Anne Baxter had been working for several decades before taking on her iconic role as Queen
Nefertari in the 1956 masterpiece The Ten Commandments.
Anne had a lot of respect for the film’s director, who was Golden Age legend Cecil
B. DeMille.
Because of this, Anne was persuaded into baring a bit more of her skin for the movie than
she might’ve otherwise.
Anne’s skimpy appearance in the film solidified her status as a sex symbol after years in
the entertainment industry, and many people still can’t believe today that some of the
actress’s scenes in the film made it past the strict censors of the time.
Join Facts Verse as we explore how Anne Baxter bared all for The Ten Commandments.
Anne Baxter Didn’t Think She Was Right for the Role
When Anne Baxter was cast as the character of Queen Nefertari in Cecil B. DeMille’s
The Ten Commandments, the actress was incredibly excited!
She had been working in Hollywood for well over two decades but had yet to work with
the esteemed director.
Given that Cecil had always been one of her favorites, she was very grateful for the opportunity!
She ended up taking on the part even though she felt that she wasn’t right for the role.
Of course, the character was supposed to be Egyptian, which meant that Anne wasn’t a
good choice to play the part with her decidedly Irish facial features.
When Anne brought this concern up to Cecil, the director told her that he insisted she
was the woman for the role.
The audience seemed to agree, as the film became a hit.
Not only that, but the role of Queen Nefertari arguably stands today as Anne’s most iconic.
Anne’s Start in Hollywood Anne Baxter was born on May 7, 1923.
She had been born into slight prominence, as her grandfather had been the notable architect
Frank Lloyd Wright.
This allowed Anne the chance to grow up in affluence, and receive a pretty serious education.
It was during this education that Anne got a taste for performing in theater, and she
would begin doing so professionally at a fairly young age.
Anne had made her very first appearance on stage acting in a school play at the age of
five, and she would appear on Broadway by her teens.
At the age of 13, Anne Baxter appeared in a Broadway play by the name of Seen but Not
Heard.
Sadly, a negative experience with Katharine Hepburn would cause Anne’s early theater
days to come to an end.
While beginning a stint performing as Katharine’s understudy in The Philadelphia Story, Anne
rubbed the older actress the wrong way and was subsequently fired from the production.
As a result of this experience, Anne decided to head to Hollywood and try her luck there
instead.
Katharine hadn’t been too fond of Anne’s acting style, and the future star felt that
she might have some better luck fitting in out in California.
Anne’s intuition turned out to be correct, and fame was just around the corner!
In Hollywood, Anne Baxter was signed with 20th Century Fox at the age of only 15.
However, her motion-picture debut would be with another studio.
After being signed with 20th Century Fox, the studio loaned her out to MGM.
At MGM, Anne made her big-screen debut, with that debut coming in the form of her appearance
in the 1940 film 20 Mule Team.
Anne received fourth billing in the film, which proved to be a moderate success.
More roles followed, including an appearance alongside John Barrymore in the film The Great
Profile, which was released later the same year.
Anne Becomes a Star During World War II Following Anne’s successful appearances
in her earliest features, the actress continued to find success by being loaned out to other
studios.
In 1942, Anne was loaned out to RKO Pictures and appeared in Orson Welles’ The Magnificent
Ambersons.
The next year, Anne appeared in her very first Technicolor picture, with that being 1943’s
Crash Drive.
Anne was the leading lady in the film.
As America was entering World War II, Anne found herself at the top of the world.
Over the course of 1944, the actress received top billing in a number of notable productions,
including The North Star and Sunday Dinner for a Soldier.
According to Anne, the only actress who got more fan letters from soldiers than her during
the days of World War II was Betty Grable.
By the mid-1940s, Anne had become a big commercial star, but she wasn’t yet taken seriously
as a dramatic actress.
This all changed after she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress thanks to
her appearance in the 1946 film The Razor’s Edge.
Following Anne’s critically acclaimed turn in The Razor’s Edge, it would be over a
decade before the actress would receive her iconic role in Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten
Commandments.
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Anne’s Later Film Career According to Anne Baxter herself, it was her
performance in 1946’s The Razor’s Edge that was her most dramatically successful.
