Jean Adair was a Canadian actress.

Born as Violet McNaughton, she worked primarily on stage but also made several film appearances late in her career, most notably as one of Cary Grant

Cary Grant

Archibald Alexander Leach , better known by his stage name Cary Grant, was an English actor who later took U.S. citizenship...

's dotty old aunts in Arsenic and Old Lace

Arsenic and Old Lace (film)

Arsenic and Old Lace is a 1944 film directed by Frank Capra based on Joseph Kesselring's play of the same name. The script adaptation was by twins Julius J. Epstein and Philip G. Epstein. Capra actually filmed the movie in 1941, but it was not released until 1944, after the original stage version...

, a role she originated on Broadway. Like many stage actresses of her era, she also appeared in vaudeville

Vaudeville

Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...

.

He was born in Hamilton, Ontario

Hamilton, Ontario

Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812, Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 and died in New York City, New York, at age 79.

Filmography

• Advice to the Lovelorn (1933) (uncredited)
• Arsenic and Old Lace
  Arsenic and Old Lace (film)
  Arsenic and Old Lace is a 1944 film directed by Frank Capra based on Joseph Kesselring's play of the same name. The script adaptation was by twins Julius J. Epstein and Philip G. Epstein. Capra actually filmed the movie in 1941, but it was not released until 1944, after the original stage version...
  
  (1944) as Aunt Martha Brewster
• Living in a Big Way
  Living in a Big Way
  Living in a Big Way is an American musical comedy film starring Gene Kelly and Marie McDonald as a couple who marry during World War II after only knowing each other a short time.- Synopsis :...
  
  (1947) as Abigail Morgan
• Something in the Wind (1947) as Aunt Mary Collins
• The Naked City
  The Naked City
  The Naked City is a 1948 black-and-white film noir directed by Jules Dassin. The movie, shot partially in documentary style, was filmed on location on the streets of New York City, featuring landmarks such as the Williamsburg Bridge the Whitehall Building and an apartment building on West 83rd...
  
  (1948)

Broadway productions

• It's a Boy! (1922-?)
• The Jay Walker (1926)
• Devils (1926)
• The Good Fellow (1926)
• Machinal (1928)
• That Ferguson Family (1928-9)
• Scarlet Pages (1929)
• Everything's Jake (1930)
• Rock Me, Julie (1931)
• Blessed Event (1932)
• Best Years (1932)
• Black Sheep (1932)
• The Show Off (1932-3)
• For Services Rendered (1933)
• Murder at the Vanities (1933-4)
• Broomsticks, Amen! (1934)
• Picnic (1934-?)
• Mid-West (1936-?)
• Sun Kissed (1937-?)
• On Borrowed Time (1938)
• Morning's at Seven (1939-40)
• Goodbye in the Night (1940)
• Arsenic and Old Lace (1941-4)
• Star-Spangled Family (1945)
• The Next Half Hour (1945)
• Detective Story (1949-50)
• Bell, Book and Candle (1950-1)
• The Crucible (1953)

External links

• Jean Adair at IBDb.com
• Jean Adair(NY Public Library, Billy Rose collection)