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Jean Hagen

Known For
Acting

Known Credits
42

Gender
Female

Birthday
August 3, 1923 (102 years old)

Place of Birth
Chicago, Illinois, USA

Jean Hagen

Biography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jean Hagen (born Jean Shirley Verhagen, August 3, 1923 – August 29, 1977) was an American actress best known for her role as Lina Lamont in Singin' in the Rain (1952), for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Hagen was also nominated three times for an Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her role as Margaret Williams (1953–56) on the television series Make Room For Daddy.

Her film debut was as a comical femme fatale in the Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn 1949 classic Adam's Rib, directed by George Cukor. The Asphalt Jungle (1950) provided Hagen with her first starring role alongside Sterling Hayden. Hagen received excellent reviews playing "Doll" Conover, a woman who sticks by criminal Dix's side until the bitter end. She appeared too in the film noir Side Street (1950) playing a gangster's sincere but none-too-bright nightclub-singer girlfriend.

Hagen is best remembered for her comic performance in Singin' in the Rain as the vain and talentless silent movie star Lina Lamont. She received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for this memorable performance.

By 1953, she had joined the cast of the television sitcom Make Room for Daddy. For her portrayal as the first wife of Danny Thomas, Hagen received three Emmy Award nominations, but after three seasons, she grew dissatisfied with the role and left the series. Thomas, who also produced the show, reportedly did not appreciate Hagen's departing the successful series, and her character was killed off rather than recast. This was the first TV character to be killed off in a family sitcom. Marjorie Lord was cast a year later as Danny's second wife and played opposite Thomas successfully for the remainder of the series.

In 1957 Hagen co-starred in an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents titled "Enough Rope for Two", portraying a woman who accompanies two thieves trying to retrieve stolen money from a desert mine shaft. She then appeared as Elizabeth in the 1960 episode "Once Upon a Knight" on CBS's anthology series The DuPont Show with June Allyson; and the following year she guest-starred on The Andy Griffith Show in the episode "Andy and the Woman Speeder".

Although she made frequent guest appearances in various television series, Hagen was unable to successfully resume her film career in starring roles. After appearing with Fred MacMurray in the Disney comedy The Shaggy Dog (1959), Hagen for the remainder of her career played supporting roles, such as Marguerite LeHand, personal secretary to Franklin Delano Roosevelt in Sunrise at Campobello (1960), and the friend of Bette Davis in Dead Ringer (1964). In the 1960s, Hagen's health began to decline and she spent many years hospitalized or under medical care. Much later, in 1976, she made a comeback of sorts playing character roles in episodes of the television series Starsky and Hutch and The Streets of San Francisco. She, however, made her final acting appearance the next year in the television movie Alexander: The Other Side of Dawn.

Known For

Acting

2022Becoming Marilynas (archive footage)
2002Gene Kelly: Anatomy of a Danceras Self (archive footage)
1977Alexander: The Other Side of Dawnas Landlady
1975Starsky & Hutchas Belle Kates
1972The Streets of San Franciscoas Ms. Unger
1970Make Room for Granddaddyas
1964Dead Ringeras Dede Marshall
1962Panic in Year Zero!as Ann Baldwin
1961Ben Caseyas
1961Dr. Kildareas Nurse Mary Ogilvy
1960Stagecoach Westas Lilly de Milo
1960The Andy Griffith Showas Elizabeth Crowley
1960Sunrise at Campobelloas Missy Le Hand
1960The Snows of Kilimanjaroas Rhoda
1959The Detectivesas Alice Streger
1959The DuPont Show with June Allysonas Elizabeth
1959The Shaggy Dogas Freeda Daniels
1958Westinghouse Desilu Playhouseas
1957Wagon Trainas Maidie Brant
1957Wagon Trainas Sarah Proctor
1957Spring Reunionas Barna Forrest
1956Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatreas Anne Madden
1955The Big Knifeas Connie Bliss
1955Alfred Hitchcock Presentsas Madge Griffin
1954Climax!as Eleanor Gehrig
1954The Jimmy Durante Showas Self
1953The Danny Thomas Showas Margaret Williams
1953Latin Loversas Anne Kellwood
1953Arenaas Meg Hutchins
1953Half a Heroas Martha Dobson
1953General Electric Theateras Paula Farrel
1952The Ford Television Theatreas Nona Carson
1952Shadow in the Skyas Stella Murphy
1952Carbine Williamsas Maggie Williams
1952Singin' in the Rainas Lina Lamont
1951No Questions Askedas Joan Brenson
1951Night Into Morningas Girl Next Door
1950A Life of Her Ownas Maggie Collins
1950The Asphalt Jungleas Doll Conovan
1950Side Streetas Harriette Sinton
1950Ambushas Martha Conovan
1949Adam's Ribas Beryl Caighn

Production