At the age of 12, in 1935, Porter arrived in Hollywood and took dancing lessons at the Fanchon and Marco dancing school,[5] where she was discovered by director Allan Dwan. Porter acted in Dwan's 1936 musical Song and Dance Man, but did not appear in the credits.[6]
Porter was signed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1941 on loan from Roach. While never a big star, Jean Porter was active as a wholesome, mainly comedic ingenue in B pictures throughout the 1940s, appearing in almost 30 motion pictures alongside MGM stars such as Esther Williams, Mickey Rooney, Margaret Dumont and the comedy duo Abbott and Costello.[2] In 1947 "I was under contract to M-G-M, and they loaned me to Columbia," she recalled, and "Columbia wanted me to do three more musicals. M-G-M was making cuts. They were even selling parts of the backlot, and they were letting some people go, just like that. They gave me a choice: I could stay on at the same salary, otherwise I was free to go... There was no telling what the studio was going to do, so I left M-G-M and went to Columbia."[8]
During the McCarthy-era hearings, Dmytryk was facing a jail sentence for a contempt of Congress charge, fired from RKO, and barred from working in the United States. The couple moved to England, where she gave birth to the first of their three children.[10][11] After they were forced to return to the U.S. in 1950 due to his expiring passport, Dmytryk was imprisoned for six months on the contempt charge.[5] Porter now found herself in extreme difficulties, as she had no career and no money to support her family. She shouldered the financial responsibility, signing with producer Robert L. Lippert and taking a nominal salary for two low-budget feature films, G.I. Jane and Kentucky Jubilee. Dick Powell came to her aid that same year, by securing her a role in Cry Danger.[10]
Porter appeared regularly on television in series such as The Red Skelton Show and The Abbott and Costello Show. She would again be directed by Dmytryk in 1955's The Left Hand of God, before she retired from acting in 1961.[2] Her final TV roles were on Sea Hunt, and 77 Sunset Strip.[5] She was the author of the unpublished book The Cost of Living, about her life with Dmytryk. She also wrote Chicago Jazz and Then Some, about jazz pianist Jess Stacy, and with her husband, On Screen Acting.[2]
Death
Porter's health began failing while in her eighties, and she died of natural causes in Canoga Park, California, on January 13, 2018, aged 95. She was survived by two daughters and a stepson.[1]
