LOS ANGELES (AP) - Jeanne Crain credited her mother for bringing her up in a household free of prejudice. As a Hollywood star, she won an Oscar nomination for a role that broke racial taboos of the day - a black girl passing for white. The winsome beauty who specialized in frothy comedies in the 1940s and whose career was capped by her starring role in the controversial Elia Kazan classic “Pinky,” died Sunday. She was 78.
With her lovely features, slender figure and demure manner, Crain became a leading star in the wartime and postwar years. For faraway GI’s she seemed the ideal girl back home. At 20th Century-Fox studio, her fan mail was second only to that of pin-up queen Betty Grable. “Margie” (1946), an entertaining, nostalgic tale of a small-town girl in the 1920s who gets a crush on her French teacher, established Crain as an important Fox star. She followed with a musical, “You Were Meant for Me,” opposite Dan Dailey, and “An Apartment for Peggie,” a romance with William Holden.
In her 70s she still received regular bundles of mail from fans who had seen her films on TV or video. “They write as if the films were just being released,” she said wonderingly. “The films must have aged well.”
Margie is one of my favorite “happy” movies - I first saw it when I was 12 and oh-so-melodramatic. And this movie introduced me to Keats’ La Belle Dame sans Merci .
The films did age well, and so did she. I’m sorry she’s gone.
I regret to say that (after consulting the imdb,) the only film I recall seeing her in is The Night God Screamed, which, while a lot of fun, probably isn’t her best work. She was still smokin’ at 50, though.
Hey, I just realized I have the Lux Radio Theatre version of People Will Talk around here somewhere, and it’s been a coupla of years since I heard it. Hooray!
Yup. I used to work with a woman who looks almost exactly like her. (No, I didn’t sleep with her, she being married and all.)
Sorry, nothing else to add. I’m not familiar with Ms. Crain’s work, so I can’t comment on her acting ability, but if she could act half as good as she looks, then I can’t think of a single actress today who could be good enough to be considered her equal.
Spooky. I’d never heard of Jeanne Crain until today… when I was looking something up on the IMDB for this thread. And then I saw this thread. OoooWEEEoooo…
Push those tits, stomach in and point those toes. Good girl!
Never heard of her, but I do appreciate Eve bringing these fascinating old birds to our attention as they’re dropping off their perches.
This is a rather well done Obiton the lady in question (the Telegraph always has great Obits):
“At 15 she attracted the attention of Orson Welles on a school trip around RKO studios. But although Welles gave her a screen test for a part in The Magnificent Ambersons, he decided that she was too immature. Young Jeanne contented herself with entering beauty contests. She became Miss Long Beach, was a runner-up in the Miss America contest, and began modelling swimming costumes for magazines.”
