Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel film succeeded in re-popularizing Megan Follows and Colleen Dewhurst in their original roles. Sullivan also cast British veteran actress and Oscar winner, Wendy Hiller, in the role of the impossible Mrs. Harris, a character Sullivan specifically invented for the storyline, based on a composite of several matriarchs found in the series of novels. In Canada, the film became the highest rated drama to air on network television in Canadian broadcasting history. This Sequel became known as "Anne of Green Gables - The Sequel" when shown around the world and as "Anne of Avonlea - the Continuing Story of Anne of
Anne Shirley to "Anne Montgomery". The book was extremely popular in Poland and during the Second World War, the "Armia Krajowa" (AK) resistance group issued editions of the book to remind its members what they were fighting for. Even through there is nothing about Poland in the "Anne" books, the AK still saw her as a symbol of the humanist values that they were defending. For a time, "Anne of Green Gables" was banned in Communist Poland, and the book circulated in samizdat editions as Anne was seen as a symbol of individualism and an unwillingness to submit to authority, making her