Jean Kent

IMDB profile

Add to favorites

Edit page

Search at Amazon

Stats

Birth Name: Joan Mildred Summerfield

Born: 29 January 1921 Died: 30 November 2013

Country of origin: United Kingdom

Lists

33 votes

Science Vixens (612 items)
list by Atomic Cinema

Published 10 years, 7 months ago

1 comment

31 votes

Despicable Me (49 items)
list by moviebuff15

Published 15 years, 1 month ago

3 comments

14 votes

The Ladies of Doctor in the House (1954-1991) (267 items)
list by Onion Jack

Published 9 years, 9 months ago

3 comments

View all Jean Kent lists

Jean Kent Videos

Movie Legends - Jean Kent

67 Views

Added 13 years ago

View all Jean Kent videos

Photos

5 votes

4 votes

2 votes

View all Jean Kent pictures

Description: Vivacious, hazel-eyed, strawberry-haired Jean Kent was a popular star of British films in the 1940's and early 50's. The daughter of variety performers Norman Field and Nina Norre, she was convent-educated. By the age of ten, she accompanied her mother on tour, then spent several years in the chorus line at London's Windmill Theatre in the West End. Having honed her acting skills on the provincial repertory stage, Jean signed with Gainsborough Pictures in 1943. Her first noteworthy performance was in Man of Evil (1944) for which she received fifth billing. Through sheer determination and hard work, she quickly moved up the ladde Vivacious, hazel-eyed, strawberry-haired Jean Kent was a popular star of British films in the 1940's and early 50's. The daughter of variety performers Norman Field and Nina Norre, she was convent-educated. By the age of ten, she accompanied her mother on tour, then spent several years in the chorus line at London's Windmill Theatre in the West End. Having honed her acting skills on the provincial repertory stage, Jean signed with Gainsborough Pictures in 1943. Her first noteworthy performance was in Man of Evil (1944) for which she received fifth billing. Through sheer determination and hard work, she quickly moved up the ladder to integral roles as willful 'scarlet women' in juicy melodramas. These were often parts other leading actresses refused to play, point in case her gypsy wildcat Rosal in Caravan (1946), considered even by Margaret Lockwood as 'too awful'. Using her training to best advantage, Jean performed some striking dance numbers in the film.

She was the femme fatale wartime audiences loved to hate, an early British sex symbol, most effectively paired with the likes of Stewart Granger or James Mason. In one of her best-remembered performances, Jean took sole limelight as the titular star of the cautionary drama Good-Time Girl (1948), as a juvenile delinquent who falls in with spivs and gangsters and ends up in prison. However, within just a few years, Jean's box-office appeal had waned, possibly attributable to having portrayed a woman ten years older than herself in The Browning Version (1951) (though the film itself was a box-office and critical success). Her remaining screen career was thereafter confined to appearances on the small screen, from the much-derided soap opera Crossroads (1964), to playing Queen Elizabeth I in the excellent Sir Francis Drake (1961) or as Daphne Goodlace, potential seductress of both Albert and Harold, in Steptoe and Son (1962).

The beautiful Jean Kent was the only child of variety performers Norman Field and Nina Norre in Brixton, London. She began as a dancer on stage in 1931 at the of 10. In 1934 using the name Jane Carr she appeared as a chorus girl at the Windmill theatre in London's West End. In the mid 1940's she began working for the Gainsborough Film Production Company and became their most famous star starring in mostly melodramas including the role of Lucy Beckett in 'Fanny by Gaslight' and starred in 'Caravan' with Stewart Granger She starred in many British films during the 1940's and 1950's before turning to television. She died in West Suffolk hospital, Bury St. Edmunds on 30th November 2013 following a fall two days earlier at her home in Westhorpe age 92. ... (more)

Tags: British (2), English (1), Born 1921 (1), Died 2013 (1)

My tags: