{{Short description|American actress (1922–2018)}} {{for|the American theologian|Jean Porter (theologian)}} {{Infobox person | name = Jean Porter | image = Jean Porter in G.I. Jane still.JPG | image_size = | caption = Porter in a publicity still for ''G.I. Jane'' (1951) | birth_name = Bennie Jean Porter | birth_date = {{birth date|1922|12|8}} | birth_place = Cisco, Texas, U.S | death_date = {{Death date and age|2018|1|13|1922|12|8}}<ref name=nydailynews /> | death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S | resting_place = | spouse = {{marriage|Edward Dmytryk|1948|1999|end=his death}} | children = Victoria Dmytryk Rebecca Dmytryk stepson Michael Dmytryk | occupation = Actress | years_active = 1936–1961 }}
'''Bennie Jean Porter''' (December 8, 1922 – January 13, 2018), known professionally as '''Jean Porter''', was an American film and television actress, noted for her roles in ''The Youngest Profession'' (1943), ''Bathing Beauty'' (1944), ''Abbott and Costello in Hollywood'' (1945), ''Till the End of Time'' (1946), ''Cry Danger'' (1951), and ''The Left Hand of God'' (1955).
Porter was married to Edward Dmytryk, who was one of the Hollywood Ten, the most prominent blacklisted group in the film industry during the McCarthy era.<ref name="hrobit">{{cite magazine |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/jean-porter-dead-mgm-actress-widow-blacklisted-director-edward-dmytryk-was-95-1074641 |title=Jean Porter, Petite Starlet of MGM Films in the 1940s, Dies at 95 |first=Mike |last=Barnes |magazine=The Hollywood Reporter |date=January 14, 2018 |issn=0018-3660}}</ref>
==Early life== Porter was born in Cisco, Texas,<ref>{{cite news|title=Familiar Face In "Twice Blessed" -- Star Jean Porter|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5325830/big_spring_daily_herald/|work=Big Spring Daily Herald|date=October 3, 1945|location=Texas, Big Spring|page=3|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = May 20, 2016}} {{Open access}}</ref> to a Texas and Pacific Railway worker and a music teacher.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.classicimages.com/people/article_69d4124f-793d-5077-8905-bbd4b415f5f1.html|title=DONNA AND ME: Camp Tours of Donna Reed and Jean Porter|first=Jean|last=Porter|date=17 December 2003}}{{Dead link|date=October 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> When she was one year old, she was called the "Most Beautiful Baby" in Eastland County.<ref name="hrobit"/> At 10 years old she hosted a half-hour radio show on Saturday mornings on the WRR station in Dallas, Texas.<ref name="hrobit"/> She also spent a summer working for Ted Lewis's Vaudeville Band.<ref name="hrobit"/>
==Career== At the age of 12 in 1935, Porter arrived in Hollywood and took dancing lessons at the Fanchon and Marco dance school.<ref name="NYDN">{{cite web|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/jean-porter-1940s-starlet-dead-95-article-1.3756900|title=Jean Porter, 1940s starlet, dead at 95|work=New York Daily News|date=January 14, 2018|accessdate=January 14, 2018}}</ref> Porter acted in Dwan's 1936 musical, ''Song and Dance Man'', but did not appear in the credits.<ref name="Int">{{cite web|url=http://www.westernclippings.com/interview/jeanporter_interview.shtml|title=Interview: Jean Porter|publisher=Westernclippings|accessdate=January 14, 2018}}</ref> [[File:Jean Porter in Twice Blessed trailer.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Porter in the trailer for ''Twice Blessed'' (1945)]] Beginning with small roles in such movies as ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' (1938) and ''The Under-Pup'' (1939), she was signed by producer Hal Roach, who featured her in comedies. She also appeared in Roach's 1940 adventure ''One Million B.C.''.<ref>{{cite book|url={{Google books|50AbUfJS6OkC|page=44|plainurl=yes}} |chapter=Jean Porter on One Million B.C.|title=A Sci-Fi Swarm and Horror Horde: Interviews with 62 Filmmakers |first=Tom |last=Weaver |publisher=McFarland & Company |year=2010 |page=44 |isbn=978-0786446582}}</ref> ''Never Give a Sucker an Even Break'' (1941) and ''Hellzapoppin‘'' (1941) followed.
