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 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 in the original production of ''
The Crucible''. 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 Greenb ...
, New York. Her ashes were collected by playwright
Howard Lindsay.
[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
Jean Adair papers 1914-1936 (bulk 1914-1929) held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division,
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
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