GLORIA JEAN

(14 April 1926 - 31 August 2018)

The American actress and singer Gloria Jean (neé Schoonover), who has died from pneumonia at the age of 92, found early fame on account of her high soprano voice which drew attention when she was just three years old, singing on radio with Paul Whiteman’s Band. Having trained as a coloratura, at age twelve she auditioned for Universal Studios who were looking for a replacement for Deanna Durbin. Gloria’s first film was The Under-Pup with Robert Cummings in 1939, followed by If I Had My Way with Bing Crosby, and A Little Bit of Heaven with Robert Stack. However, she may well be remembered for Never Give a Sucker an Even Break (1941), mainly because she played the daughter of W. C. Fields, who also had a hand in writing this crazily surreal comedy (under the name of Otis Criblecoblis). More films followed in which Gloria exercised her vocal muscles, such as Wake Up and Dream with the Andrews Sisters, She’s My Lovely, A Date With an Angel and Mister Big, all with Donald O’Connor, When Johnny Comes Marching Home with Allan Jones, and other second features of the same ilk. She appeared as herself in the wartime morale-boosting Follow the Boys with George Raft and continued making minor but entertaining musical features during the 1940s, including Follow My Rhythm with Mel Tormé and Ghost Catchers with the comedians Olsen & Johnson. However, for most of the 1950s she appeared on television. In 1961 Jerry Lewis found Gloria working in a restaurant and cast her in The Ladies Man although most of her scenes were deleted. After episodes of The Dick Powell Theatre and Saints and Sinners, she retired from acting, married (and divorced) husband Franco Cellini and then began working for a cosmetics firm until 1993. She had one son, Angelo, and three grandchildren with whom she lived in Hawaii from 2007 until her death. Gloria Jean published her autobiography, Gloria Jean: A Little Bit of Heaven, in 2005.

MICHAEL DARVELL