Jeanne Crain
Jeanne Crain | |
|---|---|
 Crain in 1953 | |
| Born | Jeanne Elizabeth Crain May 25, 1925 Barstow, California, U.S. |
| Died | December 14, 2003 (aged 78) |
| Resting place | Santa Barbara Cemetery |
| Other names | Jeanne Crain Brinkman |
| Education | Inglewood High School |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1943–1972 |
| Known for | Pinky In the Meantime, Darling State Fair Leave Her to Heaven Margie A Letter to Three Wives |
| Spouse |
Paul Brinkman
(m. 1945; died 2003) |
| Children | 7 |
Jeanne Elizabeth Crain (May 25, 1925 – December 14, 2003) was an American actress. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for the title role in Pinky (1949). She also starred in the films In the Meantime, Darling (1944), State Fair (1945), Leave Her to Heaven (1945), Centennial Summer (1946), Margie (1946), Apartment for Peggy (1948), A Letter to Three Wives (1949), Cheaper by the Dozen (1950), People Will Talk (1951), Man Without a Star (1955), Gentlemen Marry Brunettes (1955), The Fastest Gun Alive (1956), and The Joker Is Wild (1957).
Early life
[edit]Crain was born in Barstow, California, to George A. Crain, a high school English teacher,[1] and Loretta Crain, née Carr. Both of Crain's parents were Catholics of Irish descent.[2] By 1930 they were living in Inglewood, California at 822 S. Walnut Avenue.[3] When her parents divorced in 1934, her mother, her sister Rita Marie (who served as Crain's stand-in during the mid-1940s), and she moved to 5817 Van Ness Avenue in Los Angeles.[4][1]
Crain began winning leads in school plays at 14 and beauty contests at 15. A skilled ice skater, she first attracted attention when she was crowned Miss Pan-Pacific at the Pan-Pacific Auditorium in Los Angeles. She attended Inglewood High School, where her father was head of the English department.[1][5] While still in high school, she was asked to do a screen test with Orson Welles, but she did not get the part. After high school she enrolled at UCLA to study drama. In 1943 at age 18, she appeared in a bit part in the film The Gang's All Here, produced by 20th Century Fox.[6][7]
Career
[edit]20th Century Fox
[edit]At age 19 Crain was cast by Fox in her first sizable role in the romantic drama Home in Indiana (1944), with Walter Brennan, in which she played the love interest of Lon McCallister's character. The film, shot in Technicolor, was popular at the box office and established Crain as a film name.[8]
Darryl F. Zanuck, head of Fox, gave Crain top billing in In the Meantime, Darling (1944), directed by Otto Preminger, where she played a war bride. Her acting was critically panned, but she gained nationwide attention. It resulted in her landing the lead role in The Shocking Miss Pilgrim in October 1944, a musical film which was eventually made with Betty Grable as the star.[9]
Crain first received critical acclaim when she starred in Winged Victory (1944). She co-starred in 1945 with Dana Andrews in the musical film State Fair, for which Louanne Hogan dubbed Crain's singing. After that, Crain often had singing parts in films, and they were invariably dubbed, usually by Hogan.
State Fair was a hit, as was Leave Her to Heaven (1945), in which Crain played the "good" sister of her "bad" sibling, played by Gene Tierney, both of whom are in love with Cornel Wilde's character. Crain became established as one of Fox's bigger stars—so much so that Zanuck refused to let her play the comparatively small part of Clementine in My Darling Clementine (1946).
Crain and Wilde were reunited in Centennial Summer (1946), directed by Preminger, Fox's attempt to match the success of MGM's Meet Me in St. Louis (1944). More popular was Margie (1946), which displayed her ice skating ability when she and Conrad Janis danced around the ice rink while her boyfriend, played by Alan Young, slipped and stumbled after them.
She made two films in 1948: You Were Meant for Me, a musical with Dan Dailey that may have included Marilyn Monroe's first film appearance; and Apartment for Peggy with William Holden.
Career peak
[edit]
In 1949 Crain appeared in three films. A Letter to Three Wives, where she was top-billed, was a solid box-office hit that won Joseph L. Mankiewicz two Oscars and is considered a classic. The Fan, directed by Preminger and based on Lady Windermere's Fan by Oscar Wilde, was poorly received. Pinky brought Crain a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress and was one of the year's more popular films; however, it was controversial. It told the story of a light-skinned African American woman who passed for white in the Northern United States. Although Lena Horne and other black actresses were considered, producer Darryl F. Zanuck chose to cast a white actress for fear of racial backlash.[citation needed]
Crain had another big success when she starred with Myrna Loy and Clifton Webb in the 1950 biographical film Cheaper by the Dozen, although hers was more of a supporting role. She had a cameo as herself in I'll Get By (1951) and starred in Take Care of My Little Girl (1951), a mildly popular drama about snobbery in college sororities.
