Ann Rutherford (born
November 2,
1920) is a
Canadian-
American actress in
film,
radio, and
television. She has had a long career starring and co-starring in films, playing Polly Benedict on the big screen of the 1930s and 1940s, and on
The Bob Newhart Show as Newhart's character's mother-in-law.
Her first film role was in
Waterfront Lady in 1935. She appeared in eighteen films between 1935 and 1937. It was in 1937 that her first notable role came as
Andy Hardy's girlfriend, Polly Benedict, in
You're Only Young Once. In the long-running,
Academy Award-winning Andy Hardy film series, she played Polly twelve times, with the last appearance being in
Andy Hardy's Double Life in 1942.