Jean Heather (February 21, 1921 – October 29, 1995[citation needed] ) was an American actress who appeared in eight feature films during the 1940s.
Jean Heather | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Jean Hetherington February 21, 1921 Omaha, Nebraska, U.S. |
| Died | October 29, 1995 (aged 74) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1944–1949 |
| Spouse |
Arthur F. Meier
(m. 1944; died 1985) |
Early years
editHeather was the only child of Dewey and Florence Heatherington. She was born in Omaha. After she and her parents moved to Oakland, California, she graduated from Oakland High School. She began her collegiate studies at the University of California at Berkeley[1] before studying at Oregon State University, 1940 to 1941. She transferred to the University of Washington in 1942. She was an initiate of the Alpha Theta chapter of Alpha Delta Pi at the University of Washington.[2]
Career
editFollowing her college graduation, Heather signed a contract with Paramount.[1] She acted in two Oscar-nominated movies in 1944: the crime drama Double Indemnity, in which she played Lola Dietrichson, a young woman convinced that her stepmother Phyllis (Barbara Stanwyck) is responsible for the murder of her father, and Going My Way, where she played a runaway teenager assisted by Father O'Malley (Bing Crosby).
Heather's acting career was cut short by an automobile accident in December 1947, in which she was thrown from her car onto the pavement and suffered severe facial lacerations.[3]
Personal life and death
editHeather married United States Military Academy graduate Arthur Ferdinand Meier on July 5, 1944, in Glendale, California. Meier later became a corporate executive. After 41 years of marriage, Meier died in 1985 from pulmonary disease.[4] Heather died ten years later. Both were cremated and their ashes scattered in the Pacific Ocean.[citation needed]
Filmography
edit| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1942 | Holiday Inn | 4 July Dancer | Uncredited |
| 1944 | Going My Way | Carol James | |
| 1944 | Double Indemnity | Lola Dietrichson | |
| 1944 | Our Hearts Were Young and Gay | Frances Smithers | |
| 1944 | The National Barn Dance | Betty | |
| 1945 | Murder, He Says | Elany Fleagle | |
| 1945 | Duffy's Tavern | Jean Heather | |
| 1946 | The Well-Groomed Bride | Wickley | |
| 1947 | The Last Round-up | Carol Taylor | |
| 1949 | Red Stallion in the Rockies | Cynthia "Cindy" Smith | (final film role) |
References
edit- ^ a b "Jean Heather Back in Films". Sunday World-Herald. Nebraska, Omaha. June 15, 1947. p. 50. Retrieved December 25, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ The Adelphean of Alpha Delta Pi September 1945, p. 19.
- ^ "Jean Heather Hurt as Car Overturns". The Evening Independent. December 19, 1947. Retrieved August 27, 2017.
- ^ JMH (1987). "Assembly". 46. United States Military Academy, West Point, NY: United States Military Academy Association of Graduates: 172. Retrieved December 20, 2021.
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External links
edit
- Jean Heather at IMDb
- Jean Heather at the TCM Movie Database
- Jean Heather at AllMovie
