---
name: "Sally Ann Howes"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/sally-ann-howes"
fi1m_id: "sally-ann-howes"
imdb_id: "nm0398141"
tmdb_id: 70307
wikidata_id: "Q3469977"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "20 July 1930"
died: "19 December 2021"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
average_as: "actor"
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-09-24T02:18:49.582750+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Sally Ann Howes

## Identity

Sally Ann Howes

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/sally-ann-howes
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** sally-ann-howes
- **IMDb ID:** nm0398141
- **TMDB ID:** 70307
- **Wikidata ID:** Q3469977
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sally_Ann_Howes, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3469977, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0398141/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/70307

Actor. Born 20 July 1930 in St John's Wood. Died 19 December 2021.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 20 July 1930, St John's Wood
- **Died:** 19 December 2021
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sally_Ann_Howes, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3469977, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0398141/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/70307

## Streaming the US now

- **Apple TV:** [*Chitty Chitty Bang Bang*](https://film.one/film/chitty-chitty-bang-bang.md) (70)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Sally Ann Howes

> A clear soprano and a straight back, made for the stage and borrowed by the screen once in a way that stuck. Truly Scrumptious in *Chitty Chitty Bang Bang* is the part she is known for, and it asked little of her.

In *Chitty Chitty Bang Bang* (1968) Sally Ann Howes plays Truly Scrumptious, and the script gives her a motor car, a father and a name, and nothing to want. That was our verdict when we reviewed the film and we stand by it. She sings cleanly and looks the part. What the film did give her was one number: the Doll on a Music Box, a technically demanding dance she learned on a crash course for the purpose. It is the best thing she does in the film. We were surprised how much we minded when she started moving like a person again.

The film sat in the middle of her career and at the edge of it. She had been a child actor since *Thursday's Child* (1943), through Ealing's *Dead of Night* (1945) and *Anna Karenina* (1948) with Vivien Leigh, and by the early 1950s she had left the screen for musical theatre: first the West End, alongside her father Bobby Howes in *Paint Your Wagon* (1953), then Broadway in 1958, where she took over Eliza Doolittle from Julie Andrews in *My Fair Lady* and kept the part for a year. *Brigadoon* followed in 1963, as Fiona MacLaren. Richard Rodgers called her "the greatest singer who ever sang on the American musical stage".

Then Ken Hughes put her opposite Dick Van Dyke, the film went round the world, and she went back to the stage. *The King and I*, *The Sound of Music*, touring through the 1970s and 80s, guest parts in episodic television with *Mission: Impossible* among them, and a late Mrs Higgins in a 2007 *My Fair Lady* tour. Her film work barely grew after 1968. Lewis Gilbert's *The Admirable Crichton* (1957), with her as Lady Mary opposite Kenneth More, is the other one worth looking for, and it uses the same thing Hughes used: a poise that reads as breeding, a voice that reads as money. Not every stage vehicle ran; *Kwamina* (1961) closed after 32 performances.

The difficulty for a critic is that the work she cared about is gone. We can only judge what was filmed, and what was filmed is a handful of well-bred parts and Truly Scrumptious. She knew it. "The theatre is a drug. The problem is that to be remembered, you have to do films." She made one that is remembered and went back to the drug. What is left of her on film that matters is the doll on the music box, and we would not swap it for most of the film around it.

## Biography

Sally Ann Howes was an English actress and singer. She appeared in films from the age of twelve and maintained a career in theatre, film and television that lasted six decades.

She is best known for playing Truly Scrumptious in the musical film *Chitty Chitty Bang Bang* (1968). On stage she replaced Julie Andrews as Eliza Doolittle in the Broadway production of *My Fair Lady* (1958) and received a Tony Award nomination for Best Lead Actress in a Musical for her performance in *Brigadoon* (1963).

