Jean Kent
Encyclopedia
Jean Kent is a British
film
actress who appeared in a number of the Gainsborough melodramas
of the 1940s.
, London
as Joan Mildred Summerfield. She started her theatrical career as a dancer in 1931. Initially, she used the stage name of Jean Carr when she appeared as a chorus girl in the Windmill Theatre
in London. She signed to Gainsborough Pictures
during the Second World War
and the turning point in her career came when she was given a dramatic part in Fanny by Gaslight
. She appeared in a large number British films during the 1940s and 1950s which included many successful British melodrama
tic films. The latter part of her acting career was in television. She was married to the Austrian Josef Ramart from 1946 until his death in 1989. They appeared together in the films Caravan
and Trottie True
.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
actress who appeared in a number of the Gainsborough melodramas
Gainsborough melodramas
The Gainsborough melodramas were a sequence of films produced by the British film studio Gainsborough Pictures during the 1940s which conformed to a melodramatic style. The melodramas were not a film series but an unrelated sequence of films which had similar themes and frequently recurring actors...
of the 1940s.
Biography
Jean Kent was born in BrixtonBrixton
Brixton is a district in the London Borough of Lambeth in south London, England. It is south south-east of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London....
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
as Joan Mildred Summerfield. She started her theatrical career as a dancer in 1931. Initially, she used the stage name of Jean Carr when she appeared as a chorus girl in the Windmill Theatre
Windmill Theatre
The Windmill Theatre, later The Windmill International, was a variety and revue theatre in Great Windmill Street, London. The theatre was famous for its nude tableaux vivants...
in London. She signed to Gainsborough Pictures
Gainsborough Pictures
Gainsborough Pictures was a British film studio based on the south bank of the Regent's Canal, in Poole Street, Hoxton in the former Metropolitan Borough of Shoreditch, London. Gainsborough Studios were active between 1924 and 1951. Built as a power station for the Great Northern & City Railway it...
during the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and the turning point in her career came when she was given a dramatic part in Fanny by Gaslight
Fanny by Gaslight (film)
Fanny by Gaslight was a 1944 British drama film, produced by Gainsborough Pictures, set in the 1870s and adapted from a novel by Michael Sadleir . It was one of its famous period-set "Gainsborough melodramas"...
. She appeared in a large number British films during the 1940s and 1950s which included many successful British melodrama
Melodrama
The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...
tic films. The latter part of her acting career was in television. She was married to the Austrian Josef Ramart from 1946 until his death in 1989. They appeared together in the films Caravan
Caravan (1946 film)
Caravan is a 1946 British drama film directed by Arthur Crabtree. It was one of the Gainsborough Melodramas and is based on a novel Caravan by Eleanor Smith....
and Trottie True
Trottie True
Trottie True is a 1949 British musical comedy film directed by Brian Desmond Hurst and starring Jean Kent, James Donald and Hugh Sinclair. It was adapted from a play by Caryl Brahms and S. J...
.
Filmography
- Who's Your Father (1935)
- It's That Man AgainIt's That Man AgainIt's That Man Again was a BBC radio comedy programme which ran from 1939 to 1949. The title was a contemporary phrase referring to ever more frequent news-stories about Hitler in the lead-up to World War II, and specifically a headline in the Daily Express written by Bert Gunn...
(1943) - Miss London Ltd.Miss London Ltd.Miss London Ltd. is a 1943 British, black-and-white, comedy, musical, war film, directed by Val Guest and starring Ronald Shiner as Sailor Meredith and Arthur Askey as Arthur Bowden...
(1943) - Warn That ManWarn that ManWarn That Man is a 1943 British thriller film directed by Lawrence Huntington and starring Gordon Harker, Raymond Lovell and Finlay Currie. It was based on a play by Vernon Sylvaine. During the Second World War, the niece of a peer is kidnapped and an impersonater takes her place as part of a...
(1943) - Soldier, Sailor (1944)
- Two Thousand WomenTwo Thousand WomenTwo Thousand Women is a 1944 British comedy-drama war film about a camp of interned British women in Occupied France. Three RAF aircrewmen whose bomber had been shot down enter the camp and are hidden by the women from the Germans...
