which it was made, and the people who gave it its human characters become part of that continuing memory. For many viewers, Sylvia van Buren was the role through which they first knew Robinson. The title of the film could bring her face to mind even for someone who had seen it many years earlier.

Science fiction asks an audience to accept extraordinary events. The performers help give those events a human scale. A character’s response can make danger, uncertainty and fear feel immediate inside a story built around something unfamiliar. Robinson’s performance gave viewers a person to follow through that experience, which is part of why the role remained closely attached to her name.

The original film belongs to the science-fiction cinema of the 1950s. Audiences returning to it now can see both the period in which it was made and the qualities that helped it endure. The acting remains one of the connections between those audiences and the people who first encountered the film in a theater. Robinson’s presence is part of that connection.

Being remembered for one especially recognizable performance can sometimes obscure the span of a career. The account of her death describes decades of work beyond the moment when she first became widely known. Yet a signature role also gives people a shared way to talk about a performer. It allows viewers with different memories and different levels of familiarity to begin in the same place…………….CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE