{{Short description|American actress (1920–1997)}} {{Use American English|date=July 2022}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Jennifer Holt | image = Jennifer Holt in Private Buckaroo (1942).jpg | image_size = | caption = Holt in ''Private Buckaroo'' (1942) | birth_name = Elizabeth Randolph Holt <!-- per birth certificate --> | birth_date = {{Birth date|1920|11|10|mf=yes}} | birth_place = Hollywood, California, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|1997|09|21|1920|11|10|mf=yes}} | death_place = Dorset, England, UK | other_names = Jacqueline Holt | occupation = Actress | years_active = 1941–1958 | spouse = {{plainlist| * {{marriage|William M. Ritchey<br>|1943|1944|end=divorced}} * {{marriage|William Bakewell<br>|1946|1948|end=divorced}} * {{marriage|J. Hugh Davis|1951}} * Aylmer Hughes Chamberlain (her death) }} | father = Jack Holt | relatives = Tim Holt (brother) }}
'''Jennifer Holt''' (born '''Elizabeth Randolph Holt'''; <ref>[https://www.b-westerns.com/ladies3.htm Profile], b-westerns.com. Accessed May 16, 2025.</ref> November 10, 1920 – September 21, 1997)<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/3479904/tyrone_daily_herald/|title=Jack Holt Dies|newspaper=Tyrone Daily Herald |date=January 19, 1951|access-date=October 24, 2015|agency=Tyrone Daily Herald|page=4|via=Newspapers.com}} {{Open access}}</ref> was an American actress.
==Early years== She was born in Hollywood, California to actor Jack Holt<ref name=oj>{{cite news|title=Holt's Daughter in Films|newspaper=The Ottawa Journal |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/3479113/the_ottawa_journal/|agency=The Ottawa Journal|date=March 21, 1942|page=24|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = October 24, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref> and his wife, Margaret Woods. She was the sister of Western actor Tim Holt.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xdf8t-Vs3e4C&dq=%22Elizabeth+Marshall+Holt%22&pg=PA117|title=The A to Z of Westerns in Cinema|last=Varner|first=Paul|date=2009-09-28|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=9780810870512|pages=117|language=en}}</ref>
Her education included schooling at convents in Belgium, Santiago College in Chile, and The Bishop's School in La Jolla, California.<ref name="t">{{cite news|title=Holt's Daughter Now in Pictures|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/15982489/jennifer_holt/|work=The Times|date=1 March 1942|location=Indiana, Munster|page=6|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = December 24, 2017}} {{Open access}}</ref>
==Film== Holt made her film debut using the stage name '''Jacqueline Holt''' in a 1941 Western starring Hopalong Cassidy. A 1942 newspaper article reported, "Jennifer Holt ... has been signed to a long term contract with Universal."<ref name=oj/> Her film singing debut came in ''Tenting Tonight on the Old Camp Ground'' in 1943. She sang ''Cielito Lindo'' while portraying an entertainer.<ref>{{cite news|title=Film Thriller at the Liberty|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/3479521/the_times_recorder/|agency=The Times Recorder|date=April 18, 1943|page=23|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = October 24, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref> She went on to make 47 films during the 1940s. All but eight of her roles were in Western films in which she appeared opposite cowboy stars such as Lash LaRue, Tex Ritter and Johnny Mack Brown.
Although the popularity of Western films had faded by the mid-1950s, during the 1970s Western film festivals became popular with fans of the genre and she occasionally participated as a guest.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Brooker |first=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IzutDgAAQBAJ&dq=%22Jennifer+Holt%22+%22western%22+%22guest+star%22&pg=PA452 |title=The Happiest Trails |date=2017-02-09 |publisher=Lulu.com |isbn=978-1-365-74122-7 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Lasiuta |first=Tim |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N4RZAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Jennifer+Holt%22+%22festival%22+%22guest%22 |title=Collecting Western Memorabilia |date=2004-02-23 |publisher=McFarland, Incorporated, Publishers |isbn=978-0-7864-1660-8 |language=en}}</ref>
==Television== After making her final film in 1949, in 1950 Holt co-hosted a television show called ''Panhandle Pete and Jennifer'' which ran for one season. During the remainder of the 1950s she made occasional guest appearances on television Western series such as ''The Gabby Hayes Show'' and ''Tales of Wells Fargo'' starring Dale Robertson.
==Recognition== In 1984, she received the Golden Boot Award for her contributions to Western cinema.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Golden Boot Awards|url=http://www.b-westerns.com/goldboot.htm|website=b-westerns.com|access-date=25 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171225035502/http://www.b-westerns.com/goldboot.htm|archive-date=25 December 2017}}</ref>
==Personal life== Holt was married various times, living for a while in Mexico. She had no children.