(1944) - Bees in ParadiseBees in ParadiseBees in Paradise is a 1944 British musical comedy film directed by Val Guest and starring Arthur Askey, Anne Shelton and Peter Graves. It was produced by Edward Black at Gainsborough Pictures.-Synopsis:...
(1944) - Champagne CharlieChampagne Charlie (film)Champagne Charlie is a 1944 British musical film made by Ealing Studios. It is based on an 1860s play that depicted the real life rivalry between George Leybourne, who first performed the song of that name, and Alfred Vance....
(1944) - Fanny by GaslightFanny by Gaslight (film)Fanny by Gaslight was a 1944 British drama film, produced by Gainsborough Pictures, set in the 1870s and adapted from a novel by Michael Sadleir . It was one of its famous period-set "Gainsborough melodramas"...
(1945) - Madonna of the Seven MoonsMadonna of the Seven MoonsMadonna of the Seven Moons is a 1945 British drama film directed by Arthur Crabtree and starring Phyllis Calvert, Stewart Granger and Patricia Roc. The film was one of the Gainsborough melodramas. It was based on a novel by Margery Lawrence.-Plot:...
(1945) - The Wicked LadyThe Wicked LadyThe Wicked Lady is a 1945 film starring Margaret Lockwood in the title role as a nobleman's wife who secretly becomes a highwayman for the excitement...
(1945) - The Rake's ProgressThe Rake's Progress (film)The Rake's Progress is a 1945 British comedy-drama film made in 1945. In the United States, the title was changed to Notorious Gentleman.- Plot :...
(1945) - Waterloo RoadWaterloo Road (film)Waterloo Road is a 1945 British film based on the Waterloo area of South London. It was directed by Sidney Gilliat.-Plot:John Mills plays an AWOL squaddie who returns to south London to save his wife from the advances of a philandering draft-dodger played by Stewart Granger.-Cast:* John Mills as...
(1945) - CaravanCaravan (1946 film)Caravan is a 1946 British drama film directed by Arthur Crabtree. It was one of the Gainsborough Melodramas and is based on a novel Caravan by Eleanor Smith....
(1946) - The Magic BowThe Magic BowThe Magic Bow is a 1946 British musical film based on the life of the Italian violinist and composer Niccolò Paganini. It was directed by Bernard Knowles...
(1946) - CarnivalCarnival (1946 film)-Cast:*Sally Gray as Jenny Pearl*Michael Wilding as Maurice Avery*Stanley Holloway as Charlie Raeburn*Bernard Miles as Trewhella*Jean Kent as Irene Dale*Catherine Lacey as Florrie Raeburn*Nancy Price as Mrs. Trewhella*Hazel Court as Mae Raeburn...
(1946) - The Man WithinThe Man Within (film)The Man Within is a 1947 British, Technicolor, adventure, crime, drama film, directed by Bernard Knowles and starring Ronald Shiner as Cockney Harry, Michael Redgrave, Jean Kent, Joan Greenwood and Richard Attenborough. It was produced by Triton Films and Production Film Service. The film was also...
(1947) - The Loves of Joanna GoddenThe Loves of Joanna GoddenThe Loves of Joanna Godden is a 1947 British historical drama film directed by Charles Frend and produced by Michael Balcon. The screenplay was written by H E Bates and Angus McPhail from the novel by Sheila Kaye-Smith. It stars Googie Withers, Jean Kent, John McCallum, Derek Bond, Chips Rafferty...
(1947) - Just for FunJust for FunJust for Fun: The Story of an Accidental Revolutionary is a humorous autobiography of Linus Torvalds, the creator of the Linux kernel, co-written with David Diamond. The book explains Linus' view of himself, the free software movement and the development of Linux.Linus's contribution to the...
(1947, TV film) - Good-Time GirlGood-Time GirlGood-Time Girl is a 1948 British drama film directed by David MacDonald. The film was based on Arthur La Bern's novel "Night Darkens the Street."-Plot:...
(1948) - Bond StreetBond Street (film)Bond Street is a 1948 British drama film directed by Gordon Parry and based on a story by Terence Rattigan. It starred Jean Kent, Roland Young, Kathleen Harrison and Derek Farr...
