Mary Eilene Janssen (born May 25, 1938) is an American retired film and television actress.
Eilene Janssen | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 25, 1938 Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Film actress |
| Years active | 1940-1968 |
| Spouses | Harry Ronald Rothschild
(m. 1957; div. 1962)Thomas Alexander Orchard
(m. 1963; div. 1966)George Ellis Moore
(m. 1968; died 2000) |
| Children | 5 |
Early life
editEilene Janssen was born in Los Angeles, California on May 25, 1938, to Henry Janssen and Mary Ellen Thompson.[1]
Film career
editJanssen began her film career as a child actress in the early 1940s. With her father being a longtime worker for Universal Studios, Eilene Janssen made her first screen appearance in the 1940 film Sandy Gets Her Man. She continued to have bit parts in several movies such as Two Girls and a Sailor and It Happened Tomorrow. In 1944, she was awarded the title "Little Miss America".[2]
As Janssen grew older, she gained more prominent roles such as Elise in Song of Love and Peggy in The Boy with Green Hair. She and Michael Chapin were the juvenile leads in four Westerns between 1951 and 1952, all of which were directed by Philip Ford. She played Judy Dawson. As a young adult she was the female lead in the 1957 Western film Escape from Red Rock.
Apart from films, Janssen also acted in television series including The Gene Autry Show,The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, Father Knows Best, Mister Ed, The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, Tales of Wells Fargo, Make Room for Daddy, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, The Beverly Hillbillies and Perry Mason.
Janssen retired from acting in 1968. As of 2004, she is residing in Pasadena, California.
Personal life
editJanssen married Harry Ronald Rothschild on November 29, 1957. They had two children together before they divorced in 1962. She then married Thomas Alexander Orchard, in 1963. They had one child together before their 1966 divorce. Janssen married George Ellis Moore in 1968. They had two children together before he died in 2000.[3]
Filmography
edit| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1940 | Sandy Gets Her Man | Child | Uncredited |
| 1943 | Where Are Your Children? | Child in day care nursery | Uncredited |
| 1944 | It Happened Tomorrow | Sylvia | Uncredited |
| Two Girls and a Sailor | Patsy, age 4 | Uncredited | |
| Since You Went Away | Sergeant's child | Uncredited | |
| The Seventh Cross | Girl in Orchard | Uncredited | |
| Till We Meet Again | Yvonne | Uncredited | |
| Army Wives | Young girl | Uncredited | |
| 1945 | Man Alive | Angel | Uncredited |
| 1946 | The Green Years | Alison Keith as a child | |
| Rendezvous 24 | Anchaka Schmidt | ||
| Renegades | Janina Jackorski | Uncredited | |
| 1947 | The Millerson Case | Myra Minnich | Uncredited |
| Curley | Betty | ||
| The Hal Roach Comedy Carnival | Betty | ||
| Driftwood | Girl | Uncredited | |
| Song of Love | Elise Schumann | ||
| Beyond Our Own | Shirley Rogers | Uncredited | |
| 1948 | On Our Merry Way | Peggy Thorndyke | |
| The Bride Goes Wild | Mary | Uncredited | |
| Who Killed Doc Robbin | Betty | ||
| Borrowed Trouble | Child | ||
| The Boy With Green Hair | Peggy | ||
| Words and Music | Linda, age 8 | Uncredited | |
| 1951 | Buckaroo Sheriff of Texas | Judy Dawson | |
| The Dakota Kid | |||
| Arizona Manhunt | |||
| 1952 | Wild Horse Ambush | ||
| Sally and Saint Anne | Young Jeanne | Uncredited | |
| 1954 | About Mrs. Leslie | Pixie Croffman | |
| 1956 | The Search for Bridey Murphy | Bridey Murphy at age 15 | |
| 1957 | Beginning of the End | Teenager in car | |
| Escape from Red Rock | Janie Acker | ||
| 1958 | The Space Children | Phyllis Manley | |
| 1963 | Black Zoo | Bride | |
| 1968 | Panic in the City | Information clerk | (final film role) |
References
edit- ^ Growing Up on the Set: Interviews with 39 Former Child Actors of Classic Film and Television
- ^ "Interview with Eilene Janssen". Western Clippings. Retrieved 17 November 2013.
- ^ Magers, Boyd; Fitzgerald, Michael G. (July 2004). Westerns Women: Interviews with 50 Leading Ladies of Movie and Television Westerns from the 1930s to the 1960s. ISBN 9780786420285.
Bibliography
edit- Goldrup, Tom and Jim (2002). Growing Up on the Set: Interviews with 39 Former Child Actors of Film and Television. McFarland & Co. pp. 153–160. ISBN 1476613702.
External links
edit
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