{{Short description|American actress (1925–1993)}} {{Use American English|date=December 2021}} {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Jennifer Howard | image = Jennifer Howard in 1952.jpg | caption = Howard in 1952 | birth_name = Clare Jenness Howard | birth_date = {{Birth date|1925|03|23|mf=y}} | birth_place = New York City, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|1993|12|14|1925|03|23|mf=y}} | death_place = [[Los Angeles]], [[California]], U.S. | resting place = | occupation = Actress | years_active = 1948–1980 | spouse = [[Mortimer Halpern]] <br />(m. 1946; div. 19??)<br />{{marriage|[[Samuel Goldwyn Jr.]] |1950|1968|end=divorced}}<br />{{marriage|[[John Ery Coleman]] |1972|1993|end=died}} | children = [[Tony Goldwyn]]<br />[[John Goldwyn]] | parents = [[Sidney Howard]]<br />[[Clare Eames]] | relatives = {{plainlist| *[[Emma Eames]] (grandaunt) *[[William T. Hamilton]] (great-grandfather) * [[Descendants of Robert Coe]] }} }}
'''Jennifer Howard''' (born '''Clare Jenness Howard'''; March 23, 1925 – December 14, 1993) was an American stage and film actress active between the mid-1940s and early 1960s. She appeared in a number of classic television shows during the [[Golden Age of Television|American Golden Age of Television]] and was also an accomplished watercolor and [[Acrylic paint|acrylic]] artist. She was the daughter of the playwright and screenwriter [[Sidney Howard]] and first wife of Hollywood producer [[Samuel Goldwyn Jr.]]
== Early life == Clare Jenness Howard was born on March 23, 1925, in New York City, the daughter of dramatist [[Sidney Howard]] and actress [[Clare Eames]]. She was a grandniece of the American opera singer [[Emma Eames]] and great-granddaughter of [[William Thomas Hamilton]], a governor of Maryland.<ref>Broadway by Jack O'Brian; ''The Zanesville Signal'' (Zanesville, Ohio); February 5, 1947; p. 11; Ancestry.com</ref><ref>Clare Aemes, Actress, Dies in England. ''Hartford Courant'' (Hartford, Connecticut); November 9, 1930; Ancestry.com</ref>
In 1930, Howard's mother died in [[London]], and the following year, her father married Polly Damrosch, a daughter of the German-American conductor and composer [[Walter Damrosch]]. Howard's father died nine years later in a tractor mishap on their farm near Tyringham, Massachusetts.<ref>1930 US Census; Polly B. Damrosch; Manhattan, New York; Ancestry.com</ref><ref>Famed Writer Fatally Hurt. ''The Hagerstown Daily Mail'' (Hagerstown, Maryland); August 24, 1939; p. 4; Ancestry.com</ref>
Howard graduated from [[Milton Academy]] and attended classes at Barnard College, and in May 1946, she married [[Mortimer Halpern]], a one-time actor known as Morty Halpern, who became a Broadway stage and production manager. At the time of their marriage, Howard was an actress with the Theatre Guild Shakespeare Repertory Company where Halpern was the stage manager.<ref>Miss Howard, Actress, Bride. ''The Berkshire County Eagle'' (Berkshire, Massachusetts); May 8, 1946; p. 23; Ancestry.com</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=7xkEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT91 Marriages. ''Billboard'' May 18, 1946; p. 92; col. 4]; accessed October 6, 2012.</ref> The marriage was short-lived, and in August 1950, she married film producer [[Samuel Goldwyn, Jr.]]<ref>Miss Howard Is Engaged to Movie Producer. ''The Berkshire Evening Eagle'' (Berkshire, Massachusetts); July 21, 1950; p. 8; Ancestry.com</ref> The couple had four children, including business executive Francis Goldwyn, actor [[Tony Goldwyn]], and studio executive [[John Goldwyn]]. This marriage also ended in divorce, some 18 years later.<ref>Clare Jenness Coleman; California Death Index, December 14, 1993, Los Angeles-March 23, 1925, New York, Ancestry.com</ref> [[File:Howard Templeton Checkmate.jpg|thumbnail|Jennifer Howard in 1952 with screenwriter [[William Templeton (screenwriter)|William Templeton]]]]