Next, Crain was paired with Cary Grant in Joseph L. Mankiewicz's offbeat comedy/drama People Will Talk (1951). Despite Crain's intense campaigning for the female lead, Anne Baxter was initially cast in the part; however, when Baxter became pregnant, Crain ended up with the role after all.[10]
Shortly after, Crain starred in Charles Brackett's production of The Model and the Marriage Broker (1951). Cast in May 1951, she was Brackett's first choice.[11] She was reunited with Loy for Belles on Their Toes (1952), the sequel to Cheaper by the Dozen, and received top billing this time.
While still at 20th Century Fox, Crain played a young wife losing her mind amid high-seas intrigue in Dangerous Crossing (1953), co-starring Michael Rennie. She starred in Vicki (1953), a remake of I Wake Up Screaming; and Fox tried her in a Western, City of Bad Men (1954). Both films performed only mildly at the box office, and Crain left the studio.
Freelancing
[edit]Crain worked for a number of studios after leaving Fox. She made Duel in the Jungle (1954) in Britain, released in the U.S. by Warner Bros., and then Man Without a Star (1955), a Western with Kirk Douglas at Universal, as the lead female role of a hard-nosed ranch owner.
She showed her dancing skills in 1955's Gentlemen Marry Brunettes, a quasi-sequel to Gentlemen Prefer Blondes based on Anita Loos' novel and co-starring Jane Russell. An independent production, it was released in the U.S. by United Artists. Later in the 1950s, Crain, Russell, and another actress formed a short-lived singing and dancing lounge act on the Las Vegas Strip.
Crain made the Western comedy The Second Greatest Sex (1956), again for Universal, then starred with Glenn Ford, Russ Tamblyn, and Broderick Crawford in The Fastest Gun Alive, an MGM production directed by Russell Rouse. It was a big hit. At Universal she starred with Jeff Chandler in the thriller The Tattered Dress (1957) and then played a socialite who helps floundering singer and comedian Joe E. Lewis (Frank Sinatra) redeem himself in The Joker Is Wild (1957) by Paramount.
At this time Crain began working in television, playing Daisy in a 1958 adaptation of The Great Gatsby and Rose in 1959's all-star production of Meet Me in St. Louis alongside Myrna Loy, Walter Pidgeon, Jane Powell, Ed Wynn, and top-billed Tab Hunter.
Later career
[edit]Crain appeared in fewer films in the 1960s as she entered semi-retirement. She starred as Nefertiti in the Italian production of Queen of the Nile (1961), with Edmund Purdom and Vincent Price, and in Madison Avenue (1962), with Dana Andrews and Eleanor Parker. During this period Crain appeared—for the second time—as a mystery guest on What's My Line? and made guest appearances on Riverboat and Burke's Law.
She again co-starred with Dana Andrews in Hot Rods To Hell (1967). Her last films were The Night God Screamed (1971) and Skyjacked (1972) with Charlton Heston.[12]
Personal life
[edit]
At the height of her stardom in the late 1940s and early 1950s, Crain was known as "Hollywood's Number One party girl", and she was quoted as saying she was invited to at least 200 parties a year.[13] In the early 1960s she was one of many conservative actors who spent their time promoting the Republican Party.[14] She was a devout Catholic.[15]
Against her mother's wishes, on December 31, 1945, Crain married Paul Brinkman,[5] a former contract player at RKO Pictures who was credited as Paul Brooks. He later became a top executive with an arms manufacturing company.[1] In the mid-1950s the marriage became rocky, and Crain obtained an interlocutory divorce decree. Each claimed the other was unfaithful, and she alleged that he was abusive. However, they reconciled on December 31, 1956, and remained married.[16] They had seven children.[1] Although they later lived separately in Santa Barbara County, they maintained an amicable relationship, with Brinkman visiting Crain approximately once a month and on her birthday.[14][better source needed] Brinkman died in October 2003.[6]
Crain died on December 14, 2003, of a heart attack. She was 78.[17][18] Her funeral mass was held at the Santa Barbara Mission.[19] She is buried next to her husband[20] under the name Jeanne Crain Brinkman.[14]
Legacy
