Janelle Johnson (December 2, 1923 – December 2, 1995) was an American film actress of the 1940s. She married actor

George Dolenz George Dolenz (born Jure Dolenc; akas: Giorgio Dolenz and George Dolentz; January 5, 1908 February 8, 1963) was an American film actor born in Trieste (then part of Austria-Hungary, now Italy), in the city's Slovene community. Biography Un ...

and was the mother of

Micky Dolenz George Michael Dolenz Jr. ( ; born March 8, 1945) is an American musician and actor. He was the drummer and one of two primary vocalists for the pop rock band the Monkees (1966–1970, and reunions until 2021), and a co-star of the TV series ''T ...

of the 1960s pop-rock band the

Monkees The Monkees were an American pop rock band formed in Los Angeles in the mid-1960s. The band consisted of Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork. Spurred by the success of ''The Monkees'' television series, they were one o ...

. Her English daughter-in-law was

Samantha Juste Samantha Juste (born Sandra Slater; 31 May 1944 – 5 February 2014) was a British model and television presenter who appeared in the mid-1960s as the "disc girl" on the BBC television programme ''Top of the Pops''. In 1968, she married Micky D ...

, co-host of

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

television's ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British record chart television programme, made by the BBC and broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most of its histo ...

'' in its early days. Her granddaughter, Ami Dolenz, also became a film actress.

Background and career

Johnson was born in

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

, and was valedictorian of her class at St. Mary's Academy. She won the drama award at the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...

at Austin and performed on a local radio show called ''Janelle Sings''.Micky Dolenz & Mark Bego (1993) ''I'm a Believer'' Her films included

David O. Selznick David O. Selznick (born David Selznick; May 10, 1902June 22, 1965) was an American film producer, screenwriter and film studio executive who produced ''Gone with the Wind (film), Gone with the Wind'' (1939) and ''Rebecca (1940 film), Rebecca'' (1 ...

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

-winning ''

Since You Went Away ''Since You Went Away'' is a 1944 American epic drama film directed by John Cromwell for Selznick International Pictures and distributed by United Artists. It is an epic about the US home front during World War II that was adapted and produce ...

'' (1944), with

Claudette Colbert Claudette Colbert (koʊlˈbɛər/ kohl-BAIR, born Émilie "Lily" Claudette Chauchoin (ʃoʃwɛ̃/ show-shwan); September 13, 1903 – July 30, 1996) was an American actress. Colbert began her career in Broadway theater, Broadway productions dur ...

Jennifer Jones Jennifer Jones (born Phylis Lee Isley; March 2, 1919 – December 17, 2009), also known as Jennifer Jones Simon, was an American actress and mental-health advocate. Over the course of her career that spanned more than five decades, she was nomin ...

, Robert Walker and

Shirley Temple Shirley Temple Black (born Shirley Jane Temple; April 23, 1928 – February 10, 2014) was an American actress, singer, dancer, and diplomat, who was Hollywood's number-one box-office draw as a child actress from 1934 to 1938. Later, she was na ...

, and ''The Brute Man'' (1946), directed by

Jean Yarbrough Jean Yarbrough (August 22, 1900 – August 2, 1975) was an American film director. Biography Jean Yarbrough was born in Marianna, Arkansas on August 22, 1900. He attended the Sewanee: The University of the South, University of the South in ...

, with

Rondo Hatton Rondo Hatton (April 22, 1894 – February 2, 1946) was an American journalist and actor. After writing for ''The Tampa Tribune'', Hatton found a career in film due to his unique facial features, which were the result of acromegaly. He headlin ...

and Jane "Poni" Adams.

Personal life

Johnson met her

Trieste Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...

-born Slovene husband,

, while performing in a stage play called ''Return Engagement'', but largely gave up acting after their marriage. The couple had four children:

Micky Micky or Mickie can be a given name, but it is most often a nickname for Michael or non-english equivalents, such as "Mikhail" or "Mikaea". People with the name include: Men * Micky Adams (born 1961), English football manager and former player * ...

, the eldest, and three daughters. After Dolenz's death in 1963, she married, on April 23, 1965, Robert Leroy Schmitz, a minister of religion who was the officiant at the 1968 wedding of Micky Dolenz and

. Schmitz, who also used the surname Scott, died in 1985. Johnson died of cancer in

Los Gatos Los Gatos (; ; ) is an incorporated town in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population is 33,529 according to the 2020 census. It is located in the San Francisco Bay Area just southwest of San Jose in the foothills of t ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, on her 72nd birthday.

References

External links

* 1923 births 1995 deaths American film actresses 20th-century American actresses Dolenz family University of Texas at Austin alumni {{The Monkees