Jean Adair (born Violet McNaughton; June 13, 1873 – May 11, 1953) was a Canadian actress. She was also known as Jennet Adair.

Career

Born Violet McNaughton in

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Hamilton has a population of 569,353, and its census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington and Grimsby, has a population of 785,184. The city is approximately southwest of T ...

, Her work as Jennet Adair in vaudeville included performing as a "singing comedienne". Adair received a scholarship for a dramatic school course, after which she acted for two years with stock theater companies. She moved from stock performances to replacing

Irene Dunne Irene Dunne (born Irene Marie Dunn; December 20, 1898 – September 4, 1990) was an American actress who appeared in films during the Golden Age of Hollywood. She is best known for her comedic roles, though she performed in films of other gen ...

in a production of ''Mother'', and her New York debut came in September 1922 when she acted in ''It's a Boy'' at the

Sam H. Harris Theatre The Sam H. Harris Theatre, originally the Candler Theatre, was a theater within the Candler Building, at 226 West 42nd Street, in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1914, the 1,200-seat theater was designed b ...

. She worked primarily on stage but also made several film appearances late in her career, most notably as Aunt Martha, one of

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 o ...

's dotty old aunts in '' Arsenic and Old Lace'', a role she originated on Broadway. Her final performance was as the beloved matriarch

Rebecca Nurse Rebecca Nurse (February 13, 1621 – July 19, 1692) was a woman who was accused of witchcraft and executed by hanging in New England during the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. She was fully exonerated fewer than twenty years later. She was the wif ...

in the original production of ''

The Crucible ''The Crucible'' is a 1953 play by American playwright Arthur Miller. It is a dramatized and partially fictionalized story of the Salem witch trials that took place in the Massachusetts Bay Colony during 1692–93. Miller wrote the play as a ...

''. Like many stage actresses of her era, she also appeared in

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

Death

She died at Beth Israel Hospital in New York City on 11 May 1953, aged 79. She was cremated at Ferncliff Crematory in

Hartsdale Hartsdale is a hamlet located in the town of Greenburgh, Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 5,293 at the 2010 census. It is a suburb of New York City. History Hartsdale, a CDP/hamlet/post-office in the town of Green ...

, New York. Her ashes were collected by playwright

Howard Lindsay Howard Lindsay, born Herman Nelke, (March 29, 1889 – February 11, 1968) was an American playwright, librettist, director, actor and theatrical producer. He is best known for his writing work as part of the collaboration of Lindsay and Crouse ...

.Resting Places: The Burial Site of 14,000 Famous Persons by Scott wilson

Broadway productions

* ''It's a Boy!'' (1922-?) * ''The Jay Walker'' (1926) * ''Devils'' (1926) * ''The Good Fellow'' (1926) * ''Machinal'' (1928) (*with a young unknown Clark Gable) * ''That Ferguson Family'' (1928-9) * ''Scarlet Pages'' (1929) * ''Everything's Jake'' (1930) * ''Rock Me, Julie'' (1931) * ''Blessed Event'' (1932) * ''Best Years'' (1932) * ''Black Sheep'' (1932) * ''The Show Off'' (1932-3) * ''For Services Rendered'' (1933) * ''Murder at the Vanities'' (1933-4) * ''Broomsticks, Amen!'' (1934) * ''Picnic'' (1934-?) * ''Mid-West'' (1936-?) * ''Sun Kissed'' (1937-?) * ''On Borrowed Time'' (1938) * ''

Morning's at Seven ''Morning's at Seven'' is a play by Paul Osborn. Its plot focuses on four aging sisters living in a small Midwestern town in 1928, and it deals with ramifications within the family when two of them begin to question their lives and decide to mak ...

'' (1939–40) * ''Goodbye in the Night'' (1940) * ''Arsenic and Old Lace'' (1941-4) * ''Star-Spangled Family'' (1945) * ''The Next Half Hour'' (1945) * ''Detective Story'' (1949–50) * ''Bell, Book and Candle'' (1950-1) * ''The Crucible'' (1953)

Filmography

References

External links

* *
Jean Adair
held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division,

New York Public Library for the Performing Arts The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, at 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, is located in Manhattan, New York City, at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts on the Upper West Side, between the Metro ...

Jean Adair papers 1914-1936 (bulk 1914-1929)
held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division,

1873 births 1953 deaths Canadian film actresses Canadian stage actresses Vaudeville performers Actresses from Hamilton, Ontario 20th-century Canadian actresses Canadian expatriate actresses in the United States {{Canada-stage-actor-stub