Trivia of Jeanne Crain

Trivia of Jeanne Crain (25 May 1925 - 14 December 2003)

*Crain began winning leads in school plays at 14 and beauty contests at 15.An excellent ice skater, she first attracted attention when she was crowned Miss Pan-Pacific at the Pan-Pacific Auditorium in Los Angeles.

*While still in high school, she was asked to take a screen test with Orson Welles for the role of Lucy Morgan in The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), but she did not get the part.At age 18, she appeared in a bit part in the film The Gang's All Here (1943).

*Although frequently cast in musicals, she was not a singer. Louanne Hogan was specifically under contract so that she could dub the singing in all her musicals.

*Crain married former RKO contract player Paul Brinkman on New Year’s Eve against her mother’s wishes. Crain took a break from acting in 1947 when she had her first of seven children with Brinkman. She returned to work the following year, appearing in You Were Meant for Me (1948), and Apartment for Peggy (1948).

*In 1949, Crain got one of her greatest roles in the drama film Pinky, which won her an Oscar nomination for Best Actress.However, it was controversial as it told the story of a light-skinned African American woman who passed for white in the Northern United States.

*Nicknamed “Hollywood’s Number One Party Girl,” since she claimed that she was invited to at least 200 parties per year.

*In the 1960s, Crain worked less and starred in fewer films. Her last film was Skyjacked in 1972, in which she shared the sets with Charlton Heston.In her retirement years, she and her husband spent most of their time working at two of their ranches.