(1948) - Sleeping Car to TriesteSleeping Car to TriesteSleeping Car to Trieste is a 1948 is a British film directed by John Paddy Carstairs. The film is a remake of the 1932 film Rome Express, with essentially the same characters and many of the same actors.-Plot:...
(1948) - Trottie TrueTrottie TrueTrottie True is a 1949 British musical comedy film directed by Brian Desmond Hurst and starring Jean Kent, James Donald and Hugh Sinclair. It was adapted from a play by Caryl Brahms and S. J...
(1949) - Her Favourite HusbandHer Favourite HusbandHer Favourite Husband is a 1950 British-Italian comedy film directed by Mario Soldati and starring Jean Kent, Robert Beatty and Margaret Rutherford. It was based on a play by Peppino De Filippo...
(1950) - The Woman in QuestionThe Woman in QuestionThe Woman in Question is 1950 British mystery film directed by Anthony Asquith and starring Jean Kent, Dirk Bogarde and John McCallum...
(1950) - The Reluctant WidowThe Reluctant Widow (film)The Reluctant Widow is a 1950 British drama film directed by Bernard Knowles and starring Jean Kent, Guy Rolfe, Paul Dupuis and Lana Morris. It is based on the novel The Reluctant Widow by Georgette Heyer, with the screenplay written by Gordon Wellesley and others. A French governess marries a...
(1950) - The Browning VersionThe Browning Version (1951 film)The Browning Version is a 1951 British film based on the 1948 play of the same name by Terence Rattigan. It was directed by Anthony Asquith and starred Michael Redgrave.-Plot:...
(1951) - The Lost HoursThe Lost HoursThe Lost Hours is a 1952 British drama film directed by David MacDonald and starring Mark Stevens, Jean Kent and Garry Marsh. An American returns for a reunion in the United Kingdom, where he served as a pilot during the Second World War, but finds himself framed for a murder he didn't...
(1952) - Before I WakeBefore I Wake (film)Before I Wake is a 1954 British mystery film directed by Albert S. Rogell and starring Mona Freeman, Jean Kent and Maxwell Reed. A stepmother attempts to murder her adopted daughter in order to get her inheritance.-Cast:* Mona Freeman ... April Haddon...
(1954) - The Prince and the ShowgirlThe Prince and the ShowgirlThe Prince and the Showgirl is a 1957 American film produced at Pinewood Studios starring Marilyn Monroe and co-starring Laurence Olivier who also served as director and producer.The film was released on 13 June 1957...
(1957) - Bonjour Tristesse (1958)
- The Haunted StranglerThe Haunted StranglerThe Haunted Strangler is a 1958 British horror film directed by Robert Day. It was adapted from "Stranglehold", a story which screenwriter Jan Read had written specially for Boris Karloff, and was shot back to back with producer Richard Gordon's Fiend Without a Face, with both later being...
(1958) - Please Turn OverPlease Turn OverPlease Turn Over is a 1959 British comedy film written by Norman Hudis and directed by Gerald Thomas. It featured Ted Ray, Julia Lockwood, Jean Kent, Joan Sims, Leslie Phillips, Charles Hawtrey, Lionel Jeffries and Victor Maddern. An English village is thrown into chaos when the daughter of one of...
(1959) - Web of EvidenceWeb of EvidenceWeb of Evidence is a 1959 British film based on the novel, Beyond This Place, by A. J. Cronin. It was directed by Jack Cardiff and stars Van Johnson and Vera Miles. The original title was kept for the film's European release, though it was given an alternate title for the American release...
(1959) - Shout at the DevilShout at the Devil (film)Shout at the Devil is a British film directed by Peter R. Hunt and starring Lee Marvin and Roger Moore.The picture is a comedic adventure story set in Zanzibar and German East Africa in 1913-1915 based on a novel written by Wilbur Smith and is very loosely inspired by real events.-Plot:It tells...
(1976) - Missing PersonsMissing PersonsMissing Persons is an American band who plays a blend of New Wave and Pop rock. The band was founded in 1980 in Los Angeles by guitarist Warren Cuccurullo, vocalist Dale Bozzio, and drummer Terry Bozzio. They went on to add bassist Patrick O'Hearn and keyboardist Chuck Wild. Dale's quirky voice...
(1990, TV film)