Jean Dixon (born Jean Jacques; July 14, 1893 – February 12, 1981) was an American stage and film actress.

Early years

Dixon was born in

Waterbury, Connecticut Waterbury is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut on the Naugatuck River, southwest of Hartford and northeast of New York City. Waterbury is the second-largest city in New Haven County, Connecticut. According to the 2020 US Census, in 20 ...

. She attended St. Margaret's School in Waterbury, and was also educated in France, where she studied dramatics under

Sarah Bernhardt Sarah Bernhardt (; born Henriette-Rosine Bernard; 22 or 23 October 1844 – 26 March 1923) was a French stage actress who starred in some of the most popular French plays of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including ''La Dame Aux Cameli ...

Career

She made her Broadway stage debut in 1926, in a comedy melodrama called ''Wooden Kimono'', and continued to perform there even after she retired from films."Jean Dixon"
on the

Internet Broadway Database The Internet Broadway Database (IBDB) is an online database of Broadway theatre productions and their personnel. It was conceived and created by Karen Hauser in 1996 and is operated by the Research Department of The Broadway League, a trade asso ...

Her style of "brittle comedy" was seen in plays like ''

June Moon ''June Moon'' is a play by George S. Kaufman and Ring Lardner. Based on the Lardner short story "Some Like Them Cold," about a love affair that loses steam before it ever gets started, it includes songs with words and music by Lardner but is no ...

'' (1929) by

George S. Kaufman George Simon Kaufman (November 16, 1889June 2, 1961) was an American playwright, theater director and producer, humorist, and drama critic. In addition to comedies and political satire, he wrote several musicals for the Marx Brothers and other ...

and

Ring Lardner Ringgold Wilmer Lardner (March 6, 1885 – September 25, 1933) was an American sports columnist and short story writer best known for his satirical writings on sports, marriage, and the theatre. His contemporaries Ernest Hemingway, Virginia Wo ...

and '' Once in a Lifetime'' (1930) by Kaufman and

Moss Hart Moss Hart (October 24, 1904 – December 20, 1961) was an American playwright, librettist, and theater director. Early years Hart was born in New York City, the son of Lillian (Solomon) and Barnett Hart, a cigar maker. He had a younger brother ...

. Her final Broadway performance was in the play ''The Gang's All Here'' in 1959-60. Dixon made her screen debut in 1929 in '' The Lady Lies'' and appeared in 11 other films, including ''

My Man Godfrey ''My Man Godfrey'' is a 1936 American screwball comedy film directed by Gregory La Cava and starring William Powell and Carole Lombard, who had been briefly married years before appearing together in the film. The screenplay for ''My Man Godf ...

'', before her final studio film, ''

Holiday A holiday is a day set aside by custom or by law on which normal activities, especially business or work including school, are suspended or reduced. Generally, holidays are intended to allow individuals to celebrate or commemorate an event or t ...

'' (1938), which starred Edward Everett Horton,

Cary Grant Cary Grant (born Archibald Alec Leach; January 18, 1904November 29, 1986) was an English-American actor. He was known for his Mid-Atlantic accent, debonair demeanor, light-hearted approach to acting, and sense of comic timing. He was one of ...

and

Katharine Hepburn Katharine Houghton Hepburn (May 12, 1907 – June 29, 2003) was an American actress in film, stage, and television. Her career as a Hollywood leading lady spanned over 60 years. She was known for her headstrong independence, spirited perso ...

. She continued to act on stage throughout the 1940s and 1950s and made some appearances in TV series and TV movies in the 1950s and in 1960.

Personal life

In January 1936, Dixon eloped with Edward Stevenson Ely; they were married in Yuma, Arizona.

Selected filmography

References

External links

*
Jean Dixon
on the

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dixon, Jean 1893 births 1981 deaths Actors from Waterbury, Connecticut Actresses from Connecticut American expatriates in France American film actresses American stage actresses 20th-century American actresses