Porter was signed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1941 on loan from Roach. Though never a big star, Jean Porter was active as a wholesome, mainly comedic ingenue in B pictures throughout the 1940s, appearing in almost 30 features alongside MGM stars such as Esther Williams, Mickey Rooney, Margaret Dumont, and the comedy duo Abbott and Costello.<ref name="hrobit"/> She recalled in 1947: "I was under contract to M-G-M, and they loaned me to Columbia. Columbia wanted me to do three more musicals. M-G-M was making cuts. They were even selling parts of the backlot, and they were letting some people go, just like that. They gave me a choice: I could stay on at the same salary, otherwise I was free to go... There was no telling what the studio was going to do, so I left M-G-M and went to Columbia."<ref>Jean Porter to Scott MacGillivray and Jan MacGillivray, ''Gloria Jean: A Little Bit of Heaven'', iUniverse, 2005, p. 218,</ref>
==Personal life== Two years after writer-director Edward Dmytryk directed Porter as a replacement for Shirley Temple in ''Till the End of Time'',<ref name="NYDN"/> she married Dmytryk on May 12, 1948, in Ellicott City, Maryland.<ref>{{cite news|title=Actress Jean Porter Weds Film Director|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5325748/kingsport_times/|work=Kingsport Times|agency=Associated Press|date=May 13, 1948|location=Tennessee, Kingsport|page=3|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = May 20, 2016}} {{Open access}}</ref> It was his second marriage, her first.
During the McCarthy-era hearings, Dmytryk was facing a jail sentence for a contempt of Congress charge, fired from RKO, and barred from working in the United States. The couple moved to England, where she gave birth to the first of their three children.<ref name="On Screen Acting">{{cite book |last1=Dmytryk |first1=Edward |last2=Dmytryk |first2=Jean Porter |title=On Screen Acting |publisher=Routledge Press |date=1984 |page=Jean Porter Dmytryk; A Short Biography |isbn=9780429000713 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=By1zDwAAQBAJ}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Third Child|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5325912/albuquerque_journal/|work=Albuquerque Journal|agency=United Press International|date=November 20, 1961|location=New Mexico, Albuquerque|page=21|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = May 20, 2016}} {{Open access}}</ref> After they were forced to return to the U.S. in 1950 due to his expiring passport, Dmytryk was imprisoned for six months on the contempt charge.<ref name="NYDN"/> Porter now found herself in an extremely difficult situation, as she had no career and no money to support her family. She shouldered the financial responsibility by signing with producer Robert L. Lippert and taking a nominal salary for two low-budget feature films, ''G.I. Jane'' and ''Kentucky Jubilee''. Dick Powell came to her aid that same year by securing her a role in ''Cry Danger''.<ref name="On Screen Acting"/>
Porter appeared regularly on television in series such as ''The Red Skelton Show'' and ''The Abbott and Costello Show''. She would again be directed by Dmytryk in 1955's ''The Left Hand of God'' before she retired from acting in 1961.<ref name="hrobit"/> Her final TV roles were on ''Sea Hunt'' and ''77 Sunset Strip''.<ref name="NYDN"/> She was the author of the unpublished book, ''The Cost of Living'', about her life with Dmytryk. She also wrote ''Chicago Jazz and Then Some'' (a biography of Jess Stacy), and with her husband, ''On Screen Acting''.<ref name="hrobit"/>
==Death== Porter's health began failing while in her eighties, and she died of natural causes in Canoga Park, California, on January 13, 2018, aged 95. She was survived by two daughters and a stepson.<ref name=nydailynews>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/jean-porter-1940s-starlet-dead-95-article-1.3756900|title=Jean Porter, 1940s starlet, dead at 95|website=New York Daily News |date=14 January 2018 }}</ref>