[edit]Crain's career is documented in the Jeanne Crain Collection of memorabilia assembled by Charles J. Finlay, a longtime 20th Century Fox publicist, at the Cinema Archives at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut.[21] Her son, Paul F. Brinkman Jr., a television executive, is most known for his work on the series JAG.[22]
Filmography
[edit]Film
[edit]| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1943 | The Gang's All Here | Chorus Girl / Pool Party Guest | uncredited |
| 1944 | Home in Indiana | 'Char' Bruce | |
| In the Meantime, Darling | Margaret 'Maggie' Preston | ||
| Winged Victory | Helen | ||
| 1945 | State Fair | Margy Frake | a.k.a. Rodgers and Hammerstein's State Fair also soundtrack |
| Leave Her to Heaven | Ruth Berent | ||
| 1946 | Centennial Summer | Julia Rogers | also soundtrack |
| Margie | Marjorie 'Margie' MacDuff | also soundtrack | |
| 1948 | You Were Meant for Me | Peggy Mayhew | |
| Apartment for Peggy | Peggy Taylor | also soundtrack | |
| 1949 | A Letter to Three Wives | Deborah Bishop | |
| The Fan | Lady Margaret 'Meg' Windermere | a.k.a. Lady Windermere's Fan | |
| Pinky | Patricia 'Pinky' Johnson | nominated for Academy Award for Best Actress | |
| 1950 | Cheaper by the Dozen | Anne Gilbreth | |
| I'll Get By | Herself | uncredited cameo | |
| 1951 | Take Care of My Little Girl | Elizabeth 'Liz' Erickson | |
| People Will Talk | Deborah Higgins | ||
| The Model and the Marriage Broker | Kitty Bennett | ||
| 1952 | Belles on Their Toes | Anne Gilbreth | a.k.a. Belles on Their Toes: The Further Adventures of the Gilbreth Family |
| O. Henry's Full House | Della Young | segment: "The Gift of the Magi" | |
| 1953 | Dangerous Crossing | Ruth Stanton Bowman | |
| Vicki | Jill Lynn | ||
| City of Bad Men | Linda Culligan | ||
| 1954 | Duel in the Jungle | Marian Taylor | |
| 1955 | Man Without a Star | Reed Bowman | |
| Gentlemen Marry Brunettes | Connie Jones / Mitzi Jones | also soundtrack | |
| The Second Greatest Sex | Liza McClure | also soundtrack | |
| 1956 | The Fastest Gun Alive | Dora Temple | |
| 1957 | The Tattered Dress | Diane Blane | |
| The Joker Is Wild | Letty Page | a.k.a. All the Way | |
| 1960 | Guns of the Timberland | Laura Riley | |
| 1961 | Madison Avenue | Peggy Shannon | |
| Twenty Plus Two | Linda Foster | a.k.a. It Started in Tokyo | |
| Queen of the Nile | Tenet/Nefertiti | a.k.a. Nefertiti, Queen of the Nile | |
| 1962 | Pontius Pilate | Claudia Procula | |
| 1963 | Invasion 1700 | Helena Kurcewiczówna | a.k.a. Daggers of Blood and With Fire and Sword |
| 1967 | Hot Rods to Hell | Peg Phillips | a.k.a. 52 Miles to Terror |
| 1971 | The Night God Screamed | Fanny Pierce | a.k.a. Scream |
| 1972 | Skyjacked | Mrs. Clara Shaw | a.k.a. Sky Terror |
Television
[edit]| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1955 | Star Stage | Nancy | 1 episode |
| 1956 | The Ford Television Theatre | Joyce Randall | 1 episode |
| 1958 | The Great Gatsby | Daisy Buchanan | Television play |
| Schlitz Playhouse of Stars | Ruth Elliot | 1 episode | |
| 1959 | Meet Me in St. Louis | Rose Smith | TV movie |
| Goodyear Theatre | Lila Babrek Barnes | 1 episode | |
| Riverboat | Laura Sutton | 1 episode | |
| 1960-62 | G.E. True | Hope/Marion Miller | 3 episodes |
| 1963 | The Dick Powell Show | Elsie | 1 episode |
| 1964-65 | Burke's Law | Amy Booth / Lorraine Turner / Polly Martin | 3 episodes |
| 1968 | The Danny Thomas Hour | Frances Merrill | 1 episode |
| The Name of the Game | Mrs. McKendricks | 1 episode | |
| 1972 | Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law | Lily MacMurdy | 1 episode |
Radio performances
[edit]| Year | Program | Episode/source |
|---|---|---|
| 1951 | Suspense | The Case Study of a Murderer |
| 1952 | Lux Radio Theatre | Take Care of My Little Girl[23] |
| 1953 | Lux Radio Theatre | You're My Everything[24] |
| 1953 | Lux Summer Theatre | One More Spring[25] |
Awards and nominations
[edit]| Year | Award | Category | Production | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1949 | Academy Awards | Academy Award for Best Actress | Pinky | Nominated |
Sources
[edit]- Girl Next Door: The Life and Career of Jeanne Crain by Rupert Alistair CreateSpace ISBN 9781976152658 ISBN 1976152658
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e "Jeanne Crain - Family". Turner Classic Movies. Turner Classic Movies. Archived from the original on September 23, 2011. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
- ^ Bergan, Ronald (December 16, 2003). "Jeanne Crain". The Guardian. Retrieved November 2, 2017.
