Shirley Deane | |
Birth Date: | March 16, 1913 |
Birth Place: | Fresno, California |
Death Date: | April 26, 1983 (aged 70) |
Death Place: | Glendale, California, U.S. |
Birthname: | Shirley Deane Blattenberger |
Occupation: | Actress |
Yearsactive: | 1933–1940 |
Shirley Deane (born Shirley Deane Blattenberger; March 16, 1913 – April 26, 1983) was an American film actress.
Born in Fresno, California, to Jesse H. Blattenberger and his wife Zola (née Redden), she was raised by her maternal grandmother.[1]
Deane was best known as an actress for playing "Bonnie Jones" in 20th Century Fox's Jones Family series of films.[2] She was under contract with 20th Century Fox, and she acted in Prairie Moon (1936), the Flash Gordon serial, and some of the Charlie Chan films. She was the original choice for the title role in the Blondie film series, a role that went to Penny Singleton after Deane was considered to be "too harsh when she nagged Dagwood", while Singleton came across as softer and sweeter.[3]
Deane also toured in revues, singing "some stirring patriotic and soft sentimental numbers".[4] She was the headline attraction in Star Dust Revue, a stage show that toured the southern United States in 1942,[5] and she performed in U. S. military camps.[6]
On December 20, 1941, Dean married theatrical agent Thomas Kettering Jr. in Reno, Nevada.[7] Deane left the film business in the 1940s, when she began her family. She died of cancer in Glendale Memorial Hospital in Glendale, California, on April 26, 1983, aged 70.[8]
Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|
1933 | Dancing Lady | Chorus Girl | Uncredited | |
1934 | Stand Up and Cheer! | Dancer | Uncredited | |
1935 | Dante's Inferno | Passenger in Boiler Room | Uncredited | |
1935 | Redheads on Parade | Minor Role | Uncredited | |
1935 | Metropolitan | Girl Who Sings Flat | Uncredited | |
1936 | King of Burlesque | Phyllis Sears | ||
1936 | Charlie Chan at the Circus | Louise Norman | ||
1936 | The First Baby | Trudy Wells | ||
1936 | Educating Father | Bonnie Jones | ||
1936 | Girls' Dormitory | Fritzi | ||
1936 | Back to Nature | Bonnie Jones | ||
1936 | One in a Million | Girl in Band | ||
1937 | On the Avenue | Chorus Girl | Uncredited | |
1937 | Off to the Races | Bonnie Jones | ||
1937 | Nancy Steele Is Missing! | Nancy | ||
1937 | The Jones Family in Big Business | Bonnie Jones | ||
1937 | Hot Water | |||
1937 | Borrowing Trouble | |||
1938 | Love on a Budget | Bonnie Thompson | ||
1938 | A Trip to Paris | |||
1938 | Safety in Numbers | |||
1938 | Prairie Moon | Peggy Shaw | ||
1939 | Everybody's Baby | Bonnie Thompson | ||
1939 | Undercover Agent | Betty Madison | ||
1940 | Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe | Princess Aura | Serial | |
1940 | Private Affairs | First Girl in Bridge Game | Uncredited (final film role) |