What do we think about Jeanne Crain?

She was beautiful! And awesome with Miss Ethel Waters in PINKY!

She was fine in "State Fair."

"Take Care of My Little Girl," a.k.a. "Mean Girls 1951"

She was like the 1940's version of Jennifer Lawrence - a pretty but averagely-talented darling of a powerful producer who kept casting her in roles she wasn't quite up to par.

She was also supposed to be Eve in All About Eve...Can you imagine what kind of a disaster that would have been! Sure, Anne Baxter wasn't much of an actress either, but her over-the-top, campy style of acting was perfect for that role.

Here's her husband. They stayed married until his death did them part. Had seven kids. She was, by her own admission, "Hollywood's biggest party girl". Even after she was married. She was LOVED by the studio heads. Had a pretty good run but her pay was way above what others at her status were making.

One of those actresses that was big during her time but sadly forgotten. No denying she was a great beauty.

Gorgeous and WHITE!

R5 Are you trying to say she was a slut?! More details please...But her husband sure looks cute and very Errol Flynn-ish.

You'll have to read into "party girl" what you will. They both filed for divorce on grounds of adultery. Both admitting it was true. They were granted some special divorce that was still available at the time. It is a divorce and you live separately. Though it is a divorce it doesn't end the marriage and it can be rescinded. They did reconcile and stayed married until he died.

Jeanne Crain is my favorite actress from that era. She has the "cool" brunette factor that I know some people find rather insipid but I find rather fascinating but I APPRECIATE that wholesome, unneurotic quality about her. She would have been Jaclyn Smith had she come around in the 70s.

As for her thespian abilities I would say she is competent and in some ways her decidedly understated, NON-Method acting serves her better in Elia Kazan's "Pinky" than I think the director was willing to give her credit. When I see a mannered, "indicated" performances of some Actor's Studio alumna from the 50s it makes me want to cringe and Jeanne largely avoids that.

Also, I think her beauty is overshadowed by the other Gene she was cast with in Leave Her to Heaven but in terms of subjective preference I find Jeanne's "look" more appealing and she aged FAR better than other actresses of that period.

she aged out pretty well. she didn't try to hold onto ingenue.

She had huge nostrils. Usually she was carefully photographed so her nose would look smaller onscreen but it can be seen in all its glory in this screenshot from "Dangerous Crossing".

I think she was one of the very few women who actually looked better with shorter hair. That 50's hairdo which made most other actresses look very matronly and like dykes suited her face perfectly and made her look less girly.

I heard her husband beat her up.

Love "Apartment for Peggy"- Jeanne, young and fabulously dishy Bill Holden, and adorable Edmund Gwenn, in a charming comedy about suicide.

Apartment for Peggy is such a great movie. If you can deal with segments, I never can, it's all up on YouTube. William Holden was at his hottest in this movie.

Very beautiful indeed but she nearly ruins A Letter to Three Wives which is so brilliantly acted by all of the rest of that fabulous ensemble cast.

Big nose, fat pie face.

I disagree. I think she was great in "Letter to Three Wives." It's one of the best things she did, along with "Margie." No, she wouldn't have made a good Eve, though I can't imagine her being worse than Anne Baxter.

Very Catholic. One of her sons I believe died of AIDS.

She had memorable appearances on "What's My Line" and comes off as MUCH more charming and good humored than she ever did at Fox. And unlike a lot of actresses who appeared on the show looks GREAT on those primitive TV cameras.

I don't know why she wasn't used in a comedy...she seemed to have an affinity for it.

Dorothy Kilgallen and Arlene Francis perfectly described her screen persona as:

"the lovely herione who has not got a past but looks as though she would have a bright future" and "the little girl who sits at a soda fountain."

[quote] I heard her husband beat her up.

If she really was a "party girl" as R5 claims then he had a good reason to.

r17 Of course, you're not white with beautiful features like Jeanne.

You know, Ruth MAY NOT have plotted to undermine and manipulate Ellen at every turn in order to get her out of the way so she could claim Richard for herself........

but things SURE worked out as if she DID!

Stunning portrait of Jeanne just before she was signed to Fox.

I think Crain could have been wonderful as Eve. She was Fox's sweetest ingenue and would be playing against type as a conniving bitch. You could see how Margo and her friends could have missed Eve's predatory nature. Anne Baxter was too knowing from the start.

Party girl were her words. No one else.

Yeah, she had seven children. I'm not sure how much partying she did.

[quote]She was, by her own admission, "Hollywood's biggest party girl". Even after she was married

Good for her!

Dana Andrews, William Holden, Cornell Wilde, Rory Calhoun.... I'll bet she got some of the hottest dick of the day.

R28, you lost me at Cornel Wilde. But the others were major hotties.

Crain was offered several major roles, but bowed out, often due to another pregnancy. I agree she would have been a much better Eve than Baxter, who is far too obvious.

Interestingly, it was Crain's face, not that of star Jean Simmons, in all the ads for The Robe, between the faces of Burton and Mature. (I guess Fox had already commissioned the painting, and no one ever bothered to eliminate Crain.)

I'd go to hell for Cornel

We're having Cornel Wilde for dinner!

Beautiful Crain is briefly featured in this clip of Ann Blyth's wedding. She shows up with her husband (who has major BDF) at 1:17. She's wearing a fabulous pea-green ensemble (with matching gloves) that could be worn today. But both of them force a smile and coldly sashay away.

