Jan Clayton
| Jan Clayton | |
|---|---|
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Jan Clayton
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| Born |
August 26, 1917 Tularosa, Otero County New Mexico, U.S. |
| Died | August 28, 1983 (aged 66) West Hollywood, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1935–81 |
| Spouse(s) |
(1) Russell Hayden (married 1938–43, divorced) |
| Children | Sandra Hayden (1940–56) Robin, Karen, and Joe Lerner |
(1) Russell Hayden (married 1938–43, divorced)
(2) Robert Lerner (married 1946–58, divorced)
Jan Clayton (August 26, 1917 – August 28, 1983) born Jane Clayton was a film, musical theater, and television actress. She starred in the popular 1950s TV series Lassie.
Born in Alamogordo, New Mexico, the only child of two schoolteachers, Clayton started singing at four.
Educated at Tularosa High School, New Mexico, Clayton graduated in 1935, then studied music and drama at Gulf Park College for Women in Gulfport, Mississippi.
She went out to Hollywood in 1937 after winning a talent contest, appeared in a few horse operas and met her first husband, cowboy film actor Russell Hayden. Their daughter Sandra died in a car accident in 1956.
Clayton made several films for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer but none were notable, except for an unbilled role as a singing inmate in The Snake Pit.
In 1945, however, she was selected to play the role of Julie Jordan in the original Broadway production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's classic, Carousel. She was such a hit that when Oscar Hammerstein II and Jerome Kern were casting the film of Show Boat they offered MGM their future services for $1 if the studio executives would allow Clayton to play Magnolia. Clayton can be heard on the Original Cast Recordings of both Carousel (1945) and the 1946 film version of Kern's 1927 musical play Show Boat. The Show Boat album was the first American production of the show to be recorded with its original cast.
On May 20, 1954, Clayton guest starred in ABC's sitcom Where's Raymond? (1953–55), starring Ray Bolger as a song-and-dance man, Raymond Wallace. She played Francine Tremont, an actress and wife of a banker. In the story line, Francine is in town to make a special appearance with Bolger.
In 1954, Clayton was one of the many guest stars in a television spectacular tribute to Rodgers and Hammerstein, The General Foods 25th Anniversary Show, which featured all the then-surviving stars (except Alfred Drake) of all the classic Broadway musicals that the team had written (1943–54). Clayton and John Raitt, in full makeup and costume, performed "If I Loved You' (also known as the Bench Scene) from Carousel. It was the first opportunity for millions of viewers to see a scene from the musical, since none of the film versions of the Rodgers and Hammerstein stage musicals had yet been released.
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