Ann Robinson (born May 25, 1929) is an American actress and stunt horse rider, perhaps best known for her work in the science-fiction classic The War of the Worlds and in the 1954 film Dragnet, in which she starred as a Los Angeles police officer opposite Jack Webb and Ben Alexander.

Biography

Robinson was born at the Hollywood Hospital in Hollywood, California. She attended Hollywood High School from 1946 to 1949 (she flunked 11 math and thus graduated in 1949). Her father was employed by the Bank of Hollywood at the corner of Hollywood and Vine. He taught her how to ride horses, beginning when she was only three. Robinson hence became an accomplished rider, which led to her first professional work in Hollywood as a stunt rider in film Frenchie with Shelley Winters.

Her career as a leading woman was effectively ended in 1957, when she eloped to Mexico to marry a matador, Jaime Bravo, with whom she had two sons; Jaime A. Bravo, who is a director for ABC Sports and ESPN, and Estefan A. Bravo, who played the Axl Rose-like character in White Trash Wins Lotto, a musical by Andy Prieboy. Since that marriage, Robinson has played minor roles, mainly in science fiction films. The couple divorced in 1967. On February 2, 1970, Jaime Bravo was killed in an automobile accident on the way to a bullfight.

In 1987, Robinson married real estate broker and business manager Joseph Valdez, residing in the Echo Park section of Los Angeles. She makes guest appearances at autograph shows and science-fiction conventions.

Robinson has two grandchildren from her son Jaime. Victoria Ann Bravo and Samuel Anastasio Bravo, both born in 2001.

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