Jane Greer
Birthday: 1924-09-09
Place of Birth: Washington, D.C., United States
Synopsis
Jane Greer was a film and television actress who was perhaps best known for her role as femme fatale Kathie Moffat in the 1947 film noir Out of the Past.
A beauty-contest winner and professional model from her teens, Greer began her show-business career as a big-band singer. She sang in Washington, DC, with the orchestra of Enric Madriguera. She "sang phonetically in Spanish" with the group.
Howard Hughes spotted Greer modeling in the June 8, 1942 issue of Life, and sent her to Hollywood to become an actress. Hughes lent her to RKO to star in many films (another source says Greer's husband, Rudy Vallee, "helped her get out of her contract with Hughes and secure another pact with RKO Studios") including Dick Tracy, Out of the Past, They Won't Believe Me, and the comedy/suspense film The Big Steal, with Out of the Past co-star Robert Mitchum. Hughes refused to let her work for a time; when she finally began film acting, she appeared in You're in the Navy Now, The Prisoner of Zenda, Run for the Sun, and Man of a Thousand Faces. In 1984, she was cast in Against All Odds, a remake of Out of the Past, as the mother of the character she had played in 1947. In 1952, Greer obtained a release from her contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios. She said, "When there is a good role at MGM, the producers want Lana or Ava. There is no chance for another actress to develop into important stardom at the studio".
Greer's noteworthy roles in television included guest appearances on episodes of numerous shows over the decades, such as Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Bonanza, Quincy, M.E., Murder, She Wrote, and a 1975 gig with Peter Falk and Robert Vaughn in an episode of Columbo titled Troubled Waters. She even got to make fun of Out of the Past in a parody with Robert Mitchum on TV's Saturday Night Live in 1987. Greer joined the casts of Falcon Crest in 1984 and Twin Peaks in 1990 in recurring roles until her retirement in 1996.
Greer was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1634 Vine Street for her contributions to the motion picture industry. The star was dedicated on February 8, 1960. Greer died of cancer on August 24, 2001, at the age of 76, in Bel Air, Los Angeles. Her body was interred at Los Angeles' Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery.
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Acting
Film Noir: Bringing Darkness to Light
as Self
Film Noir burrows into the mind; it's disorienting, intriguing and enthralling. Noir brings us into a gritty underworld of lush morbidity, providing intimate peeks at its tough, scheming dames, mischievous misfits and flawed men - all caught in the wicked web of a twisted fate.
Immediate Family
as Michael's Mother
Linda and Michael, married for ten years, desperately want a baby and turn to an adoption agency which introduces them to Lucy, a teenage girl expecting her first baby. The three agree that Linda and Michael will adopt Lucy's baby and that Lucy will sign away custody. Things don't go quite to plan however..
Just Between Friends
as Ruth Chadwick
Holly and Sandy strike up an instant friendship; they don't know however that they have more in common than they'd like. When tragedy strikes, their relationship is tested.
Against All Odds
as Mrs. Wyler
She was a beautiful fugitive. Fleeing from corruption. From power. He was a professional athlete past his prime. Hired to find her, he grew to love her. Love turned to obsession. Obsession turned to murder. And now the price of freedom might be nothing less than their lives.
The Outfit
as Alma
A two-bit criminal takes on the Mafia to avenge his brother's death. Earl Macklin is a small time criminal who is released from prison after an unsuccessful bank robbery only to discover that a pair of gunmen killed his brother.
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Billie
as Agnes Carol
A 16-year-old tomboy and high school athlete becomes embroiled with the lives around her boyfriend whose conservative father is running for mayor.
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Where Love Has Gone
as Marian Spicer
A divorced couple's teen-age daughter stands trial for stabbing her mother's latest lover.
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Man of a Thousand Faces
as Hazel Bennet Chaney
The turbulent life and professional career of vaudeville actor and silent screen horror star Lon Chaney (1883-1930), the man of a thousand faces; bearer of many personal misfortunes that even his great success could not mitigate.
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Run for the Sun
as Katherine 'Katie' Connors
Mike, a Hemingway-esque adventure novelist, is spending his days in a self-imposed exile somewhere in Central America. A reporter for Sight Magazine, Katie, has tracked him down in the hope of getting the biggest scoop of her career. Mike falls for Katie. On a flight to Mexico City, their plane crashes near a remote hideaway of Nazi war criminals in hiding. The Nazis want to stay hidden and plan to dispose of their new guests
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Down Among the Sheltering Palms
as Diana Forrester
War-weary Captain Willoby and his men are the occupation force on an island of lovely women...and are forbidden to fraternize.
