Jean Kent

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.

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Known For

Lovejoy

Madelene Gilbert

No Hiding Place

Thriller

Mrs. Garrick

Up Pompeii!

Aphrodite

Sir Francis Drake

Queen Elizabeth I

Public Eye

Mrs Podmore

Filmography

Year	Movie	Role
1990	Missing Persons	Phillida Meadowhite
1989	Max Miller: I Like The Girls Who Do	Self
1988	The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind	Self (archive footage)
1976	Shout at the Devil	Mrs. Smythe
1974	K is for Killing	Mrs. Garrick
1960	Bluebeard's 10 Honeymoons	Julienne
1959	Please Turn Over	Janet Halliday
1959	Web of Evidence	Louise Burt
1958	Bonjour Tristesse	Mrs. Helen Lombard
1958	Grip of the Strangler	Cora Seth
1957	The Prince and the Showgirl	Maisie Springfield
1955	Before I Wake	Florence Haddon
1952	The Big Frame	Louise Parker
1951	The Browning Version	Millie Crocker-Harris
1950	The Woman in Question	Agnes / Madame Astra / Parrot (voice)
1950	The Reluctant Widow	Elinor Cheviot
1950	Her Favourite Husband	Dorothy Pellegrini
1949	Trottie True	Trottie True
1948	Good-Time Girl	Gwen Rawlings
1948	Bond Street	Ricki Merritt
1948	Sleeping Car to Trieste	Valya
1947	The Loves of Joanna Godden	Ellen Godden
1947	The Man Within	Lucy
1946	The Magic Bow	Bianchi
1946	Carnival	Irene Dale
1946	Caravan	Rosal
1945	The Rake's Progress	Jill Duncan
1945	The Wicked Lady	Jackson's Doxy
1945	Waterloo Road	Toni
1945	Madonna of the Seven Moons	Vittoria
1944	Champagne Charlie	Dolly Bellwood
1944	Fanny by Gaslight	Lucy Beckett
1944	Two Thousand Women	Bridie Johnson
1944	Bees in Paradise	Jani
1944	Soldier, Sailor	Cigarette Girl
1943	Warn That Man	Frances Lane
1943	It's That Man Again	Kitty
1943	Miss London Ltd.	The Encyclopedia Girl

Year	TV Show	Role
1986	Lovejoy	Madelene Gilbert
1986	Fifties Features - The Women behind the Pictures
1973	Thriller	Mrs. Garrick
1970	Up Pompeii!	Aphrodite
1965	United!
1965	Public Eye	Mrs Podmore
1961	Sir Francis Drake	Queen Elizabeth I
1959	No Hiding Place