Adele Jergens
Adele Jergens (November 26, 1917 – November 22, 2002) was an American actress.
Adele Jergens | |
|---|---|
 Jergens pin-up, July 1945 | |
| Born | Adele Louisa Jurgens (or Jurgenson) November 26, 1917 Brooklyn, New York. U.S. |
| Died | November 22, 2002 (aged 84) Camarillo, California, U.S. |
| Resting place | Oakwood Memorial Park Cemetery Pioneer Section, Lot 553, Grave 1 |
| Years active | 1943–1956 |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 1 |
Early life and career
Born in Brooklyn, New York, as Adele Louisa Jurgens (some sources say Jurgenson), she rose to prominence in the late 1930s when she was named "Miss World's Fairest" at the 1939 New York World's Fair. In the early 1940s, she briefly worked as a Rockette and was named the number-one showgirl in New York City.
After a few years of working as a model and chorus girl, including being an understudy to Gypsy Rose Lee in the Broadway show Star and Garter in 1942, Jergens landed a movie contract with Columbia Pictures in 1944, and dyed her brown hair blonde.
At the beginning of her career, she was usually cast as a blonde floozy or burlesque dancer, such as in Down to Earth starring Rita Hayworth (1947) and The Dark Past starring William Holden (1948).
She played Marilyn Monroe's mother in Ladies of the Chorus (1948) despite being only nine years older than Monroe. She played an exotic dancer in Armored Car Robbery and a criminal's girl in Try and Get Me (both 1950), and appeared in the movie Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951).
She had a part in The Cobweb (1955), directed by Vincente Minnelli and starring Richard Widmark and Lauren Bacall. She worked in the 1950s radio show Stand By for Crime as Glamourpuss Carol Curtis alongside her real-life husband Glenn Langan as Chuck Morgan.
Personal life and death
In 1949, while filming Treasure of Monte Cristo, a film noir set in San Francisco, she met and married co-star Glenn Langan. They remained married until his death from lymphoma on January 26, 1991, at age 73.
They had one child, a son named Tracy Langan, who eventually worked in Hollywood as a film technician. Tracy died of a brain tumor in 2001.
Death
Adele Jergens-Langan, who retired from the screen in 1956, died on November 22, 2002, from pneumonia in her Camarillo, California, home. Her death occurred four days before her 85th birthday.
She was buried beside her husband and son at Oakwood Memorial Park Cemetery in Chatsworth, California, under the headstone marked Langan.
Selected filmography
- Hello Frisco, Hello (1943) – Chorine (uncredited)
- Sweet Rosie O'Grady (1943) – Diner at Delmonico's / Chorus Girl (uncredited)
- Jane Eyre (1943) – Woman at Party (uncredited)
- The Gang's All Here (1943) – Chorus Girl (uncredited)
- Pin Up Girl (1944) – Canteen Worker (uncredited)
- Black Arrow (1944) – Mary Brent
- Dancing in Manhattan (1944) – Darnelle (uncredited)
- Together Again (1944) – Gilda LaVerne (uncredited)
- Tonight and Every Night (1945) – Showgirl (uncredited)
- A Thousand and One Nights (1945) – Princess Armina
- State Fair (1945) – Girl on Rollercoaster (uncredited)
- Fallen Angel (1945) – Woman at Madley's Show (uncredited)
- She Wouldn't Say Yes (1945) – Allura
- The Corpse Came C.O.D. (1947) – Mona Harrison
- Down to Earth (1947) – Georgia Evans
- When a Girl's Beautiful (1947) – Adele Jordan
- Blondie's Anniversary (1947) – Gloria Stafford
- The Prince of Thieves (1948) – Lady Christabel
- I Love Trouble (1948) – Boots Nestor
- The Woman from Tangier (1948) – Nylon
- The Fuller Brush Man (1948) – Miss Sharmley
- The Dark Past (1948) – Laura Stevens
- Ladies of the Chorus (1948) – Mae Martin
- Slightly French (1949) – Yvonne La Tour
- Law of the Barbary Coast (1949) – Lita
- The Crime Doctor's Diary (1949) – Inez Gray
- Make Believe Ballroom (1949) – Adele Jergens
- The Mutineers (1949) – Norma Harrison
- Treasure of Monte Cristo (1949) – Jean Turner
- The Traveling Saleswoman (1950) – Lilly
- Radar Secret Service (1950) – Lila
- Blonde Dynamite (1950) – Joan Marshall
- Side Street (1950) – Lucille 'Lucky' Colner
- Everybody's Dancin' (1950) – Adele Jergens
- Beware of Blondie (1950) – Toby Clifton
- Armored Car Robbery (1950) – Yvonne LeDoux
- Edge of Doom (1950) – Irene
- Blues Busters (1950) – Lola Stanton
- The Sound of Fury (1950) – Velma
- Sugarfoot (1951) – Reva Cairn
- Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951) – Boots Marsden
- Show Boat (1951) – Cameo McQueen (uncredited)
- Aaron Slick from Punkin Crick (1952) – Gladys
- Somebody Loves Me (1952) – Nola Beach
- Overland Pacific (1954) – Jessie Loraine
- Fireman Save My Child (1954) – Harry's Wife
- The Miami Story (1954) – Gwen Abbott
- The Big Chase (1954) – Doris Grayson
- Strange Lady in Town (1955) – Bella Brown
- Outlaw Treasure (1955) – Rita Starr
- The Cobweb (1955) – Miss Cobb
- The Lonesome Trail (1955) – Mae
- Day the World Ended (1955) – Ruby
- Girls in Prison (1956) – Jenny
- Fighting Trouble (1956) – Mae Randle
- Runaway Daughters (1956) – Dixie Jackson
References
External links
- Adele Jergens at IMDb
- Adele Jergens at the Internet Broadway Database
- Adele Jergens Los Angeles Times Obituaries
- Adele Jergens at Find a Grave
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