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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Jane Greer Biography / Wiki
Name | Jane Greer |
Also Know | Bettejane Greer |
Gender | Female |
Known For | Acting |
Place of Birth | Washington, D.C., United States |
Date of Birth | 1924-09-09 |
Age(as in 2022) | 76 |
Deathday | 2001-08-24 |
Jane Greer Acting Movies
Movie Name | Character | Release Date | Overview |
Out of the Past | Kathie Moffat | 1947-11-25 | Jeff Bailey seems to be a mundane gas station owner in remote Bridgeport, CA. He is dating local girl Ann Miller and lives a quiet life. But Jeff has … |
The Company She Keeps | Diane Stuart aka Mildred Lynch | 1951-01-27 | A lady con artist sets out to steal her parole officer’s fiance…. |
Station West | Charlie | 1948-09-01 | When two US cavalrymen transporting a gold shipment get killed, US Army Intelligence investigator John Haven goes undercover to a mining and logging t… |
The Big Steal | Joan ‘Chiquita’ Graham | 1949-07-01 | 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-girlf… |
You’re in the Navy Now | Ellie C. Harkness | 1951-02-23 | 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. Teake… |
The Clown | Paula Henderson | 1953-01-16 | Once a famous Ziegfeld star, Dodo Delwyn, is reduced to playing clowns in burlesque and amusement parks as a result of his drinking. His son Little Di… |
Desperate Search | Julie Heldon | 1952-11-19 | 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…. |
Down Among the Sheltering Palms | Diana Forrester | 1953-03-01 | War-weary Captain Willoby and his men are the occupation force on an island of lovely women…and are forbidden to fraternize…. |
You for Me | Katie McDermad | 1952-07-19 | A good-hearted nurse gets mixed up with a millionaire who could help her hospital…. |
They Won’t Believe Me | Janice Bell | 1947-07-16 | On trial for murdering his girlfriend, philandering stockbroker Larry Ballentine takes the stand to claim his innocence and describe the actual, but i… |
Man of a Thousand Faces | Hazel Bennet Chaney | 1957-08-15 | The turbulent life and professional career of vaudeville actor and silent screen horror star Lon Chaney (1883-1930), the man of a thousand faces; bear… |
Run for the Sun | Katherine ‘Katie’ Connors | 1956-07-30 | Mike, a Hemingway-esque adventure novelist, is spending his days in a self-imposed exile somewhere in Central America. A reporter for Sight Magazine, … |
Billie | Agnes Carol | 1965-12-13 | A 16-year-old tomboy and high school athlete becomes embroiled with the lives around her boyfriend whose conservative father is running for mayor…. |
The Prisoner of Zenda | Antoinette de Mauban | 1952-11-04 | An Englishman vacationing in Ruritania is recruited to impersonate his cousin, the soon-to-be-crowned king after the monarch is drugged and kidnapped…. |
The Falcon’s Alibi | Lola Carpenter | 1946-04-12 | A society sleuth sets out on the trail of a society matron’s lost jewels…. |
Dick Tracy | Judith Owens | 1945-12-01 | Detective Tracy (Morgan Conway) rescues Tess Trueheart (Anne Jeffreys) and Junior from a killer called Splitface (Mike Mazurki)…. |
Sunset Pass | Lolite Baxter | 1946-07-08 | 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 … |
Gary Cooper: The Face of a Hero | Self | 1998-03-17 | Known for his personification of the Western Hero, it was Montana-born Cooper’s horse-riding skills that first brought him bit parts in movies. And he… |
Against All Odds | Mrs. Wyler | 1984-03-02 | 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 he… |
Where Love Has Gone | Marian Spicer | 1964-11-02 | A divorced couple’s teen-age daughter stands trial for stabbing her mother’s latest lover…. |
Just Between Friends | Ruth Chadwick | 1986-03-21 | 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 r… |
Sinbad the Sailor | Pirouze | 1947-01-13 | 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,… |
The Bamboo Blonde | Eileen Sawyer | 1946-07-15 | 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 P… |
Robert Mitchum: The Reluctant Star | Herself | 1991-03-10 | A retrospective on the career of Robert Mitchum through interviews with friends and co-workers, scenes from his films, and the actor himself…. |
Two O’Clock Courage | Helen Carter (as Bettejane Greer) | 1945-04-13 | 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 hi… |
George White’s Scandals | Billie Randall | 1945-10-09 | Two couples work through their issues in this backstage Broadway musical…. |
Pan-Americana | Miss Downing (uncredited) | 1945-03-22 | A New York magazine sends its editors to South America to find beautiful girls…. |
Immediate Family | Michael’s Mother | 1989-10-27 | 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 expecti… |
Film Noir: Bringing Darkness to Light | Self | 2006-07-18 | Film Noir burrows into the mind; it’s disorienting, intriguing and enthralling. Noir brings us into a gritty underworld of lush morbidity, providing i… |
The Outfit | Alma | 1973-10-01 | 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 unsucc… |
The Shadow Riders | Ma Traven | 1982-09-28 | After starring in “The Sacketts”, Tom Selleck and Sam Elliott team up again but this time as Mac and Dal Traven, in a movie based on a classic Louis L… |
Credit: TMDB
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