Jean Carson
| Jean Carson | |
|---|---|
| Born |
February 28, 1923 Charleston, West Virginia, U.S. |
| Died | November 2, 2005 (aged 82) Palm Springs, California, U.S. |
| Spouse(s) | Leonard S. Smith, Jr. (1955–1968) (divorced) 1 child ? Parlan (? – ?) (divorced) 1 child |
| Website | http://www.hellodoll.com |
Jean Carson (February 28, 1923 – November 2, 2005) was an American stage, film and television actress best known for her work on the classic 1960s sitcom The Andy Griffith Show as one of the "fun girls".
Born to Alexander W. Carson and Sadie (nėe Leete; a descendant of William Leete, first governor of the Colony of Connecticut), Jean Carson first became interested in show business as a child, playing a "bad little Indian girl". At the age of twelve, she got her first acting job, five dollars for a small part in a production of Carmen that traveled through her hometown of Charleston, West Virginia.
In high school she was voted Girl Most Likely to Succeed as an Actress. Carson told her mother she was going to be on Broadway and in 1948, after studies at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Carson made her Broadway debut in George S. Kaufman's Bravo. Other Broadway work included Anniversary Waltz with Macdonald Carey, Two Blind Mice with Melvyn Douglas, and Bird Cage, which garnered her a Tony Award nomination.
Carson went on to appear in many pioneering television series, including Studio One, NBC Presents, The Twilight Zone (as Paula in "A Most Unusual Camera", a part written especially for her by Rod Serling) and The Ford Theatre Hour. She continued to make guest starring appearances throughout the 1950s, as well as a regular role on 1959's The Betty Hutton Show (Carson described Hutton as a "foulmouthed old biddy" and said that was the only acting experience she did not enjoy) and roles in films such as 1955's The Phenix City Story and 1958's I Married a Monster from Outer Space. Carson felt she was typecast by some of these roles ("I'm what you call a 'second woman' or 'second tomato.' They never get the man.") and that they helped her get work on The Andy Griffith Show.
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