Gloria Jean, a singing actress who made over two dozen movies from 1939 to 1959, died August 31 in Mountain View, Hawaii, at age 92.
The cause was heart failure, according to her daughter-in-law Jennifer Cellini.
As a pre-teen, Gloria Jean Schoonover got her start singing on the radio and in an opera troupe. The trained coloratura soprano was signed to Universal Pictures in 1938, making her film debut in "The Under-Pup" and becoming a sensation.
During her heyday, she starred with such greats as Bing Crosby, the Andrews Sisters, and W.C. Fields, the latter of whom she appeared with in 1941's "Never Give a Sucker an Even Break." Post-WWII, she embarked on an international singing tour and starred in "Copacabana" (1947) with Groucho Marx.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 13 | September 22, 2018 11:53 AM |
Not many left now from the 1930's.
| by Anonymous | reply 5 | September 22, 2018 4:54 AM |
I remember her from a couple of W.C. Fields' films.
| by Anonymous | reply 6 | September 22, 2018 5:09 AM |
I thought she died a long time ago. I thought JFK killed her ??
| by Anonymous | reply 7 | September 22, 2018 5:19 AM |
She was also kept on the payroll at Universal to try to keep much bigger star Deanna Durbin in line if Deanna didn't like a script and threatened to not report to the studio, but Durbin was the biggest star on the lot. Gloria Jean did have a very pretty voice in her own right and is memorable in that film she did with W.C. Fields. Fields' character usually hated babies and little kids, but he generally played a loving father to his daughter.
| by Anonymous | reply 9 | September 22, 2018 6:14 AM |
My mother had her paper dolls. She said it many times. My Gloria Jean Paper Dolls, My Gloria Jean Paper Dolls, MyGloria Jean Paper Dolls....
| by Anonymous | reply 10 | September 22, 2018 9:00 AM |
Her parents will have another.
| by Anonymous | reply 11 | September 22, 2018 9:05 AM |
what is a "hepcat musical"?
[quote]Gloria Jean became one of Universal's most prolific performers; during the war years she made 14 feature films. Most were "hepcat" musicals, which were geared to the teenage market of the day, and Universal often used them to introduce new young talent, including Donald O'Connor, Peggy Ryan, Mel Tormé, and Marshall Thompson.
| by Anonymous | reply 12 | September 22, 2018 11:21 AM |
I love Gloria Jean's coffee.
| by Anonymous | reply 13 | September 22, 2018 11:53 AM |
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