Ann Robinson, best known for her role in the 1953 sci-fi classic The War of the Worlds, has died aged 96.
The actor died at her home in Los Angeles on 26 September 2025, her granddaughter, Tori Bravo, told The Hollywood Reporter. Her death was not previously known.
Born and raised in Hollywood, Robinson got her start in the film industry as a stunt performer. She made her film debut as an unnamed character in the 1949 Western Black Midnight with Roddy McDowell, followed by an appearance in a second cowboy flick, 1950’s Frenchie, during which she put her childhood horseback riding to good use alongside Joel McCrea and Shelley Winters.
Her big break arrived, however, when she auditioned for producer George Pal to star in his adaptation of the HG Wells’ 1898 novel War of the Worlds.
Robinson landed her the part of library science teacher Sylvia Van Buren who must, together with Pacific Tech professor Clayton Forrester (Gene Barry), figure out a way to stop the Martians who are terrorising earth with their alien heat-ray.
With her terrific scream and on-screen courage, Robinson entered the pantheon of sci-fi heroines, elevating the role from the “damsel in distress” stereotype.
In one memorable scene, Sylvia and Dr Forrester are hiding from the Martians in an old farmhouse when one of the aliens reaches out to touch her shoulder from behind, prompting Clayton to come to the rescue with a hatchet.
“I always thought, ‘This guy might have been nice! Maybe we ruined a chance for peace because Gene Barry got overzealous and threw that hatchet,'” Robinson told Tom Weaver in an interview for his 1994 book, Attack of the Monster Movie Makers.
“This Martian was just coming up behind me to tap me on the shoulder – he wasn’t aggressive, he wasn’t mean. Of course, the Martians had blown my uncle apart, along with a bunch of other people, but maybe this guy was the nice one who wanted to negotiate,” she joked.
Robinson reprised the role of Sylvia on a few episodes of a War of the Worlds TV series that ran from 1988 to 1990. More recently, both she and Barry were asked by Steven Spielberg to reprise that particular farmhouse scene in his 2005 adaptation starring Tom Cruise. Robinson said she was treated like “royalty” on set. That same year, she played Sylvia once more in the genre parody film The Naked Monster.
In 1957, Robinson put her career on hold when she travelled to Mexico to marry a famous matador, Jaime Bravo.
That “blew my career right out of the water,” Robinson told Weaver. “When I got back home, Hollywood had passed me by. I just ruined it, I blew it.” She and Bravo had two children before divorcing in 1967.
Robinson went on to guest star on several TV shows throughout the Sixties, including Perry Mason, Bachelor Father, The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, Peter Gunn, Death Valley Days and 77 Sunset Strip. She also appeared in the 1959 film Imitation of Life with Lana Turner and Juanita Moore.
Her other films include The Damned Don’t Cry, All About Eve, Goodbye, My Fancy, and The Cimarron Kid. Robinson’s final performance was a voiceover part in the 2020 film The Last Page of Summer.
She is survived by her son, Jaime Bravo Jr, and grandson Sammy.
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