Terry Moore, Piper Laurie and the fabulous Irene Dunne are very smiling and gracious. Danny Thomas waves to the camera and Jack Benny wonders "Am I the only Jew here?"

I don't know R29.

One of the best bodies of any actor in his day AND he looks like he's hung. Works for me.

I love Cornel too. What's the name of that movie where he spends two hours running away from some African tribe wearing nothing but a small loincloth? That was a fun movie and he still had a killer bod well into his 50s.

Ah, I googled it and the movie is called (quite appropriately) "The Naked Prey". Cornel also directed it and if I remember correctly there's a brief shot of his naked ass on display.

I love that wedding footage. I don't know why women don't want to dress like that anymore. That was the most flattering fashion era for women. Her husband is especially hot in that footage.

Jeanne and Jean (she couldn't afford the ne)

Every time I visit my Mom, it seems like she has "Margie" playing either on her TV or her phone. I've been hearing about those damned bloomers since I was a little kid...

Omigod.....in the video at R33 Danny fucking Thomas ALMOST looks hot.

I'm not sure Jeanne had enough sex appeal for the role of Eve Harrington. Baxter was a ham but she had that horny look in her eyes (which also made her Nefretiri so fun to watch) that made you believe she was willing to do everything to get her way. Crain's onscreen persona on the other hand always seemed somewhat asexual. She'd probably be believable in the first part of the movie, where Eve is supposed to be an innocent, doe-eyed creature, but I just can't imagine Crain portraying the calculating, evil Eve who makes everyone fall under her spell convincingly.

f her sons have died.

Christopher Brinkman, of Jane's Addiction --

Michael Brinkman, not buried with the family:

She was born in Barstow. How tacky.

I don't know, I think her nostrils look perfectly fine.

I'm impressed that Ann Blythe's besties Piper Laurie, Terry Moore and Jeanne Crain were probably her biggest rivals for the same roles. Piper in purple taffeta looks luminous in that footage!

And isn't Irene Dunne stunning in that beautifully tailored white suit and green hat?

That church must be the one they called The Lady of the Cadillacs, oft-attended by Hollywood's favorite Catholics Miss Dunne, Roz Russell and Loretta Young.

I had no idea she outlived two sons. How did the non-OD one die?

r49 -- supposedly of alcohol poisoning.

[quote] That church must be the one they called The Lady of the Cadillacs, oft-attended by Hollywood's favorite Catholics Miss Dunne, Roz Russell and Loretta Young.

Nope.

Ann Blyth and her doctor husband were married June 27, 1953 at St Charles Borromeo Catholic Church, 10800 Moorpark St, North Hollywood.

According to the article from 2012 linked below about who attends which church, the jokingly called "Our Lady of the Cadillacs" is Church of the Good Shepherd, 501 N. Bedford Drive, Beverly Hills.

All About Eve was based on a magazine story, "The Wisdom of Eve., which in turn had been based on a real life incident in the life of Elizabeth Bergner, a popular Broadway and film actress originally from Europe. Joe Mankiewicz had already been considering a film about an aging actress and when he read the story, he thought the addition of the scheming young actress was exactly what his story needed. He convinced studio head Darrell F, Zanuck to buy the rights but was appalled by Zanuck's proposed casting: Dietrich as Margo, Vincent Price as Addison and of course, Craine as Eve. He talked Zanuck out of Dietrich and Price but couldn't budge him on Craine (Zanuck was regularly boffing Craine at that point). It became a moot point when shooting was getting close and Craine yet again became pregnant.

^ Er, Crain, not Craine. What was I thinking?

I wonder how many of that harlot's children were actually fathered by her husband.

I'll give her credit in that she wasn't so vain that she wouldn't allow herself to give birth to babies. I liked her in A Letter To Three Wives also.

She's a whore, darlin'.

Guys, please remember that back when Jeanne was being foisted onto Mankiewicz as Eve, Claudette Colbert had been cast Margo. So it's not like Jeanne would have had to come up to Bette Davis' iconic bitchery. It might have been a far more genteel film.

R52 Wasn't Elisabeth Bergner a lesbian? I'm sure the real-life story included some labia munching- I mean, why else would Bergner just help some unknown actress from the street? I'm sure there was something in it for her too.

Do I look lesbionic r58?

The only film I've seen with Elisabeth Bergner was a 1930s British version of As You Like It with a youthful and rather beautiful Laurence Olivier as Orlando. Bergner was a sturdy Rosalind.

Jeanne, sexing up her image in the 50s.

Love this image of Jeanne.....so radically different from her demure, 40s persona.

She was the Rachel McAdams of her generation.

I watched her last week in movie, "The Fastest Gun Alive".. with Glenn Ford. I thought she was breathtaking... very beautiful. I read that she was a party girl back in the 40s. She had that wholesome pretty girl next door look, but could be very glamorous and beautiful.

I like Jeanne Crain. She was a beauty. I love her in " State Fair" and R16 she is way above par in " A Letter To Three Wives". One of the best casted film, beside " All About Eve". But I never buy her as a mulatto in " Pinky". There is no way anyone could be raised by the character that Ethel Waters plays and stay so WASPy. Oddly Anthony Hopkins was in a film with Nicole Kidman- she was awful-where he played a black guy living as a white man. I believed Hopkins. Maybe just a better actor.

Terry Moore is adorable in that Ann Blyth wedding footage.