==Filmography== {|class="wikitable" |- !style="background:#B0C4DE;"|Year !style="background:#B0C4DE;"|Title !style="background:#B0C4DE;"|Role !style="background:#B0C4DE;"|Source |- |rowspan=1|1936 |''Song and Dance Man'' |Girl |Uncredited<ref name="hrobit"/> |- |rowspan=1|1938 |''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' |Pauline |Uncredited<ref name="hrobit"/> |- |rowspan=1|1939 |''The Under-Pup'' |Penguin girl |Uncredited<ref>{{cite web|url=http://virginiaweidler.net/post/70074310718/today-in-ginny-december-8-jean-porter|title=Jean Porter|publisher=Virginia Weidler|accessdate=January 15, 2018|archive-date=January 16, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180116081434/http://virginiaweidler.net/post/70074310718/today-in-ginny-december-8-jean-porter|url-status=dead}}</ref> |- |rowspan=1|1940 |''One Million B.C.'' |Shell person |Uncredited<ref name=TVG>{{cite web|url=http://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/jean-porter/credits/156215/|title=Jean Porter Filmography|accessdate=January 14, 2018|publisher=TV Guide}}</ref> |- |rowspan=6|1941 |''The Hard-Boiled Canary'' |Girl |Uncredited<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.csfd.cz/film/81137-the-hard-boiled-canary/komentare/|title=The Hard-Boiled Canary|publisher=CSFD|accessdate=January 15, 2018}}</ref> |- |''Kiss the Boys Goodbye'' |Girl going to audition |Uncredited<ref name="hrobit"/> |- |''Never Give a Sucker an Even Break'' |Passerby |Uncredited<ref name=TVG/> |- |''Henry Aldrich for President'' |Student |Uncredited<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.csfd.cz/film/114591-henry-aldrich-for-president/komentare/|title=Henry Aldrich for President|publisher=CSDF|accessdate=January 15, 2018}}</ref> |- |''Hellzapoppin''' |Chorine |Uncredited<ref name="hrobit"/> |- |''Babes on Broadway'' |Chorus girl |Uncredited<ref name="hrobit"/> |- |rowspan=5|1942 |''Born to Sing'' |Dancer |Uncredited |- |''Heart of the Rio Grande'' |Pudge |<ref name=TVG/> |- |''About Face'' |Sally |<ref name="hrobit"/> |- |''Home in Wyomin''' |Young fan |Uncredited<ref name=TVG/> |- |''Fall In'' |Joan |<ref name="hrobit"/> |- |rowspan=4|1943 |''Calaboose'' |Major Barabara |<ref>{{cite web|url=https://letterboxd.com/film/calaboose/|title=Calaboose|publisher=Letterboxd|accessdate=January 15, 2018}}</ref> |- |''The Youngest Profession'' |Patricia Drew |<ref name=TVG/> |- |''That Nazty Nuisance'' |Kela |<ref name=TVG/> |- |''Young Ideas'' |Southern co-ed |Uncredited<ref>{{cite web|url=http://laurasmiscmusings.blogspot.com/2010/01/tonights-movie-young-ideas-1943.html|title=Young Ideas|publisher=Lauramiscmusings|accessdate=January 15, 2018}}</ref> |- |rowspan=3|1944 |''Andy Hardy's Blonde Trouble'' |Katy Anderson |<ref name=TVG/> |- |''Bathing Beauty'' |Jean Allenwood |<ref name=TVG/> |- |''San Fernando Valley'' |Betty Lou Kenyon |<ref name=TVG/> |- |rowspan=4|1945 |''Thrill of a Romance'' |Ga-ga bride |Uncredited<ref name=TVG/> |- |''Twice Blessed'' |Kitty |<ref name=TVG/> |- |''Abbott and Costello in Hollywood'' |Ruthie |<ref name=TVG/> |- |''What Next, Corporal Hargrove?'' |Jeanne Quidoc |<ref name=TVG/> |- |rowspan=3|1946 |''Easy to Wed'' |Frances |Uncredited<ref name=TVG/> |- |''Till the End of Time'' |Helen Ingersoll |<ref name=TVG/> |- |''Betty Co-Ed'' |Joanne Leeds |<ref name=TVG/> |- |rowspan=4|1947 |''Little Miss Broadway'' |Judy Gibson |<ref name=TVG/> |- |''Sweet Genevieve'' |Genevieve Rogers |<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/498512/sweet-genevieve|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151019204442/http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/498512/Sweet-Genevieve/|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 19, 2015|title=Sweet Genevieve|publisher=TCM|access-date=January 15, 2018}}</ref> |- |''That Hagen Girl'' |Sharon Bailey |<ref name=TVG/> |- |''Two Blondes and a Redhead'' |Catherine Abbott |<ref name=TVG/> |- |rowspan=3|1951 |''Cry Danger'' |Darlene |<ref name=TVG/> |- |''Kentucky Jubilee'' |Sally Shannon |<ref name=TVG/> |- |''G.I. Jane'' |Jan Smith |<ref name=TVG/> |- |rowspan=1|1953 |''The Clown'' |Jean |Uncredited<ref name="hrobit"/> |- |rowspan=1|1954 |''Racing Blood'' |Lucille Mitchell |<ref name=TVG/> |- |rowspan=1|1955 |''The Left Hand of God'' |Mary Yin |<ref name=TVG/> |- |rowspan=1|1961 |''Sea Hunt'' |Marna Gould |Season 4, Episode 31, (final appearance) |}
==Bibliography== *{{cite book | title = On Screen Acting: An Introduction to the Art of Acting for the Screen | first1 = Edward | last1 = Dmytryk | first2 = Jean Porter | last2 = Dmytryk | date = 1984 | isbn = 978-1138584372 | publisher = Routledge}} *{{cite book |title=Chicago Jazz and Then Some: As Told by One of the Original Chicagoans, Jess Stacy |publisher=BearManor Media |last=Dmytryk |first=Jean Porter |year=2010 |isbn=978-1593935368}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{Portal|Biography|Texas|Film|Television}} * {{IMDb name|0692156}} * {{tcmdb name|id=154313|name=Jean Porter}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Porter, Jean}} Category:1922 births Category:2018 deaths Category:Actresses from Texas Category:American film actresses Category:American television actresses Category:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract players Category:20th-century American actresses Category:People from Cisco, Texas Category:21st-century American women