Jean Peters
| Jean Peters | |
|---|---|
Peters in 1951
|
|
| Born |
Elizabeth Jean Peters October 15, 1926 East Canton, Ohio, U.S. |
| Died | October 13, 2000 (aged 73) Carlsbad, California, U.S. |
| Resting place |
Holy Cross Cemetery Culver City, California |
| Alma mater | Ohio State University |
| Years active | 1947–88 |
| Spouse(s) |
Stuart W. Cramer III (m. 1954; div. 1955) Howard Hughes (m. 1957; div. 1971) Stan Hough (m. 1971; his death 1990) |
Elizabeth Jean Peters (October 15, 1926 – October 13, 2000) was an American actress, known as a star of 20th Century Fox in the late 1940s and early 1950s, and as the second wife of Howard Hughes. Although possibly best remembered for her siren role in Pickup on South Street (1953), Peters was known for her resistance to being turned into a sex symbol. She preferred to play unglamorous, down-to-earth women.
Born Elizabeth Jean Peters in 1926 in East Canton, Ohio, she was the daughter of Elizabeth and Gerald Peters, a laundry manager. Raised on a small farm in East Canton, Peters attended East Canton High School. She was raised as a Methodist. She went to college at the University of Michigan and later the Ohio State University, where she studied to become a teacher and majored in literature. While studying for a teaching degree at Ohio State, she entered the Miss Ohio State Pageant in the fall of 1945. From the twelve finalists, Peters won. Sponsored by the photographer Paul Robinson of the "House of Portraits", she was awarded the grand prize of a screen test with 20th Century-Fox.
As her agent, Robinson accompanied her to Hollywood, and helped her secure a seven-year contract with Fox. She dropped out of college to become an actress, a decision she later regretted. In the late 1940s, Peters returned to college, in between filming, to complete her work and obtain a diploma.
It was announced that in her first film I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now (1947), she would play an "ugly duckling", supported by "artificial freckles and horn-rimmed glasses". She eventually withdrew from the film. Peters was tested in 1946 for a farm girl role in Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay! (1948), but the producer and director decided she was not suitable.
Peters was selected to replace Linda Darnell as the female lead in Captain from Castile (1947) opposite Tyrone Power, when Darnell was reassigned to save the production of Forever Amber. Although she had not yet made her screen debut, Peters was highly publicized. She received star treatment during the filming.Captain from Castile was a hit. Leonard Maltin wrote that afterwards, Peters spent the new decade playing "sexy spitfires, often in period dramas and Westerns." She was offered a similar role in the western Yellow Sky (1948), but she refused the part, explaining it was "too sexy". As a result, the studio, frustrated by her stubbornness, put her on her first suspension.
...
Wikipedia