Jane Adams
Birthday: 1918-08-07
Place of Birth: San Antonio, Texas, USA
Synopsis
Betty Jane Bierce, better known by her stage name Jane "Poni" Adams was an American actress in radio, film, and television in the 1940s and 1950s. Adams was born in San Antonio, Texas, but her family moved to California when she was two. During her high school years, she studied violin and drama, and she was selected to be a concert mistress of the all-city high school orchestra of Los Angeles. She received a full scholarship to Juilliard, which she turned down to spend years studying at the Pasadena Playhouse.
After the Playhouse, she got her start on Lux Radio Theatre, and then with the Harry Conover Modeling Agency, where she was given her nickname "Poni". This was supposedly due to her love of horses, but in reality it was to provide her with a more memorable stage name.(In the book Westerns Women: Interviews with 50 Leading Ladies of Movie and Television Westerns from the 1930s to the 1960s, Adams said: "I was given that name at the Harry Conover Modeling Agency. Why, I don't know!" She returned to using her real name in 1945.
Military personnel played a role in her change of names from Poni Adams to Jane Adams. A photograph printed in newspapers in 1946 carried the caption: "GI JANE — Jane Adams — formerly Poni Adams — holds some of 32,851 letters her press agent said came from GIs after she appealed for aid in choosing a new name."
Adams' first screen appearance was in So You Want to Give Up Smoking, a short film in 1942. She may be best known for her role as Nina in House of Dracula, but she also has the distinction of acting in early adaptations of both major DC Comics franchises: Batman, where she played Vicki Vale in the second Batman serial, Batman and Robin, and also a character in the first Superman television series.
On May 21, 2014, Adams died in Bellingham, Washington, at the age of 95. She was buried (as Betty J. Turnage) beside her husband in Arlington National Cemetery.
Acting
Outlaw Gold
as Kathy Martin
Johnny Mack Brown dodges bullets while he tries to figure out who stole the Mexican gold and who killed the newspaper editor.
Gun Law Justice
as Jane Darnton
Jimmy Wakely befriends Hank Carrdigan, a former outlaw who has served his sentence and wants to go straight. Jimmy, after clearing Hank of a wrongful shooting charge, helps him get a job as an express messenger. Hank drives off some bandits in an attempted hold-up, but recognizes his son Tom as one of the bandits. A later robbery is blamed on Hank but Jimmy and his sidekick Cannonball Taylor bring in the real culprits and clear Hank's name.
Batman and Robin
as Vicki Vale
This 15-chapter serial pits Batman and Robin against The Wizard, who uses a device that allows him to control machinery to hold the city hostage.
The Brute Man
as Helen Paige
A facially disfigured and mentally unhinged man wreaks his revenge on those he blames for his condition.
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Lawless Breed
as Marjorie 'Maggie' Bradley
Government agents Ted Everett and Tumbleweed are sent to Spearville, Texas, where the law agencies have failed to stop a series of bank robberies. Arriving incognito, they become involved with the gang, and end up being accused of murdering banker Bartlet Mellon. They escape a lynch mob and return with evidence that Mellon has faked his death, hoping to gain the insurance, and is also leading the gang under another name.
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Lost City of the Jungle
as Marjorie Elmore
A movie serial in 13 chapters, and Lionel Atwill's final film: Following the end of WWII, war-monger Sir Eric Hazarias sets the wheel in motion for WWIII. His search for Meteorium 245, the only practical defence against the atomic bomb, leads him to mythical Pendrang. Obstructing his sinister plan to rule the world are Rod Stanton, United Peace Foundation investigator, Tal Shan , Pendrang native, and Marjorie Elmore, daughter of scientist Dr. Elmore, unwilling assistant to Sir Eric.
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Smooth as Silk
as Susan Marlowe
An attorney enraged over the prosecution of two innocent people goes on a killing spree.
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Code of the Lawless
as Julie Randall (as Poni Adams)
In this western, the hero fights the bad guys by impersonating the son of a rancher. The outlaws have been making the good landowners pay fake taxes. Not only does the good guy succeed in catching the bad guys, he also catches himself the postmistress.
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House of Dracula
as Nina
A scientist working on cures for rare afflictions, such as a bone softening agent made from molds to allow him to correct the spinal deformity of his nurse, finds the physical causes of lycanthropy in wolf-man Larry Talbot and of vampirism in Count Dracula, but himself becomes afflicted with homicidal madness while exchanging blood with Dracula.
