film in this series was You're Only Young Once (1937) and the last was Andy Hardy's Double Life (1942). Rutherford's performances as Andy Hardy's sweet and patient girlfriend established her screen popularity. Rutherford also played Carol Lambert, comedian Red Skelton's screen girlfriend, for MGM in a series of mystery/comedies: Whistling in the Dark (1941), Whistling in Dixie (1942), and Whistling in Brooklyn (1943). In the early 1940s, Rutherford left MGM to work without contract with different studios. During this period, she starred in films such as Orchestra Wives (1942) with 20th Century Fox, Two O'Clock Courage (1945) with RKO Radio Pictures, and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947), also with RKO. In 1950, Rutherford retired from films. Despite Mickey Rooney's pleas, she passed on returning as Polly Benedict in the final Andy Hardy film, Andy Hardy Comes Home (1958), stating that she didn't believe most people married their first sweethearts and that Andy Hardy becoming a judge was implausible. Later career Rutherford was the heroine of a novel, Ann Rutherford and the Key to Nightmare Hall (1942 by Katherine Heisenfelt), where "the heroine has the same name and appearance as the famous actress but has no connection ... it is as though the famous actress has stepped into an alternate reality in which she is an ordinary person." The story was probably written for a young teenage audience and is reminiscent of the adventures of Nancy Drew. It is part of a series known as "Whitman Authorized Editions", 16 books published between 1941 and 1947 that featured a film actress as heroine. Among her television appearances, Rutherford co-starred in "Suppressed Desires" on The Nash Airflyte Theater (November 23, 1950). She guest starred in four episodes of Perry Mason. Her first appearance was in the 1959 episode "The Case of the Howling Dog," when she played defendant Evelyn Forbes. In 1972, Rutherford returned to MGM to make the film They Only Kill Their Masters. Ironically (given the film's grisly name), the film was shot on the old Andy Hardy set. On radio, Ann Rutherford replaced Penny Singleton as the title character on the Blondie show. In the 1970s, Rutherford made two guest appearances on television as Aggie Harrison, the mother of Suzanne Pleshette's character Emily Hartley, on The Bob Newhart Show. During the 1990s, Rutherford was offered the role of Rose Calvert in the film Titanic (1997), but turned it