Joan Wheeler

Joan Wheeler Ankrum (January 8, 1913 – December 20, 2001) was an American film actress and founder of the Ankrum Gallery on La Cienega Boulevard in Los Angeles.

Life and career Ankrum was born Joan Natalia Wheeler on January 8, 1913, in Palo Alto, California.

In 1960, Ankrum founded Ankrum Gallery, which was located on La Cienega Boulevard next to a number of other galleries. Joseph Hirshhorn contributed some of the initial funding for the gallery, and went on to be a loyal patron, along with his wife Olga Hirshhorn. Ankrum initially founded the gallery to show her nephew Morris Broderson's work, but the gallery then handled the artwork of other California artists, such as Helen Lundeberg, Richard Bauer, Hans Burkhard, Suzanne Jackson, Samella Lewis, and Lorser Feitelson. The Smithsonian Archives of American Art, which holds the gallery's archives, notes that Ankrum Gallery "was among the earliest to exhibit the work of black artists." Desirable as Barbara, "Babs" The Merry Frinks as Lucille Frink... (Happy Family in the UK) Smarty as Mrs. Bonnie Durham... (Hit Me Again in the UK) Twenty Million Sweethearts as Marge, the Receptionist