However, despite the attention that the actress would receive at the following Academy Awards
ceremony, it would be a much different role over a decade later that would come to be
known as Anne’s most iconic.
Of course, that would be her role as Queen Nefertari in The Ten Commandments.
In between her work on The Razor’s Edge and The Ten Commandments, Anne stayed very
busy!
With an Academy Award now in her possession, Anne Baxter entered the 1950s as a critically
acclaimed dramatic actress.
In 1950, she appeared in the classic film All About Eve, portraying the titular role
of Eve Harrington.
Anne would be nominated for another Academy Award thanks to her performance in the film,
but she sadly wouldn’t win it.
Despite this, Anne’s appearance in All About Eve is arguably a good deal more iconic than
her appearance in The Razor’s Edge several years previously.
It was in June of 1954 that Anne Baxter was finally cast in the role of Queen Nefertari.
Director Cecil B. DeMille had chosen the actress personally.
While Anne didn’t feel that she had the right looks to portray the famous Egyptian
character, Cecil insisted on her inclusion in the film.
Not wanting to disappoint the director who she had revered for so many years, Anne agreed
to participate in the movie’s filming.
Anne would film her scenes on the sound stages of Paramount Pictures over the course of 1955,
and the film would go on to premiere to the world in 1956.
The Audience Thought Anne Was Hot Stuff!
Although Anne Baxter wasn’t satisfied with her performance in The Ten Commandments for
a variety of reasons, the film was a huge hit and her role in it arguably stands today
as the actress’s most iconic.
Besides the fact that Anne simply didn’t feel that she was the right choice to play
the Egyptian character, Anne also felt that Cecil B. DeMille’s campier directing style
wasn’t the best showcase for her dramatic talents, despite her esteem for the famous
filmmaker.
Regardless of the fact that Anne Baxter wasn’t too proud of her performance in The Ten Commandments,
audiences ate it up.
A big part of Anne’s appeal in the film was that she could oftentimes be seen wearing
some fairly revealing outfits, especially given the standards of the time!
According to Anne, she had to wear skin-colored underwear underneath her more revealing costumes
so that she didn’t accidentally reveal more to the cameras than was intended.
Even still, gutter-minded film historians still argue today over whether or not the
actress’s actual nipples are visible in certain scenes of the film.
After decades in the entertainment industry, The Ten Commandments solidified Anne Baxter’s
status as a preeminent Golden Age starlet.
Anne’s Television Work Entering into the 1960s, Anne Baxter began
working more and more within the medium of television.
She appeared in such notable series as Batman, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, and My Three Sons.
In the 1970s, Anne Baxter returned to the Broadway stage with her appearance in the
musical Applause, which was adapted from All About Eve.
Anne’s last role was on the television series Hotel.
Anne was the main cast member on that series up until her 1985 death, and she played the
character of Victoria Cabot.
Anne’s Personal Life Anne Baxter was married three times over the
course of her life and had three children.
Anne’s first husband was an actor by the name of John Hodiak, whom she married in 1946
and divorced in 1953.
During that time period, Anne and John had a child named Katrina, and she was born in
1951.
After dating around for several years following her first divorce, Anne married her second
husband Randolph Galt in 1960.
Randolph worked with cattle, and he and Anne remained married until 1969 and had two kids.
Anne married once more following her second divorce, with her third husband being a stockbroker
by the name of David Klee.
The two married in 1977, and the marriage ended up dissolving the very same year as
a result of David’s death.
Following the unfortunate death of her third husband, Anne Baxter never remarried before
her own death in 1985.
The actress passed away as a result of a stroke, which occurred while she was attempting to
hail a taxi in New York City.
Although Anne Baxter believed that her most successful dramatic performance was in the
1946 feature The Razor’s Edge, the audience seems to favor the actress’s much more revealing
appearance in Cecil B. DeMille’s 1956 masterpiece The Ten Commandments.
Now it’s time to hear from you: did you know that Cecil B. DeMille insisted on Anne
Baxter being cast in The Ten Commandments as Queen Nefertari and that the actress felt
that she wasn’t right for the part?
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