27 Facts About Jeanne Crain

Jeanne Crain was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her title role in Pinky.

Jeanne Crain starred in the films In the Meantime, Darling, State Fair, Leave Her to Heaven, Centennial Summer, Margie, Apartment for Peggy, A Letter to Three Wives, Cheaper by the Dozen, People Will Talk, Man Without a Star, Gentlemen Marry Brunettes, The Fastest Gun Alive, and The Joker Is Wild.

Jeanne Crain began winning leads in school plays at 14 and beauty contests at 15.

Jeanne Crain attended Inglewood High School where her father was head of the English department.

At age 19, Jeanne Crain was cast by Fox in her first sizable role, in the romantic drama Home in Indiana with Walter Brennan, in which she played the love interest of Lon McCallister's character.

Darryl F Zanuck, head of Fox, gave Crain top billing in In the Meantime, Darling, directed by Otto Preminger, where she played a war bride.

Jeanne Crain's acting was critically panned, but she gained nationwide attention.

Jeanne Crain first received critical acclaim when she starred in Winged Victory.

Jeanne Crain co-starred in 1945 with Dana Andrews in the musical film State Fair, where Louanne Hogan dubbed Crain's singing.

State Fair was a hit, as was Leave Her to Heaven, in which Jeanne Crain played the "good" sister of her "bad" sibling, played by Gene Tierney, both of whom are in love with Cornel Wilde's character.

Jeanne Crain made two films in 1948: You Were Meant for Me, a musical with Dan Dailey that may have included Marilyn Monroe's first film appearance; and Apartment for Peggy, with William Holden.

Jeanne Crain had another big success when she starred with Myrna Loy and Clifton Webb in the 1950 biographical film Cheaper by the Dozen, although hers was more of a supporting role.

Jeanne Crain had a cameo as herself in I'll Get By and starred in Take Care of My Little Girl, a mildly popular drama about snobbery in college sororities.

Shortly after, Jeanne Crain starred in Charles Brackett's production The Model and the Marriage Broker.

Jeanne Crain was reunited with Loy for Belles on Their Toes, the sequel to Cheaper by the Dozen, and got top billing this time.

Jeanne Crain starred in Vicki, a remake of I Wake Up Screaming; and Fox tried her in a Western, City of Bad Men.

Jeanne Crain made Duel in the Jungle in Britain and then Man Without a Star, a Western with Kirk Douglas at Universal, where she played the lead female role of a hard-nosed ranch-owner.

Jeanne Crain showed her dancing skills in 1955's Gentlemen Marry Brunettes, a quasi-sequel to Gentlemen Prefer Blondes based on Anita Loos' novel and co-starring Jane Russell.

Jeanne Crain appeared in fewer films in the 1960s as she entered semiretirement.

Jeanne Crain starred as Nefertiti in the Italian production of Queen of the Nile with Edmund Purdom and Vincent Price; and in Madison Avenue with Dana Andrews and Eleanor Parker.

Jeanne Crain again co-starred with Dana Andrews in Hot Rods To Hell.

At the height of her stardom in the late 1940s and early 1950s, Jeanne Crain was known as "Hollywood's Number One party girl", and she was quoted as saying she was invited to at least 200 parties a year.

Against her mother's wishes, on December 31,1945, Jeanne Crain married Paul Brinkman, a former contract player at RKO Pictures who was credited as Paul Brooks.

Jeanne Crain later became a top executive with an arms manufacturing company.

However, they reconciled on December 31,1956, and Jeanne Crain had three more children with Brinkman through 1965.

Jeanne Crain died two months after her husband from a heart attack.

Jeanne Crain is buried next to her husband under the name Jeanne Crain Brinkman.