Anne Frazer Thompson, a longtime summer visitor to the Island, died August 16 after several years of failing health. She had recently bought a house with her sister in Oak Bluffs and had every intention of retiring to the Vineyard in a few years.

She was born in Grosse Point, Mich., in 1942, spent her childhood in Cincinnati, Ohio, and then attended Miss Hewitt’s School and Finch College in Manhattan. On graduating, she enrolled in the Neighborhood Playhouse and was soon deeply involved in the New York theatre scene, acting in various shows including the award-winning Trojan Women with Mildred Dunnock. While touring with that play, she was spotted by Hollywood and placed under contract with Universal Pictures where, due to her talent and remarkable beauty, she appeared on numerous television shows and in several movies, including Death of a Gunfighter with Lena Horne and Richard Widmark, and The Mephisto Waltz with Alan Alda.

She left Hollywood in the 1970s remarking that the only parts she was being offered were of people she would not have in her living room. She returned to New York and the theatre, now as a producer. The controversial and acclaimed Forty Deuce was the first show of her efforts. She also worked as an editor and as a hands-on advocate for the homeless.

Anne was an outstanding hostess and cook, and was known to occasionally stroll into the kitchens of some of the finer New York restaurants with comments on the contents of the sauce.

Anne will be remembered for her intelligence, political acumen and wicked wit, and for her two much-loved Havanese Bichons.

She is survived by her sister Mary Moore Grimaldi, and a nephew Gaetano Grimaldi, both of Cincinnati.