Jean Willes

Jean Donahue
Willes in 1960
Born
Jean Willes[citation needed]

(1923-04-15)April 15, 1923
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
DiedJanuary 3, 1989(1989-01-03) (aged 65)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Years active1934–1972
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1951)​
Children1

Jean Donahue (born Jean Willes; April 15, 1923 – January 3, 1989)[1] was an American film and television actress. She appeared in approximately 65 films in her 38-year career.

Early years

Born Jean Willes[2]in Los Angeles to William Simmons Willes and Velma Harrington Duncan Willes, she spent part of her childhood in Seattle and part in Salt Lake City. After she and her parents returned to Los Angeles, she began acting with a little theater group there.[3]

Career

Willes began using her married name for billing in 1947.[2] Her first film was The Winner's Circle (1948).[3]

Willes is familiar to modern viewers for her roles in several Three Stooges short subjects, such as Monkey Businessmen as well as Studio Stoops, A Snitch in Time, Don't Throw That Knife and Gypped in the Penthouse. She was a favorite of director Edward Bernds, who cast her in many shorts and features.[citation needed] She played roles ranging from an Air Force captain to prostitutes. She was one of the "four queens" pursuing Clark Gable in The King and Four Queens (1956). Later that year she appeared as Nurse Sally Withers in the original movie version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

She made the transition to television, debuting in an episode of Boston Blackie.[4] She appeared in dozens of series in varied roles and genres such as Westerns and anthology series; Crossroads; The Californians; Richard Diamond, Private Detective with David Janssen; several episodes of the Burns and Allen television series titled The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show; in the 1956 television show The Great Gildersleeve as the scheming girlfriend Eva Jane in the episode "One Too Many Secretaries"; The Twilight Zone ("Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?"); four episodes of Bonanza between 1959 and 1968; Hazel; Trackdown ("The Bounty Hunter" with Robert Culp and Steve McQueen); The Munsters; Perry Mason; The Alfred Hitchcock Hour; Bat Masterson with Gene Barry; The Beverly Hillbillies with Buddy Ebsen; McHale's Navy with Ernest Borgnine; Tombstone Territory; Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre; Walt Disney's Zorro with Guy Williams; and Kojak with Telly Savalas.[citation needed]

In 1958, in the episode "Queen of the Cimarron" of the syndicated western television series Frontier Doctor, starring Rex Allen, Willes portrayed Fancy Varden, the owner of the Golden Slipper Saloon who attempts to establish her own cattle empire with animals infected with anthrax.

Willes portrayed Belle Starr in a 1959 episode of the ABC/Warner Brothers Western series Maverick entitled "Full House," in which Joel Grey played Billy the Kid and James Garner performed a bravura pistol-twirling exhibition woven into the plot. In the same year for Warners she played Anna Sage in The FBI Story. Willes played the character Ruth in the Wanted: Dead or Alive episode, "The Eager Man", Manila Jones in "The Montana Kid", and Meghan Francis in "The Kovack Affair".

Willes played Amelia Monk in the 1967 episode, "Siege at Amelia's Kitchen", on the syndicated anthology series, Death Valley Days hosted by Robert Taylor.

Personal

Willes's second husband was NFL football player Gerard Cowhig. The couple had one son, Gerry.[5]

With Gene Barry and Adele Mara (1958)

Death

Willes died of liver cancer in Van Nuys, California on January 3, 1989. She was 65 years of age.[6] She is buried in San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Mission Hills, California.[7]

Selected filmography

Willes and Dennis Morgan (1955)
Willes and James Garner (1960)
Willes in Ocean's 11 (1960)

References

  1. ^ "Jean W. Cowhig". Social Security Death Index. New England Historic Genealogical Society. Retrieved September 11, 2011.
  2. ^ a b Room, Adrian (January 10, 2014). Dictionary of Pseudonyms: 13,000 Assumed Names and Their Origins, 5th ed. McFarland. p. 510. ISBN 978-0-7864-5763-2. Retrieved September 21, 2022.
  3. ^ a b Humphrey, Hal (August 10, 1959). "Widely Recognized But Little Known Is Jean Willes". The Pittsburgh Press. p. 30. Retrieved September 21, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ Humphrey, Hal (July 31, 1959). "Jean Willes, TV Belle". St. Louis Globe-Democrat. p. 36. Retrieved September 21, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ Magers, Boyd. "Characters and Heavies | Jean Willes". www.westernclippings.com.
  6. ^ "Jean Willes". The New York Times. Associated Press. January 9, 1989. p. D 10. ProQuest 110244186. Retrieved January 23, 2021 – via ProQuest.
  7. ^ Wilson, Scott (2016). Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed. McFarland. p. 810. ISBN 978-0-7864-7992-4. Retrieved March 18, 2022.
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