- ^ "United States Census". U.S. Census. 1930 – via ancestrylibrary.com.
- ^ "United States Census". US Census. 1940 – via ancestrylibrary.com.
- ^ a b "Jeanne Crain". Hometowns to Hollywood. 2018-02-12. Retrieved 2022-10-12.
- ^ a b Bernstein, Adam (2003-12-16). "'40s Actress Jeanne Crain Dies". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2022-10-12.
- ^ "Jeanne Crain Is Dead at 78; Winsome Actress of the 40's". Associated Press. The New York Times. December 16, 2003. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
- ^ "Darryl F. Zanuck Presents 'Leave Her to Heaven' Starring Gene Tierney, Cornel Wilde, Jeanne Crain". The Waxahachie Daily Light. February 10, 1946. p. 4. Retrieved June 4, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "SCREEN NEWS; Fox Picks Starring Film for Jeanne Crain". The New York Times. October 18, 1944. Retrieved 2010-02-05.
- ^ Parsons, Louella (March 12, 1951). "Gets Anne's Role". Deseret News. p. 3.
- ^ Parsons, Louella (May 24, 1951). "Gets Anne's Role". San Antonio Light. p. 6.
- ^ Katz, Ephraim (1998). "Jeanne Crain". The Film Encyclopedia (Third ed.). p. 304.
- ^ "Jeanne Crain Likes Night Life, Says So". Long Beach Independent. March 18, 1955. p. 27.
- ^ a b c "Jeanne Crain". glamourgirlsofthesilverscreen.com.
- ^ "Jeanne Crain". Classic Film Club. Retrieved 30 October 2024.
- ^ "Reconciled Couple Expecting 5th Child". The Daily Herald. The Daily Herald. June 7, 1957. p. 13. Retrieved June 23, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Vallance, Tom (2003-12-16). "Jeanne Crain". The Independent.
- ^ Writer, Staff (2003-12-14). "Actress Jeanne Crain, 78, dies of heart attack". The Stockton Record. Retrieved 2025-08-01.
- ^ "Jeanne Brinkman Obituary (2003)". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 30 October 2024.
- ^ "Famous Grave Tour - Santa Barbara". youtube.com. Arthur Dark. Retrieved 7 September 2023.
- ^ "Cinema Archives". Wesleyan.edu. Wesleyan University. Retrieved November 2, 2017.
- ^ Meisler, Andy (April 8, 2001). "TELEVISION/RADIO; Around the World in a Day (With No Overtime)". The New York Times. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
- ^ Kirby, Walter (February 3, 1952). "Better Radio Programs for the Week". The Decatur Daily Review. p. 40. Retrieved June 3, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Kirby, Walter (February 22, 1953). "Better Radio Programs for the Week". The Decatur Daily Review. p. 40. Retrieved June 23, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Kirby, Walter (June 28, 1953). "Better Radio Programs for the Week". The Decatur Daily Review. p. 44. Retrieved July 1, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
External links
[edit]- Jeanne Crain at IMDb
- Jeanne Crain at the TCM Movie Database
- Jeanne Crain at Rotten Tomatoes
- jeannecrain.org, a Jeanne Crain tribute website by Crain's granddaughter Bret Crain Csupo
- Photographs and literature
- "Jeanne Crain cover photo". Life. October 17, 1949.
- Jeanne Crain at Find a Grave
- 1925 births
- 2003 deaths
- 20th-century American actresses
- 20th-century Roman Catholics
- 20th Century Studios contract players
- Actresses from Los Angeles
- Actresses from San Bernardino County, California
- Actresses from Santa Barbara, California
- American film actresses
- American people of Irish descent
- American radio actresses
- American Roman Catholics
- American television actresses
- Burials at Santa Barbara Cemetery
- California Republicans
- Catholics from California
- Inglewood High School (California) alumni
- People from Barstow, California