JANE WITHERS

(12 April 1926 - 7 August 2021)

The American actress Jane Withers, who has died aged 95, began her working career as a child star on radio from the age of just three, hosting her own children’s show in Atlanta, Georgia. From 1932 she went to Hollywood because her mother was determined that her daughter should be a movie star. After auditioning, she was chosen to appear in several films for which at first she was not credited. Her big break came in 1934, first with W. C. Fields in It’s a Gift and then with Shirley Temple in Bright Eyes in which she demonstrated her abilities as an actress, impersonator and expert ad-libber. She secured a seven-year contract with the Fox studio and at the age of nine got her first starring role in Ginger, after which her success was sealed and she became a very popular figure making film after film. She then moved into adolescent parts but, in an effort to break off from childish roles, she wrote her own screenplay called Small Town Deb (1941) and in the same year signed another seven-year contract with 20th Century Fox and went on to make such films as Very Young Lady, Young America and The Mad Martyndales. She also worked for Columbia Pictures, RKO, Republic Pictures and Paramount. She took early retirement at the age of 21 after making nearly forty films. In 1947 she married the Texas film producer and entrepreneur William Moss. They had three children but the marriage lasted only until 1955. She then married Keneth Errair, singer with The Four Freshmen. They had two children but Errair died in a plane crash in 1968. Although Jane planned to become a film director, she was asked by George Stevens to appear in his film Giant, after which she resumed her acting career on television while looking after her children. She also did some stage work, voice-overs and the reading of audiobooks. All her life, Jane Withers was a generous and tireless worker for charity.

MICHAEL DARVELL