Jean Hagen

Jean Hagen
from the trailer for the film Singin' in the Rain (1952).
Born	Jean Shirley Verhagen August 3, 1923(1923-08-03) Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Died	August 29, 1977 (aged 54) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1949–1977

Jean Hagen (August 3, 1923 - August 29, 1977) was an American film actress.

Early life

Hagen was born as Jean Shirley Verhagen in Chicago, Illinois, to Dutch immigrant Christian Verhagen (10 August 1890 - April 1983) and his Chicago-born wife, Marie (b. 25 May 1896). The family moved to Elkhart, Indiana when she was 12 and she subsequently graduated from Elkhart High School. She studied drama and worked as a theater usherette before making her Broadway theatre debut in Another Part of the Forest in 1946.

Career

Hagen in her debut film, Adam's Rib (1949)

Her film debut was as a femme fatale in Adam's Rib in 1949. The Asphalt Jungle (1950) provided Hagen with her first starring role beside Sterling Hayden, and excellent reviews. She is arguably best remembered for her comic performance in Singin' in the Rain. As the vain and talentless silent movie star Lina Lamont, Hagen received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress nomination. MGM failed to provide her with a quality follow up role to enable her to build on her growing popularity.

By 1953, she had joined the cast of the television sitcom Make Room for Daddy. As the first wife of Danny Thomas, Hagen received three Emmy Award nominations, but after three seasons she grew dissatisfied and left the series. Thomas, who also produced the show, didn't appreciate Jean's departing the successful series, and her character was killed off rather than recast. This was the first TV character to be killed off a family sitcom. Marjorie Lord was cast a year later as Danny's second wife and played against Thomas successfully for several seasons. Hagen later made a notable appearance as Frida Daniels in The Shaggy Dog starring with Fred MacMurray. In 1960, she appeared as the character Elizabeth in the episode "Once Upon a Knight" of CBS's anthology series The DuPont Show with June Allyson.

Although she made frequent guest appearances in various television series, she was unable to successfully resume her film career, and for the remainder of her career played supporting roles, such as the friend of Bette Davis in Dead Ringer (1964). In the 1960s, Hagen's health began to decline and she spent many years hospitalised or in care.

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, and made her final film appearance in the 1977 television movie Alexander: The Other Side of Dawn.

Death

Hagen died of throat cancer in 1977, at age 54. She is buried in Chapel of the Pines Crematory.

Hagen has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contribution to television, at 1502 Vine Street.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jean Hagen

• Jean Hagen at the Internet Movie Database
• Jean Hagen at the Internet Broadway Database