Jean Sullivan (May 26, 1923 – February 27, 2003) was an American actress and dancer. She acted in film, television and stage productions, and danced both

flamenco Flamenco () is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the Gitanos, gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura and Region of Murcia, ...

and

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

, the latter with the

American Ballet Theatre American Ballet Theatre (ABT) is a classical ballet company based in New York City. Founded in 1939 by Lucia Chase and Richard Pleasant. Through 2019, it had an annual eight-week season at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center) in the spr ...

Biography

Sullivan was born on May 26, 1923, in Logan, Utah, the daughter of Army Colonel Alexander Sullivan and Claire Cardon Sullivan. She had two younger sisters and a younger brother. As she grew up, she lived in Fort Sam Houston, Texas; Columbus, Ohio; and upstate New York before she reached Hollywood. She went to

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

to study English literature major but changed her major to drama. She was discovered by a scout from

Warner Brothers Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

, who saw her acting in the play ''

Our Town ''Our Town'' is a three-act play written by American playwright Thornton Wilder in 1938. Described by Edward Albee as "the greatest American play ever written", it presents the fictional American town of Grover's Corners between 1901 and 1913 ...

'' at UCLA, and was signed immediately. (In 1943, Sullivan said that the scout urged her to sign but, "I told him I'd never thought of motion pictures and definitely wasn't ready for that sort of thing anyway. But he kept coming back. After six months I finally said yes.") Before she signed, she had planned to seek a career in modern ballet. Sullivan moved to New York and turned her focus to ballet, both studying it and performing as a professional dancer, eventually joining the

. She was co-artistic director with Michael Fischetti of the South Street Theatre Company, and played Spanish guitar, cello, and piano. Sullivan died of

cardiac arrest Cardiac arrest (also known as sudden cardiac arrest CA is when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. When the heart stops beating, blood cannot properly Circulatory system, circulate around the body and the blood flow to the ...

in Woodland Hills, California at the age of 79. She had a daughter, the actress Francesca Poston, by actor

Tom Poston Thomas Gordon Poston (October 17, 1921 – April 30, 2007) was an American actor, appearing in television roles from the 1950s through the early to mid-2000s, reportedly appearing in more sitcoms than any other actor. In the 1980s, he played ...

, whom she married in 1955. She and Poston separated in 1959 and divorced two years later.

Filmography

Features

* '' Uncertain Glory'' (1944) * '' Escape in the Desert'' (1945) * ''

Roughly Speaking ''Roughly Speaking'' is the sixteenth studio album by the Canadian rock band April Wine, released in November 2006. The album was recorded without computerized modern digital recording techniques. Instead, the group employed the same type of au ...

'' (1945) * '' Squirm'' (1976)

Television

* '' One Day at a Time'' * ''Somerset'' * '' The Doctors'' * ''

Search for Tomorrow ''Search for Tomorrow'' is an American television soap opera. It began its run on CBS on September 3, 1951, and concluded on NBC, 35 years later, on December 26, 1986. Set in the fictional town of Henderson in an unspecified state, the show f ...

'' * ''NBC Family Hour'' * ''Colgate Family Hour'' * ''Lamp Unto Thy Feet''

Theatre roles

* ''

The Seagull ''The Seagull'' () is a play by Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov, written in 1895 in literature, 1895 and first produced in 1896 in literature#Drama, 1896. ''The Seagull'' is generally considered to be the first of his four major plays. It dramati ...

'' – Arkadina – Sybil Burton's New Theatre * ''

Macbeth ''The Tragedy of Macbeth'', often shortened to ''Macbeth'' (), is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, estimated to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the physically violent and damaging psychological effects of political ambiti ...

'' – Lady Macbeth –

Royal Shakespeare Company The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and opens around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, Stratf ...

at JASTA * ''

Much Ado About Nothing ''Much Ado About Nothing'' is a Shakespearean comedy, comedy by William Shakespeare thought to have been written in 1598 and 1599.See textual notes to ''Much Ado About Nothing'' in ''The Norton Shakespeare'' (W. W. Norton & Company, 1997 ) p. ...

'' – Hero –

for the Theatre Guild * '' Phedre'' – Phedre – La Comedie Francaise (replaced

Beatrice Straight Beatrice Whitney Straight (August 2, 1914 – April 7, 2001) was an American theatre, film, television and radio actress and a member of the prominent Whitney family. She was both an Academy Award and Tony Award winner, as well as a Primetime Em ...

) – Off-Broadway and touring * '' Luv'' – Ruth * ''

The Bald Soprano ''La Cantatrice chauve '' – translated from French as ''The Bald Soprano'' or ''The Bald Prima Donna'' – is the first play written by Romanian-French playwright Eugène Ionesco. Nicolas Bataille directed the premiere on 11 May 1950 at th ...

'' – Mrs. Smith * ''The Dark Lady of the Sonnets'' – Queen Elizabeth I * ''

Spoon River Anthology ''Spoon River Anthology'' is a 1915 collection of short free verse poems by Edgar Lee Masters. The poems collectively narrate the epitaphs of the residents of Spoon River, a fictional small town named after the Spoon River, which ran near Maste ...

'' * ''The Stronger'' – South Street Theatre (NYC) * ''Before Breakfast'' – Vienna English Theatre (

Vienna, Austria Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

)

Awards

Sullivan was selected as an Honored Member in the "US Executives" Category for 1989's "Who's Who in America".

References

External links

Jean Sullivan Online
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sullivan, Jean 1923 births 2003 deaths American film actresses American stage actresses American television actresses American ballerinas Flamenco dancers People from Logan, Utah Actresses from Greater Los Angeles 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American women 20th-century American ballet dancers