Ann Doran is best known for two roles, James Dean’s mother in 1955’s “East of Eden” and the mother again of Velvet Brown in the 1961 TV series “National Velvet”.   She was born in Amarillo, Texas in 1911.   She had a very profilic career as a character actress in films beginning with “Paid to Dance” in 1937.   Her other films included “His Girl Friday” in 1940, “So Proudly We Hail”, “A Summer Place” and “The Arrangement” in 1970.   Ann Doran died in 2000 at the age of 89.