== Career == Howard began in theatre, appearing in four Broadway productions during the latter half of the 1940s. She played the 1st lady in a revival of Shakespeare's ''[[A Winter's Tale]]'' at the [[Cort Theatre]] between January and February 1946. She was Penny in ''The Fatal Weakness'' by [[George Kelly (playwright)|George Kelly]], which ran for 119 performances over the 1947–1948 season at Manhattan's Royale Theatre (today the [[Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre]]). In September 1947, Howard became one of the founding members of the [[Actors Studio]].<ref>{{cite book|quote=Others [selected by Kazan] were Tom Avera, Edward Binns, Dorothy Bird, Rudy Bond, Annette Erlanger, Don Hanmer, Anne Hegira, Peg Hillias, Jennifer Howard, Robin Humphrey, Alicia Krug, Michael Lewin, Pat McClarney, Lenka Peterson, Warren Stevens, Joe Sullivan, and John Sylvester.|first=David |last=Garfield|title=A Player's Place: The Story of the Actors Studio|url=https://archive.org/details/playersplacestor00garf|url-access=registration|year=1980|publisher=MacMillan Publishing Co., Inc.|location=New York|isbn=0-02-542650-8|page=[https://archive.org/details/playersplacestor00garf/page/52 52]|chapter=Birth of The Actors Studio: 1947–1950}}</ref> One year later, she played Vanilla in the short-lived Studio production ''Sundown Beach'' by Bessie Breuer at the [[Belasco Theatre (Broadway)|Belasco Theatre]]. In November of the following year, Howard played Louise Ulmer in ''Love Me Long'', a comedy by [[Doris Frankel]], a run that lasted about a fortnight at the 48th Street Theatre.<ref>[http://www.ibdb.com/person.php?id=117073 Jennifer Howard Internet Broadway Database] accessed October 5, 2012</ref> ''Love Me Long'' was directed by [[Brock Pemberton]] who also directed the 1921 play ''Swords'', which began her parents' Broadway careers.<ref>The Living Theatre. Long Beach Press Telegram (Long Beach, California); November 5, 1949; p. 11</ref>
Howard played The Nurse in ''[[Portrait of a Madonna]]'' from the play by [[Tennessee Williams]], the first teleplay produced by the early television series ''[[Actors Studio (TV series)|Actors Studio]],'' airing on September 26, 1948. During the late 1950s, she appeared in numerous American television series: In ''[[Cheyenne (1955 TV series)|Cheyenne]]'', she played the role of Ellen Ellwood in the episode "Land Beyond Law" (1957); in the ''[[Suspicion (American TV series)|Suspicion]]'' episode "Meeting in Paris" (1958), she played the mayor's secretary; in the ''[[Alfred Hitchcock Presents]]'' episode "The Foghorn" (1958), she played a nun; in ''[[The Thin Man (TV series)|The Thin Man]]'' episode "Jittery Juror" (1958), she played Joyce; in ''[[The Twilight Zone]]'' episode "[[Eye of the Beholder (The Twilight Zone, 1959)|Eye of the Beholder]]" (1960), she played a nurse; and in the ''[[Checkmate (American TV series)|Checkmate]]'' episode "Laugh Till I Die" (1961), she played Corinne Marsdon. She appears in five episodes of the ''[[Perry Mason (1957 TV series)|Perry Mason]]'' series—as Lorraine Selkirk Jennings in "The Case of the Deadly Toy" (1959), Judith Thatcher in "The Case of Paul Drake's Dilemma" (1959), Milly Nash in "The Case of the Envious Editor" (1961), Winifred Dunbrack in "The Case of the Renegade Refugee" (1961), and Madelon Haines Shelby in "The Case of the Fickle Filly" (1962).
Howard appeared in at least four films: ''[[Return to Peyton Place (film)|Return to Peyton Place]]'' (1961) as Mrs. Jackman (uncredited), ''[[All Fall Down (1962 film)|All Fall Down]]'' (1962) as Myra (uncredited), ''[[House of Women]]'' (1962) as Addie Gates, and ''[[The Chapman Report]]'' (1962) as Grace Waterton. She died of lung cancer in 1993 at age 68.
== Later life == On July 28, 1972, Howard married the American artist [[John Ery Coleman]] in [[Los Angeles]].<ref>California Marriage Index 1960–1985; Ancestry.com</ref>
== Selected filmography == * ''[[Alfred Hitchcock Presents]]'' (1958) (Season 3 Episode 24: "The Foghorn") as Nun
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links == {{Commons category}} * {{IMDb name|0397379}} * {{IBDB name}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Howard, Jennifer}} [[Category:1925 births]] [[Category:1993 deaths]] [[Category:20th-century American actresses]] [[Category:Actresses from New York City]] [[Category:American film actresses]] [[Category:American stage actresses]] [[Category:American television actresses]] [[Category:Deaths from lung cancer in California]] [[Category:Goldwyn family]]