Jean Peters

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Jean Peters
Jean Peters in A Blueprint for Murder (1953)
Born	Elizabeth Jean Peters October 15, 1926(1926-10-15) Canton, Ohio, U.S.
Died	October 13, 2000 (aged 73) Carlsbad, California, U.S.
Spouse(s)	Stuart W. Cramer III (m. 1954 – ?) Howard Hughes (m. 1957–1971) «start: (1957)–end+1: (1972)»"Marriage: Howard Hughes to Jean Peters" Location: (linkback:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Peters) Stanley Hough (m. 1971–1990) «start: (1971)–end+1: (1991)»"Marriage: Stanley Hough to Jean Peters" Location: (linkback:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Peters)

Jean Peters (October 15, 1926 – October 13, 2000) was an American actress.

Early life and career

Born Elizabeth Jean Peters in Canton, Ohio, she was the daughter of Elizabeth and Geral Peters, a laundry manager. Raised in Canton, Peters attended East Canton High School and the University of Michigan and later Ohio State University. While studying for a teaching degree at Ohio State, she entered the Miss Ohio State Pageant in the fall of 1945. Among the twelve finalists, Peters won. Sponsored by photographer Paul Robinson of the "House of Portraits", her grand prize was a screen test with 20th Century-Fox. As her agent, Robinson accompanied her to Hollywood, and helped her secure a contract with Fox.

For her first feature role, she was selected to replace Linda Darnell as the female lead in Captain from Castile (1947) opposite Tyrone Power, when Darnell was reassigned to save the production of Forever Amber. Captain from Castile was a hit, and Leonard Maltin wrote that afterwards Peters spent the new decade playing "sexy spitfires, often in period dramas and Westerns." Director Samuel Fuller chose Peters over Marilyn Monroe for the part of Candy in 1953's Pickup on South Street. He thought Peters had the right blend of sex appeal and the tough-talking, streetwise characteristics he was seeking, and that Monroe was too innocent looking for the role. Peters and Monroe starred together in another 1953 film noir, Niagara.

Jean Peters in Viva Zapata! (1952)

Personal life and death

In 1957, after her divorce from her first husband, Texas oilman Stuart Cramer, Peters married Howard Hughes, shortly before he faded from public view and became an eccentric recluse. She retired from acting during the marriage. In 1971, Peters and Hughes divorced. She agreed to a lifetime alimony payment of $70,000 annually, adjusted for inflation, and she waived all claims to Hughes' estate. That same year, she married Stanley Hough, an executive with Twentieth-Century Fox.

Peters died of leukemia in 2000 in Carlsbad, California, two days before her 74th birthday.

Peters mending Joseph Cotten's hand in Niagara (1953)

Peters in the trailer for the film Broken Lance (1954)

Filmography

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jean Peters

• Jean Peters at the Internet Movie Database
• Jean Peters: Biography of a forgotten leading lady at Jackal’s film corner, October 16, 2007
• Jean Peters biography at Guardian Unlimited Film
• Reviews of Jean Peters movies at Channel 4 Film
• Jean Peters at Allmovie
• Jean Peters at Find a Grave