Her other screen credits include *Dead of Night* (1945), *Anna Karenina* (1948), *The Admirable Crichton* (1957) and *Death Ship* (1980). She held dual British and American citizenship.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, washingtonpost.com, theguardian.com, nytimes.com.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *Chitty Chitty Bang Bang* (1968), Fi1m 70, as Truly Scrumptious — [page](https://film.one/film/chitty-chitty-bang-bang.md)

## Complete filmography (30)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Hollywood Singing & Dancing: A Musical History - 1960's* (2009), as (archive footage)
- *Cubby Broccoli: The Man Behind Bond* (2000), Actor
- *New York City Opera: A Little Night Music* (1990), as Desiree Armfeldt
- *Death Ship* (1980), as Margaret Marshall
- *Female Artillery* (1973), as Sybil Townsend
- *The Hound of the Baskervilles* (1972), as Laura Frankland
- *Prudence and the Chief* (1970), as Prudence MacKenzie
- *Marcus Welby, M.D.* (1969), series, as Janet Boyd
- *Chitty Chitty Bang Bang* (1968), as Truly Scrumptious — Fi1m 70, [page](https://film.one/film/chitty-chitty-bang-bang.md)
- *Brigadoon* (1966), as Fiona McLaren
- *Mission: Impossible* (1966), series, as Beth — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/tv/mission-impossible-1966.md)
- *Run for Your Life* (1965), series, as Rhona
- *The Virginian* (1962), series, as Martha Clayton
- *Jane Eyre* (1961), Actor
- *The Fifth Column* (1960), Actor
- *NBC Sunday Showcase* (1959), series, Actor
- *The Gift of the Magi* (1958), as Della Young
- *The Admirable Crichton* (1957), as Lady Mary
- *Hallmark Hall of Fame* (1951), series, as Della Young
- *Honeymoon Deferred* (1951), as Katherine Fry
- *Stop Press Girl* (1949), as Jennifer Peters
- *Fools Rush In* (1949), as Pamela Dickson
- *The History of Mr. Polly* (1949), as Christabel
- *My Sister and I* (1948), as Robina Adams
- *Anna Karenina* (1948), as Kitty Scherbatsky
- *The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby* (1947), as Kate Nickleby
- *Pink String and Sealing Wax* (1945), as Peggy Sutton
- *Dead of Night* (1945), as Sally O'Hara (Segment "Linking Story" & "The Christmas Story")
- *The Halfway House* (1944), as Joanna French
- *Thursday's Child* (1943), as Fennis Wilson

## Gallery

- ![Sally Ann Howes](https://film.one/media/person/1777058/gallery-63b0a52e465f.jpg) Sally Ann Howes — Frank Goodman and Ben Washer, New York.  Unclear if these are publicity agents or photographers., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/Sally_Ann_Howes_1961_%28cropped%29.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![LOVE STORY—Ricardo Montalban as the king reprimands children for doubting doughty teacher Anna (Sally Ann Howes) in the Civic Light Opera's revival of The King  (1974)](https://film.one/media/person/1777058/gallery-bdef5d3d5cde.jpg) LOVE STORY—Ricardo Montalban as the king reprimands children for doubting doughty teacher Anna (Sally Ann Howes) in the Civic Light Opera's revival of The King  (1974) — Larry Bessel, Los Angeles Times, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3d/Ricardo_Montalban_and_Sally_Ann_Howes_in_The_King_and_I.jpg/1280px-Ricardo_Montalban_and_Sally_Ann_Howes_in_The_King_and_I.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Photo of Sally Ann Howes. (1965)](https://film.one/media/person/1777058/gallery-bed99bb58375.jpg) Photo of Sally Ann Howes. (1965) — Gerard W. Purcell, manager, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e4/Sally_Ann_Howes_1965.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Image of Sally Ann Howes, published in the Evening News (London) in 1950](https://film.one/media/person/1777058/gallery-e7215526d2ab.jpg) Image of Sally Ann Howes, published in the Evening News (London) in 1950 — Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/Sally_ann_howes_en_1950.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Sally Ann Howes](https://film.one/media/person/1777058/gallery-15d241ca09e6.jpg) Sally Ann Howes — Image via TMDB
- ![Sally Ann Howes](https://film.one/media/person/1777058/gallery-4278aef47ea0.jpg) Sally Ann Howes — Image via TMDB
- ![Sally Ann Howes](https://film.one/media/person/1777058/gallery-c1a172c7415e.jpg) Sally Ann Howes — Image via TMDB

## Awards

### Other awards — 0 won, 1 nominated

- Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical 1963: Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical (nominated)

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/sally-ann-howes