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The Prisoner of Zenda
as Antoinette de Mauban
An Englishman vacationing in Ruritania is recruited to impersonate his cousin, the soon-to-be-crowned king after the monarch is drugged and kidnapped.
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Desperate Search
as Julie Heldon
A man (Howard Keel), his wife (Jane Greer) and his famous-aviator ex-wife (Patricia Medina) search for their two children lost with a cougar.
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You for Me
as Katie McDermad
A good-hearted nurse gets mixed up with a millionaire who could help her hospital.
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The Company She Keeps
as Diane Stuart aka Mildred Lynch
A lady con artist sets out to steal her parole officer's fiance.
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You're in the Navy Now
as Ellie C. Harkness
When Lt. John Harkness is assigned as the new skipper of a submarine chaser equipped with an experimental steam engine, he hopes that the U.S.S. Teakettle's veterans will afford him enough help to accomplish the ship's goals. Unfortunately, he finds the crew and its officers share his novice status or only have experience in diesel engines.
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The Big Steal
as Joan 'Chiquita' Graham
Army Lieutenant Halliday, accused of stealing the Army payroll, pursues the real thief on a frantic chase through Mexico aided by the thief's ex-girlfriend and is in turn being chased by his accuser, Capt. Blake.
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Station West
as Charlie
When two US cavalrymen transporting a gold shipment get killed, US Army Intelligence investigator John Haven goes undercover to a mining and logging town to find the killers.
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They Won't Believe Me
as Janice Bell
On trial for murdering his girlfriend, philandering stockbroker Larry Ballentine takes the stand to claim his innocence and describe the actual, but improbable sounding, sequence of events that led to her death.
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Out of the Past
as Kathie Moffat
Jeff Bailey seems to be a mundane gas station owner in remote Bridgeport, California. He is dating local girl Ann Miller and lives a quiet life. But Jeff has a secret past, and when a mysterious stranger arrives in town, Jeff is forced to return to the dark world he had tried to escape.
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Sinbad the Sailor
as Pirouze
Daredevil sailor Sinbad embarks on a voyage across the Seven Seas to find the lost riches of Alexander the Great. His first stop is the port of Basra, where his ship is seized and scheduled for auction. In his attempt to win it back, he befriends beautiful concubine Shireen. But when her master, the nefarious Emir, calls her back to duty, Sinbad must interrupt his adventure to save the "Jewel of Persia."
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The Bamboo Blonde
as Eileen Sawyer
A pilot of a B 29 meets Louise Anderson, a singer in a New York nightclub. He falls in love with her, but he had to leave next day for action in the Pacific. He lets paint her picture on his bomber, the "Bamboo Blonde" and becomes a hero with his crew sinking a Japanese battleship and shooting down a Japanese fighter wing. Back in New York, he leaves his fiancée and engages him to Louise.
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The Falcon's Alibi
as Lola Carpenter
A society sleuth sets out on the trail of a society matron's lost jewels.
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Sunset Pass
as Lolite Baxter
A young outlaw gets involved with a gang of crooks. When he tells them he is breaking away, they threaten to pin a false murder charge on him. But he is rescued and reformed by his sister, and an undercover agent for the express company.
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George White's Scandals
as Billie Randall
Two couples work through their issues in this backstage Broadway musical.
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Two O'Clock Courage
as Helen Carter (as Bettejane Greer)
After nearly running over him with her cab, Patty Mitchell picks up a fare who claims to have amnesia. As he fumbles to remember the basic facts of his identity, Patty becomes interested in the stranger and decides to help him in his search. But as the pieces of the puzzle begin to fall into place, and Patty's interest becomes more personal, the stranger finds that he is the prime suspect in a murder case.
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Dick Tracy
as Judith Owens
Detective Tracy (Morgan Conway) rescues Tess Trueheart (Anne Jeffreys) and Junior from a killer called Splitface (Mike Mazurki).
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Pan-Americana
as Miss Downing (uncredited)
A New York magazine sends its editors to South America to find beautiful girls.
