The Late Great Anjanette Comer

Anjanette Comer, who starred in such movies as The Loved One (1965) and The Appaloosa (1966) and guest starred on shows from The Donna Reed Show to Columbo, died on May 28, 2026 at the age of 86. Her death only was only recently made public. She had suffered from leukaemia and had issues with her heart.

Anjanette Comer was born on August 7, 1939, in Dawson, Texas. When she was 16 she was named queen of the Corsicana Fair and Rodeo. She studied acting at the Pasadena Playhouse. It was there that she was discovered by agent Byron Raphael. She made her television debut in an episode of My Three Sons in 1962. She made her movie debut in Quick Before It Melts in 1964.

During the Sixties, Anjanette Comer starred in the movies The Loved One (1965), The Appaloosa (1966), Banning (1967), Guns for San Sebastian (1968), In Enemy Country (1968), and Rabbit, Run (1970). On television, she guest starred in the shows The Donna Reed Show; Gunsmoke; Ben Casey; Arrest and Trial; Dr. Kildare; Bonanza; Combat!; The Young Lawyers; Then Came Bronson; The Mod Squad; and Love, American Style.

In the Seventies, Anjanette Comer appeared in the movies The Firechasers (1971), Blood Feast (1972), The Baby (1973), Lepke (1975), The Manchu Eagle Murder Caper Mystery (1975), and Fire Sale (1977). She guest starred on the shows The Most Deadly Game; Banyon; Love, American Style; Columbo; Mannix; Search; Doctor Simon Locke; Police Story; The Wide World of Mystery; Petrocelli; Harry O; S.W.A.T.; Barbary Coast; The Blue Knight; Jigsaw John; Baretta; and Barnaby Jones. She appeared in the mini-series McNaughton's Daughter, as well as such TV movies as Terror on the 40th Floor and Dead of Night.

In the Eighties, she guest starred on the shows Mike Hammer and Hotel. She appeared in the TV movie The Long Summer of George Adams. In the Nineties, she guest starred on the shows Jake and the Fatman; Profiler; and The Practice. She appeared in the mini-series The Streets of Laredo and the TV movie Perry Mason: The Case of the Reckless Romeo. She appeared in the movies Netherworld (1992) and Underneath (1995).

In the Naughts, Anjanette Comer appeared in the TV movie The Pennsylvania Miners Story. She appeared in the movies Screen Door Jesus (2003) and Possessed (2005). Her last two movies were A Bird of the Air (2011) and Zombie Bloodlines (2026).

I must confess that I had a crush on Anjanette Comer. She had an ethereal quality, as if she came from another world. This proved particularly useful in her role as Aimee Thanatogenous, the naive funeral home cosmetician more comfortable with death than life in The Loved One. Although it could be her best known role, Anjanette Comer could play many, very different roles. She was the somewhat duplicitous Trini in The Appaloosa. In The Baby, she played yet another very different role, that of the earnest, but guilt-ridden social worker Ann Gentry in The Baby. Her work in television could be equally impressive. She was nominated for the 1964 Emmy for Outstanding Performance in a Supporting Role for An Actress for her role as a prostitute in an episode of Arrest and Trial. In the TV movie Dead of Night she appeared in the segment "No Such Thing as a Vampire," in which she played a woman who may or not be the victim of a vampire attack. In the Combat! episode "Weep No More," she played a mute French woman. Anjanette Comer was not simply another pretty face, but an actress of considerable talent who could play a wide variety of roles.