Jean Kent

Jean Kent

1921-06-29 – 2013-11-30 (age 92) Brixton, London, England, UK
View on IMDb ↗

Biography

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.

Description above from the Wikipedia article Jean Kent, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Photos

Known For

Bonjour Tristesse
Bonjour Tristesse

1958

as Mrs. Helen Lombard

The Prince and the Showgirl
The Prince and the Showgirl

1957

as Maisie Springfield

Shout at the Devil
Shout at the Devil

1976

as Mrs. Smythe

Caravan
Caravan

1946

as Rosal

The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind
The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind

1988

as Self (archive footage)

Web of Evidence
Web of Evidence

1959

as Louise Burt

Please Turn Over
Please Turn Over

1959

as Janet Halliday

Madonna of the Seven Moons
The Browning Version
The Browning Version

1951

as Millie Crocker-Harris

Fanny by Gaslight
Fanny by Gaslight

1944

as Lucy Beckett

K Is for Killing
K Is for Killing

1974

as Mrs. Garrick

The Wicked Lady
The Wicked Lady

1945

as Jackson's Doxy

Good-Time Girl
Good-Time Girl

1948

as Gwen Rawlings

Two Thousand Women
Two Thousand Women

1944

as Bridie Johnson

The Woman in Question
The Woman in Question

1950

as Agnes / Madame Astra / Parrot (voice)

Grip of the Strangler
Grip of the Strangler

1958

as Cora Seth

The Rake's Progress
The Rake's Progress

1945

as Jill Duncan

Champagne Charlie
Champagne Charlie

1944

as Dolly Bellwood

Carnival
Carnival

1946

as Irene Dale

The Magic Bow
The Magic Bow

1946

as Bianchi