The marriages that can be confirmed were: *November 19, 1943, to Marine Major William M. Ritchey in Yuma, Arizona.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Marriages|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gAwEAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22Elizabeth+Marshall+Holt%22&pg=PT29|access-date=December 25, 2017|magazine=Billboard|date=December 4, 1943}}</ref> She sought a divorce after four months,<ref>{{cite news|title=Marine Ace Faces Divorce|newspaper=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/3479670/the_brooklyn_daily_eagle/|agency=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle|date=April 19, 1944|page=1|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = October 24, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref> and the divorce was granted on August 4, 1944.<ref>{{cite news|title=Marine Flier Divorced By Jennifer Holt|newspaper=The San Bernardino County Sun |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/3479697/the_san_bernardino_county_sun/|agency=The San Bernardino County Sun|date=August 5, 1944|page=5|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = October 24, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref> *September 29, 1946, to William Bakewell.<ref> {{cite news|title=Jennifer Holt to Wed Wm. Bakewell|newspaper=The Times |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/3479767/the_times/|agency=The Times|date=September 24, 1946|page=9|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = October 24, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref> She filed suit for divorce from Bakewell on April 23, 1948.<ref>{{cite news|title=Jennifer Holt Seeks Divorce|newspaper=The Indiana Gazette |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/3479839/the_indiana_gazette/|agency=The Indiana Gazette|date=April 24, 1948|page=23|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = October 24, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref> The divorce was granted June 10, 1948.<ref>{{cite news|title=Actress Says Husband Too Stingy With Her Money|newspaper=Alton Evening Telegraph |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/3479863/alton_evening_telegraph/|agency=Alton Evening Telegraph|date=June 11, 1948|page=1|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = October 24, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref> *March 2, 1951, to advertising executive J. Hugh Davis.<ref>{{cite news |title=Jennifer Holt, Video Star, Marries Adman |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/163995731/?terms=%22Jennifer%20Holt%22%20%22Hugh%20Davis%22&match=1 |access-date=May 9, 2023 |work=Arizona Daily Star |date=March 4, 1951 |page=13|via = Newspapers.com }}</ref> *Aylmer Hughes Chamberlain, her last husband, with whom she was living in England at the time of her death in 1997.<ref name="auto1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.b-westerns.com/ladies3.htm|title=Jennifer Holt - Western Movie Heroine|website=www.b-westerns.com}}</ref><ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://variety.com/1997/scene/people-news/jennifer-holt-chamberlain-111660777/|title=Jennifer Holt Chamberlain|author=Variety Staff|date=November 5, 1997}}</ref>
==Death== Holt was living in Dorset, England, with her husband, Aylmer Hughes Chamberlain, at the time of her death from cancer at age 76 in 1997.<ref name="auto1"/><ref name="auto"/>
==Partial filmography== {{Div col}} *''Stick to Your Guns'' (1941) .... June Winters (as Jacqueline Holt) *''Broadway'' (1942) .... TWA stewardess (uncredited) *''Private Buckaroo'' (1942) .... Joyce Mason *''The Silver Bullet'' (1942) .... Nancy Lee *''Pardon My Sarong'' (1942) .... Girl on bus with Tommy (uncredited) *''Deep in the Heart of Texas'' (1942) .... Nan Taylor *''Little Joe, the Wrangler'' (1942) .... Janet Hammond *''The Old Chisholm Trail'' (1942) .... Mary Lee *''Tenting Tonight on the Old Camp Ground'' (1943) .... Kay Randolph *''Hi, Buddy'' (1943) .... Miss Russell *''Cheyenne Roundup'' (1943) .... Ellen Randall *''Raiders of San Joaquin'' (1943) .... Jane Carter *''Cowboy in Manhattan'' (1943) .... Mitzi *''Get Going'' (1943) .... Vilma Walters *''Frontier Law'' (1943) .... Lois Rodgers *''Hers to Hold'' (1943) .... Girl (uncredited) *''The Lone Star Trail'' (1943) .... Joan Winters *''Adventures of the Flying Cadets'' (1943, Serial) .... Andre Mason [Chs. 5-13] *''Raiders of Sunset Pass'' (1943) .... Betty Mathews *''Marshal of Gunsmoke'' (1944) .... Ellen Carey *''Oklahoma Raiders'' (1944) .... Donna Ross, aka El Vengador *''Guns of the Law'' (1944) .... Lillian Wilkins *''Riders of the Santa Fe'' (1944) .... Carla Anderson *''The Navajo Trail'' (1945) .... Mary Trevor *''Under Western Skies'' (1945) .... Charity *''Gun Smoke'' (1945) .... Jane Condon *''Beyond the Pecos'' (1945) .... Ellen Tanner *''Renegades of the Rio Grande'' (1945) .... Dolores Salezar *''Song of Old Wyoming'' (1945) .... Vicky Conway, adopted *''The Lost Trail'' (1945) .... Jane Burns *''Moon Over Montana'' (1946) .... Gwynn Randal *''Hop Harrigan'' (1946) .... Gail Nolan * ''Trigger Fingers'' (1946) .... Jane Caldwell *''Over the Santa Fe Trail'' (1947) .... Carolyn *''Buffalo Bill Rides Again'' (1947) .... Dale Harrington *''Pioneer Justice'' (1947) .... Betty Walters *''Ghost Town Renegades'' (1947) .... Diane Trent *''Stage to Mesa City'' (1947) .... Margie Watson *''The Fighting Vigilantes'' (1947) .... Abby Jackson *''Shadow Valley'' (1947) .... Mary Ann Jarvis *''Where the North Begins'' (1947, Short) .... Mary Rockwell *''Trail of the Mounties'' (1947) .... Kathie McBain *''Tornado Range'' (1948) .... Mary King *''The Hawk of Powder River'' (1948) .... Vivian Chambers aka The Hawk *''Range Renegades'' (1948) .... Belle Morgan *''The Tioga Kid'' (1948) .... Jenny Morgan *''Tales of Wells Fargo'' (1957–1959, TV Series) .... Ella *''Perry Mason'' (1958, TV Series) .... Christine {{div col end}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category}} * {{IMDb name|id=0392450}} * [http://www.b-westerns.com/ladies3.htm Jennifer Holt - Cowboy Heroine]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Holt, Jennifer}} Category:American film actresses Category:Western (genre) film actresses Category:American television actresses Category:20th-century American actresses Category:Actresses from Los Angeles Category:1920 births Category:1997 deaths Category:Deaths from cancer in England Category:The Bishop's School alumni