Jean Kent

Birthday: 1921-06-29
Deathday: 2013-11-30
Birthplace: Brixton, London, England, UK
Gender: Female
Owned By: Unowned

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jean Kent (29 June 1921 - 30 November 2013) was a British film actress.

She signed to Gainsborough Pictures during the Second World War. Kent's first good role in Two Thousand Women (1944), playing a stripper who is interned by the Germans. She was a Pacific Islander in Bees in Paradise (1944) with Arthur Askey and was the ingenue in a Tommy Trinder musical Champagne Charlie (1944).

The turning point in her career came when she was given a dramatic part in the Gainsborough melodrama film Fanny by Gaslight (1944). The movie established Kent as Gainsborough's backup to Margaret Lockwood.

Kent played another sexually aggressive girl in Madonna of the Seven Moons (1945) with Calvert and Granger. It was a big hit. Rank borrowed her to support Rex Harrison in The Rake's Progress (1945).

Kent continued to have success in films. Her favorite film was musical Trottie True (1949) where she played the lead.

Kent's film appearances grew less frequent from the mid 1950s onward. She had support roles in The Prince and the Showgirl (1957) and Bonjour Tristesse (1958) and a good part in the horror film The Haunted Strangler (1959). She was in the comedy Please Turn Over (1959) and the thriller Beyond This Place (1959). She was one of several female stars in Bluebeard's Ten Honeymoons (1960) with George Sanders.

Kent was married to Austrian actor Josef Ramart from 1946 until his death in 1989, aged 70. They met on the set of Caravan. Actor Stewart Granger was the best man at their wedding. They appeared together in the films Caravan and Trottie True. Kent made her last public appearance in June 2011, when she was honoured by the British Film Institute on her 90th birthday.

Kent died in the West Suffolk Hospital, Bury St. Edmunds on 30 November 2013, following a fall at her home in Westhorpe. The coroner recorded a narrative verdict that Kent died from accidental injuries and that cardiac disease may have contributed to a fall.

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Credits

Year Title Character
1990-05-30 Missing Persons Phillida Meadowhite
1976-04-12 Shout at the Devil Mrs. Smythe
1974-03-02 K is for Killing Mrs. Garrick
1960-04-02 Bluebeard's 10 Honeymoons Julienne
1959-12-17 Please Turn Over Janet Halliday
1959-04-28 Web of Evidence Louise Burt
1958-05-11 Grip of the Strangler Cora Seth
1958-01-15 Bonjour Tristesse Mrs. Helen Lombard
1957-06-13 The Prince and the Showgirl Maisie Springfield
1955-02-10 Before I Wake Florence Haddon
1952-09-01 The Big Frame Louise Parker
1951-04-06 The Browning Version Millie Crocker-Harris
1950-10-03 The Woman in Question Agnes / Madame Astra / Parrot (voice)
1950-05-11 Her Favourite Husband Dorothy Pellegrini
1950-05-01 The Reluctant Widow Elinor Cheviot
1949-09-29 Trottie True Trottie True
1948-10-06 Sleeping Car to Trieste Valya
1948-05-12 Bond Street Ricki Merritt
1948-04-28 Good-Time Girl Gwen Rawlings
1947-06-08 The Loves of Joanna Godden Ellen Godden
1947-05-19 The Man Within Lucy
1946-12-02 Carnival Irene Dale
1946-09-20 The Magic Bow Bianchi
1946-06-03 Caravan Rosal
1945-12-06 The Rake's Progress Jill Duncan
1945-11-15 The Wicked Lady Jackson's Doxy
1945-02-05 Waterloo Road Toni
1945-01-22 Madonna of the Seven Moons Vittoria
1944-11-06 Two Thousand Women Bridie Johnson
1944-08-25 Champagne Charlie Dolly Bellwood
1944-06-01 Soldier, Sailor Cigarette Girl
1944-05-08 Fanny by Gaslight Lucy Beckett
1944-03-20 Bees in Paradise Jani
1943-07-13 Warn That Man Frances Lane
1943-06-14 Miss London Ltd. The Encyclopedia Girl
1943-03-22 It's That Man Again Kitty