24-inch bicycle when I was like 10 years old. We didn’t have a whole lot of money, so I thought about the sacrifice they made. Te thing about it was, I had to ride that 10-speed until I was out of high school and in college.” Annie could have been a hard-


knock story of another kind if the perfect young actress to play the title role hadn’t been found. A casting call went out for a girl who could portray Annie’s sunny outlook on life, but at the same time convey Big Apple street smarts. It’s a tall order for a 10-year-old, but Wallis, the youngest person ever nominated for a Best Actress Oscar for 2012’s Beasts of the Southern Wild, managed to do both. Now 11, the Houma, La., na-


tive sees several similarities be- tween herself and Annie. “We both go for it, we both keep do- ing what we want to do, and we both are very strong,” she says. And like Annie, Wallis appreci- ates the blessings in her life, in-


“It’s one of those stories that reaches people.


You want Annie to find somebody who wants to love her, who will give her a home and take


care of her.” —Cameron Diaz


10 | NOVEMBER 30, 2014 © PARADE Publications 2014. All rights reserved


cluding “my family, my toys, be- ing able to live in a house, and all the stuff that I am able to do now, like go to a nice school.” With her long list of hit film


credits, from bit parts to major roles in Gangs of New York,Bad Teacher,Te Green Hornet and Tere’s Something About Mary, Diaz, 42, drew on her own expe- riences with the up-and-down rollercoaster of fame to relate to her character’s show business struggles. “I am just so grateful for every


single breath, to tell you the truth,” says the Long Beach, Calif., native. “I feel nothing should be taken for granted, nothing. I just have gratitude for everything. So my motto is ‘Gratitude is the only attitude.’ I try to give gratitude every day for every little bit of every- thing in my life.” For Foxx, who won an Acade-


my Award for his portrayal of Ray Charles in Ray, another mu- sical role was not a daunting


Coming 90 years after the “little orphan” made her debut as a syndicated newspaper comic- strip character, director Will Gluck’s new movie brings another chapter of the beloved pop- cultural icon to big-screen life.


» Little Orphan Annie creator Harold Gray took his character’s name from an 1885 poem, “Little Orphant Annie,” by James Whitcomb Riley.


» Annie’s benefactor,


bald businessman “Daddy” Warbucks, originally made his fortune in WWI munitions manufacturing.


» Annie made the leap from newsprint to radio in 1930, sponsored by the flavored milk supplement Ovaltine—a product endorsement memorably given a nod in the 1983 movieA Christmas Story.


» Hollywood first madeLittle Orphan Annie into a movie in 1932 with Ann Gillis— whose final movie role, many years later, would be as astronaut Poole’s mother, singing “Happy Birthday to You,” in2001: A Space Odyssey.Another film followed in 1938, starring Mitzi Green.


» Annie’s adventures in her newspaper strip took her


THROUGH the YEARS


around the world dealing with crime, corruption and moral and ethical dilemmas throughout much of the 20th century, until it was finally canceled in 2010.


» Young Andrea McArdle played Annie on Broadway in


the musical Annie, which won seven Tony Awards and ran from 1977 to 1983. Reid Shelton portrayed Daddy Warbucks, and Dorothy Loudon was Miss Hannigan.


» Annie, the 1982 movie version of the Broadway musical, starred Albert Finney, Carol Burnett, Tim Curry and Aileen Quinn as Annie. It received Academy Award nominations for its production design and score. Disney released a made- for-TV movie- musical remake, with Kathy Bates, Victor Garber,


Kristin Chenoweth and


newcomer Alicia Morton, in 1999.


» Life After Tomorrow, a 2006 documentary, brought together some 40 men and women— including Sarah Jessica Parker and Molly Ringwald—who played orphans in various Broadway, off-Broadway and touring productions to reflect on how being in Annie as children changed their lives.


—Neil Pond


ANNIE CAST BY ARI MICHELSON; OPENING SPREAD AND SIDEBAR PHOTOS:1924 BY HAROLD GRAY; 1938 & 1982 COURTESY EVERETT COLLECTION; 1977 BY GLOBE PHOTOS/ZUMA PRESS; 2013 BY ROBIN MARCHANT/GETTY IMAGES; 2014 BY CTMG/SONY PICTURES


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