The Jean Hagen Centennial

Born 100 years ago today, actress Jean Hagen (Jean ver Hagen, 1923-1977), not be confused with That Hagen Girl, who of course was Shirley Temple, opposite Ronald Reagan.

Chicago native Hagen took her drama degree from Northwestern, where she was the college roommate of Patricia Neal. Upon graduating in 1945, Hagen got a regular role in the radio sit-com Those Websters (1946-48), a spin-off of That Webster Boy, which starred Dick York (lated of Bewitched). The same year, she was cast in the original Broadway production of Lillian Hellman’sAnother Part of the Forest, which also featured Neal. She was in a 1948 revival ofIbsen’s Ghosts with Eva La Gallienne and Herbert Berghof, followed by Herman Wouk’sThe Traitor (1949) with Walter Hampden, Lee Tracy, and Wesley Addy. In 1947 she married Broadway actor Tom Seidel, then appearing in the original production of Harvey.

In Hollywood pictures, Hagen was often cast in supporting parts as beautiful but loose, bad, or otherwise troublesome women. Her films included Adam’s Rib (1949) with Tracy and Hepburn, Side Street (1950, pictured above), Ambush (1950), The Asphalt Jungle (1950, asSterling Hayden’s girl “Doll”), A Life Her Own (1950) with Lana Turner, and Singin’ in the Rain (1952), for which she was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for her role as Lina Lamont.

From 1953 to 1956 Hagen co-starred with Danny Thomas on the TV sit-com Make Room For Daddy, leaving the show abruptly after the third season over frequent clashes with the star. Ironically she was nominated for an Emmy for her work on the show that year. The producers wrote her character out entirely. On the show, it was explained that her character had died. Meantime, she appeared in the screen version of Odets The Big Knife (1955). Her later films include The Shaggy Dog (1959, as Fred MacMurray’s wife), Sunrise at Campobello (1960), Panic in the Year Zero (1962, as Ray Milland’s wife), and the priceless Dead Ringer (1964) with Bette Davis.

By 1965, both her career and her marriage had ended due to her severe alcoholism (apparently having taken away the wrong lessons from Harvey and Milland’s Lost Weekend). Three years later she lapsed into a coma from the condition and was hospitalized. Her career resumed in 1976 with guest starring roles on Starsky and Hutch and The Streets of San Francisco. A small role in the TV movie Alexander: The Other Side of Dawn (1977) was her last. Throat cancer took her that year at the age of 54.