Jane Withers

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Jane Withers (born April 12, 1926 in Atlanta , Georgia - † August 7, 2021 in Burbank , California ) was an American actress who became a famous child star in the 1930s.

Life

Jane Withers was born the only child of Walter and Lavinia-Ruth Withers and lived in Atlanta for the first few years. Jane showed an interest in acting from an early age. At the age of three she took singing and dance lessons and, not yet five years old, won an amateur contest. The main prize was her own radio program broadcast every Saturday morning on WGST , which was designed with and for children.

In 1932 the family moved to Los Angeles , where Jane took on her first roles in films that same year. Handle with Care by director David Butler was her film debut, which was followed by other small roles. She achieved her breakthrough in 1934 with the film Bright Eyes on the side of Shirley Temple, who was two years her junior . Here she played a memorable supporting role as a spoiled girl who likes to destroy her dolls or annoy her uncle sitting in a wheelchair. The appearance in Bright Eyes was so enthusiastic that the producers of 20th Century Fox Withers gave their own film series. Withers played the main and title roles in the 1935 comedy film Ginger . Withers quickly became a sought-after child star, starring in over 40 films by the late 1940s. Her weekly wages were at times $ 2,000. Unlike Temple, the other great Fox child star, Withers mostly played boyish and sometimes naughty girls. Her popularity with the audience made her appear several times in the list of the most popular actresses, in 1937 she was about 6 of the most successful film stars at the box office. Her parents even allowed Jane's head to be used as a model for a girl's doll. She got to know WC Fields , but also the incumbent US President Franklin D. Roosevelt . The latter was enthusiastic about an imitation Withers had made of him in a newsreel and gave her a doll.

During the course of World War II , Withers toured the United States numerous times, sang on military bases, sold her 3,500-piece doll collection that she had received from fans as a child, and donated the money to the United States Army . Jane Withers, however, suffered the fate of many child stars in Hollywood with increasing age - although she was able to secure a few leading roles in cheaper films with Republic Pictures until the 1940s - the interest of film producers ebbed. From the mid-1950s she was almost exclusively in front of the camera in television series, including The Munsters , Hart aber cordial and Love Boat . An exception was her supporting role as Vashti Snythe in the epic film giants at the side of Rock Hudson , Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean - she became friends with the latter and washed his favorite shirt every day on the set, including the day he died in a car accident . In the 1960s she drew attention again when she advertised the Comet cleaning agent in many TV spots with the character "Josephine the Plumber" (Josephine the plumber). She played this advertising character popular in the USA for over ten years. Her last work in the film business included the voice of Laverne in the Disney film The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) and its sequel (2002).

In her private life she suffered a few blows of fate. In September 1947 she married the Texas oil tycoon William P. Moss, junior. The marriage had three children. In June 1954, after eight years of marriage, the divorce took place. A year later, in 1955, she married the entertainer and actor Kenneth Errair, with whom she had two more children. In June 1968, Errair was killed in a plane crash in California . Her son Walter Randall Moss died in January 1986 shortly after his 34th birthday on cancer .

In old age, Jane Withers was considered a charity lady in Los Angeles who was heavily involved in the charity sector. She also worked as a photographer and is the author of several illustrated books. Withers was considered one of the last living film stars from Hollywood's 1930s when she died in August 2021 at the age of 95.

Filmography (selection)

Awards

Web links

Commons : Jane Withers  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jane Withers Dies: Former Child Star And Voice Actress Was 95
  2. ↑ Aljean Harmetz: Jane Withers, Child Star Who Won Later Fame in commercials, this at 95 . In: The New York Times . August 8, 2021, ISSN  0362-4331 ( nytimes.com [accessed August 10, 2021]).
  3. ↑ Jane Withers (b.1926). Accessed March 3, 2020 .
  4. ↑ Mike Barnes, Mike Barnes: Jane Withers, Kid Star of the 1930s, Dies at 95. In: The Hollywood Reporter. August 8, 2021, accessed August 9, 2021 (American English).
  5. ↑ Aljean Harmetz: Jane Withers, Child Star Who Won Later Fame in commercials, this at 95 . In: The New York Times . August 8, 2021, ISSN  0362-4331 ( nytimes.com [accessed August 10, 2021]).
  6. ^ Obituary for Jane Withers at the Washington Post
  7. ↑ Mike Barnes, Mike Barnes: Jane Withers, Kid Star of the 1930s, Dies at 95. In: The Hollywood Reporter. August 8, 2021, accessed August 9, 2021 (American English).
  8. ↑ Bryan Alexander: Jane Withers, '30s child star who cleaned up as Josephine the Plumber in Comet ads, dies at 95. Retrieved August 9, 2021 (American English).
  9. ↑ Entry at filmreference.com
  10. ↑ Facebook, Twitter, Show more sharing options, Facebook, Twitter: Jane Withers, child actor turned commercial star, dies at 95 August 9, 2021, accessed August 9, 2021 .
  11. ↑ Cassie Carpenter: Former child star Jane Withers dead at 95 August 9, 2021, accessed August 9, 2021 .
personal data
SURNAME Withers, Jane
SHORT DESCRIPTION US-american actress
BIRTH DATE April 12, 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH Atlanta , Georgia , United States
DATE OF DEATH August 7, 2021
PLACE OF DEATH Burbank , California , United States