Jean Holloway (born Gratia Jean Casey; April 16, 1917 – November 11, 1989) was an American film, radio, and television writer who worked in Hollywood from the 1940s through the 1970s.

Biography

Holloway was born in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

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 ...

, to Arthur Casey—an official with the U.S. Department of Justice—and Gratia Holloway. Her parents divorced when she was young. In the late 1930s Holloway was attending

San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the List of oldest schools in California, oldest public university on the West Coast of ...

(SJSU) and had already gained notoriety for her writing abilities. From 1937 to 1940 she was writing, directing, and producing radio dramas through SJSU's early radio program, the Radio Speaking Society, which was partnered with San Jose's local radio station KQW, her radio dramas were also aired on San Francisco's local radio station KYA. At age 17, Holloway left college during her sophomore year and traveled to New York with the hopes of landing a career in acting, however, she was discovered by Ted Collins, the manager of

Kate Smith Kathryn Elizabeth Smith (May 1, 1907 – June 17, 1986) was an American contralto. Referred to as The First Lady of Radio, Smith became well known for her renditions of "God Bless America" and "When the Moon Comes over the Mountain". She began ...

for her radio program '' The Kate Smith Show'' and was offered to work on the show. She later wrote for programs like '' Hallmark Playhouse'' (that program's only writer), ''Mr. President'', and '' The Railroad Hour'' before moving into writing for film. Holloway's first screenwriting credit was on the 1946 MGM film ''

Till the Clouds Roll By ''Till the Clouds Roll By'' is a 1946 American Technicolor musical film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and a fictionalized biopic of composer Jerome Kern, portrayed by Robert Walker (actor, born 1918), Robert Walker. Kern was involved with the ...

''. Though she wrote three musicals for the studio, she was frustrated by MGM's unwillingness to let her write dramas, so she moved primarily into writing for television in the 1950s. After the producer of ''

Wagon Train ''Wagon Train'' is an American Western television series that aired for eight seasons, first on the NBC television network (1957–1962) and then on ABC (1962–1965). ''Wagon Train'' debuted on September 18, 1957, and reached the top of the ...

'' accepted her first script submission in 1958, he put her under contract to continue writing for the show. She wrote more than 500 episodes of ''

The First Hundred Years ''The First Hundred Years'' was the first ongoing TV soap opera in the United States that began as a daytime serial, airing on CBS from December 4, 1950 until June 27, 1952. A previous daytime drama on NBC, '' These Are My Children'', aired i ...

,'' wrote for '' Peyton Place'', and developed '' The Ghost & Mrs. Muir'' for television in the late 1960s. Holloway was married to character actor

Dan Tobin Daniel Malloy Tobin (October 19, 1910 – November 26, 1982) was an American character actor A character actor is an actor known for playing unusual, eccentric, or interesting character (arts), characters in supporting roles, rather than ...

, whom she met while working on the daytime soap opera ''The First Hundred Years''.

Papers

Many of Holloway's radio scripts, screenplays, poetry, and coursework from her time at SJSU are stored in San Jose State University Special Collections & Archives.

Selected filmography

*'' The Magic of Lassie'' (1978) *'' Once Upon a Brothers Grimm'' (1977) (TV movie) *''

Huckleberry Finn Huckleberry "Huck" Finn is a fictional character created by Mark Twain who first appeared in the book ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' (1876) and is the protagonist and narrator of its sequel, '' Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' (1884). He is 12 ...

'' (1975) (TV movie) *''The Honorable Sam Houston'' (1975) (TV movie) *'' The Ghost & Mrs. Muir'' (1968–1970) (TV series) *''

Madame X ''Madame X'' (original title ''La Femme X'') is a 1908 Play (theatre), play by French playwright Alexandre Bisson (1848–1912). It was novelized in English and adapted for the American stage; it was also adapted for the screen sixteen times ...

'' (1966) *''

Catch Me If You Can ''Catch Me If You Can'' is a 2002 American crime comedy-drama film directed and produced by Steven Spielberg and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks with Christopher Walken, Martin Sheen, Nathalie Baye, Amy Adams, and James Brolin in ...

'' (1959) *''El Coyote'' (1957) (TV movie) *'' A Woman for the Ages'' (1952) (TV movie) *'' Juliette Low and the Girl Scouts'' (1952) (TV movie) *'' Mistress of the White House'' (1952) (TV movie) *''

Florence Nightingale Florence Nightingale (; 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English Reform movement, social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during th ...

'' (1952) (TV movie) *'' The Big Build Up'' (1952) (TV movie) *'' Words and Music'' (1948) *''

Summer Holiday Summer holiday may refer to: * Summer vacation The term summer vacation or summer break refers to a school break in the summer between school years and the break in the school academic year. Students are off anywhere between two weeks to thre ...

'' (1948) *''

'' (1946)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holloway, Jean American women screenwriters Television writers from California Screenwriters from San Francisco 1917 births 1989 deaths San Jose State University alumni 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American screenwriters