{{short description|American film actress}} {{More citations needed |date=March 2020}} {{Infobox person | name = Janelle Johnson | image = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = December 2, 1923 | birth_place = Austin, Texas, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1995|12|02|1923|12|02}} | death_place = Los Gatos, California, U.S. | restingplace = | othername = | occupation = Actress | yearsactive = | spouse = {{plainlist| * {{marriage|George Dolenz|1944|February 8, 1963|end=died}} * {{marriage|Robert Scott|1965|1985|end=died}} }} | children = 4, including Micky Dolenz | relatives = Ami Dolenz (granddaughter) | website = | awards = }} '''Janelle Johnson''' (December 2, 1923 – December 2, 1995{{Citation needed |date=January 2024}}) was an American film actress of the 1940s. She married actor George Dolenz and was the mother of Micky Dolenz of the 1960s pop-rock band the Monkees. Her English daughter-in-law was Samantha Juste, co-host of BBC television's ''Top of the Pops'' in its early days. Her granddaughter, Ami Dolenz, also became a film actress.

==Background and career== Johnson was born in Austin, Texas, and was valedictorian of her class at St. Mary's Academy.<ref name="aas">{{cite news |last1=Eichenwald |first1=Wes |title=Mickey Dolenz's Austin roots |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/47643875/janelle-johnson/ |accessdate=March 30, 2020 |work=Austin American-Statesman |date=July 28, 2013 |location=Texas, Austin |page=D 8}}</ref> She won the drama award at the University of Texas at Austin and performed on a local radio show called ''Janelle Sings''.<ref name=autogenerated1>Micky Dolenz & Mark Bego (1993) ''I'm a Believer''</ref> Her films included David O. Selznick's Academy Award-winning ''Since You Went Away'' (1944), with Claudette Colbert, Jennifer Jones, Robert Walker and Shirley Temple, and ''The Brute Man'' (1946), directed by Jean Yarbrough, with Rondo Hatton and Jane "Poni" Adams.

==Personal life== Johnson met her Trieste-born Slovene husband, George Dolenz, while performing in a stage play called ''Return Engagement'', but largely gave up acting after their marriage.<ref name=autogenerated1 />

The couple had four children: Micky, the eldest, and three daughters. After Dolenz's death in 1963, she married, on April 23, 1965, Robert Leroy Schmitz, a minister of religion who was the officiant at the 1968 wedding of Micky Dolenz and Samantha Juste. Schmitz, who also used the surname Scott, died in 1985.{{Citation needed |date=January 2024}}

Johnson died of cancer in Los Gatos, California, on her 72nd birthday.{{Citation needed |date=January 2024}}

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * {{IMDb name|0424423|Janelle Johnson}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Janelle}} Category:1923 births Category:1995 deaths Category:American film actresses Category:20th-century American actresses Category:Dolenz family Category:University of Texas at Austin alumni {{The Monkees}}