Jeanne Crain
Jeanne Elizabeth Crain (May 25, 1925 – December 14, 2003) was an American actress. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her 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).
Jeanne Crain
December 14, 2003 (aged 78)
Jeanne Crain Brinkman
Actress
1943–1972
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Early life[edit]
Crain was born in Barstow, California, to George A. Crain, who was a high school English teacher,[1] and Loretta Crain, née Carr. Both of Crain's parents were Roman 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 Ave in Los Angeles.[4][1]
Crain began winning leads in school plays at 14 and beauty contests at 15. An excellent 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 take 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]
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, which resides at the Cinema Archives at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut.[17] Her son, Paul F. Brinkman Jr., a television executive, is most known for his work on the television series JAG.[18]