Jane Winton (October 10, 1905 – September 22, 1959) was an American film actress, dancer, opera

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880& ...

, writer, and painter.

Early years

Winton was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1905. The deaths of her father when she was four years old and her mother when she was six led to Winton's being "swapped back and forth among relatives, none of whom had proper funds to support her and therefore offered her more resentment than affection." Eventually, an elderly doctor who was a family friend adopted her and raised her in a strict environment. After she graduated from a finishing school in Connecticut, she ran away rather than enter Bryn Mawr College and become a doctor, which was her guardian's desire for her. She went to stay with a friend in New York City and was discovered there by producers

Adolph Zukor Adolph Zukor (; hu, Zukor Adolf; January 7, 1873 – June 10, 1976) was a Hungarian-American film producer best known as one of the three founders of Paramount Pictures.Obituary '' Variety'' (June 16, 1976), p. 76. He produced one of America' ...

and Jesse Lasky.

Actress

During the 1920s, she began her stage career as a dancer with the

Ziegfeld Follies The ''Ziegfeld Follies'' was a series of elaborate theatrical revue productions on Broadway in New York City from 1907 to 1931, with renewals in 1934 and 1936. They became a radio program in 1932 and 1936 as '' The Ziegfeld Follies of the Ai ...

. After coming to the West Coast, Winton became known as "the green-eyed goddess of Hollywood". Her film appearances include roles in '' Tomorrow's Love'' (1925), '' Why Girls Go Back Home'' (1926), '' Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans'' (1927), ''The Crystal Cup'' (1927), ''

The Fair Co-Ed ''The Fair Co-Ed'', also known as ''The Varsity Girl'', is a 1927 American silent film comedy starring Marion Davies and released through MGM. The film was produced by William Randolph Hearst, through Cosmopolitan Productions and directed by ...

'' (1927), '' Burning Daylight'' (1928), '' Melody of Love'' (1928), and '' The Patsy'' (1928), ''Scandal'' (1929), '' Show Girl in Hollywood'' (1929), ''The Furies'' (1930), and '' Hell's Angels'' (1930). Winton played Donna Isobel in ''

Don Juan Don Juan (), also known as Don Giovanni ( Italian), is a legendary, fictional Spanish libertine who devotes his life to seducing women. Famous versions of the story include a 17th-century play, '' El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra' ...

'' (1926). The film starred

John Barrymore John Barrymore (born John Sidney Blyth; February 14 or 15, 1882 – May 29, 1942) was an American actor on stage, screen and radio. A member of the Barrymore family, Drew and Barrymore theatrical families, he initially tried to avoid the stage ...

and Mary Astor. The movie was billed as the first film made in

Vitaphone Vitaphone was a sound film system used for feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects made by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National from 1926 to 1931. Vitaphone was the last major analog sound-on-disc system and the only one ...

, an invention that synchronized sound with motion pictures. Modern sound pictures began with the Vitaphone.

Opera and radio

After leaving Hollywood, Winton performed various operatic roles both in the United States and abroad. Her operatic debut came in 1933 when she performed as Nedda in the Brooklyn Academy of Music's production of ''Pagliacci''. In 1933, she was with the National Grand Opera Company for its production of ''

I Pagliacci ''Pagliacci'' (; literal translation, "Clowns") is an Italian opera in a prologue and two acts, with music and libretto by Ruggero Leoncavallo. The opera tells the tale of Canio, actor and leader of a commedia dell'arte theatrical company, who mu ...

''. She sang ''Nedda''. She starred in the operetta ''Caviar''. In England, she became noted for her singing and for working in radio.

Novelist

In 1951 Winton's novel ''Park Avenue Doctor'' was published. ''Passion Is the Gale'' was her second novel.

Marriage

Winton married three times. In 1927, she wed Hollywood screenwriter Charles Kenyon. On July 17, 1930, she married broker Horace Gumble in Jersey City, New Jersey. Her last husband was Michael T. Gottlieb, a stockbroker, tournament

contract bridge Contract bridge, or simply bridge, is a trick-taking card game using a standard 52-card deck. In its basic format, it is played by four players in two competing partnerships, with partners sitting opposite each other around a table. Millions ...

player, and Arizona property owner. They wed in 1935.

Death

Winton died in 1959 at the

Pierre Hotel The Pierre is a luxury hotel located at 2 East 61st Street, at the intersection of that street with Fifth Avenue, in Manhattan, New York City, facing Central Park. Designed by Schultze & Weaver, the hotel opened in 1930 with 100+ employees ...

in New York City from undisclosed causes. Her body was cremated, and her ashes were interred in the Riesner-Gottlieb Mausoleum in Temple Israel Cemetery, Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.

Partial filmography

* '' Three Women'' (1924) * '' Tomorrow's Love'' (1925) * ''

His Supreme Moment ''His Supreme Moment'' is a 1925 American silent drama film with sequences filmed in Technicolor, starring Blanche Sweet and Ronald Colman, directed by George Fitzmaurice, and produced by Samuel Goldwyn. Anna May Wong has a small role as a ha ...

'' (1925) * '' The Love Toy'' (1926) * '' Why Girls Go Back Home'' (1926) * '' My Old Dutch'' (1926) * '' Footloose Widows'' (1926) * ''

'' (1926) * '' The Honeymoon Express'' (1926) * '' Across the Pacific'' (1926) * '' The Gay Old Bird'' (1927) * '' Upstream'' (1927) * '' The Monkey Talks'' (1927) * ''

The Beloved Rogue ''The Beloved Rogue'' is a 1927 American silent romantic adventure film, loosely based on the life of the 15th century French poet, François Villon. The film was directed by Alan Crosland for United Artists. François Villon is played by J ...

'' (1927) * '' Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans'' (1927) * '' Lonesome Ladies'' (1927) * '' Perch of the Devil'' (1927) * ''

'' (1927) * '' The Poor Nut'' (1927) * '' Bare Knees'' (1928) * '' Honeymoon Flats'' (1928) * '' Nothing to Wear'' (1928) * '' Burning Daylight'' (1928) * '' The Patsy'' (1928) * '' Yellow Lily'' (1928) * '' Melody of Love'' (1928) * '' Captain Lash'' (1929) * ''

Scandal A scandal can be broadly defined as the strong social reactions of outrage, anger, or surprise, when accusations or rumours circulate or appear for some reason, regarding a person or persons who are perceived to have transgressed in some way. Th ...

'' (1929) * ''

The Bridge of San Luis Rey ''The Bridge of San Luis Rey'' is American author Thornton Wilder's second novel. It was first published in 1927 to worldwide acclaim. The novel won the Pulitzer Prize in 1928, and was the best-selling work of fiction that year. Premise ''The Bri ...

'' (1929) * '' Show Girl in Hollywood'' (1930) * '' A Notorious Affair'' (1930) * '' Hell's Angels'' (1930) * '' Hired Wife'' (1934) * ''

Limelight Limelight (also known as Drummond light or calcium light)James R. Smith (2004). ''San Francisco's Lost Landmarks'', Quill Driver Books. is a type of stage lighting once used in theatres and music halls. An intense illumination is created when ...

'' (1936)

References

Obituary
''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', September 23, 1959, p. 35.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Winton Jane American film actresses American silent film actresses American sopranos American female dancers Dancers from Pennsylvania 19th-century American painters Actresses from Philadelphia 1905 births 1959 deaths 20th-century American actresses People from Katonah, New York 20th-century American singers 20th-century American women singers 20th-century American dancers 19th-century American women Ziegfeld girls