Jane Frazee

Jane Frazee

Born: July 18, 1915
Died: September 6, 1985
in Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA
A professional entertainer since the age of six, blue-eyed brunette Jane Frazee and her older sister Ruth Frazee had a vaudeville sister act and appeared in nightclubs and on radio together. They journeyed to Hollywood, but the act broke up when Ruth failed her screen tests and Jane passed hers. Jane was quite attractive with a pleasant singing voice, and went on to play in numerous westerns and light musicals after signing with Republic Pictures. She later appeared in a number of films for Universal Pictures, which put her to the test by having her warble amidst the antics of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in Buck Privates (1941) and Ole Olsen and Chic Johnson in Hellzapoppin' (1941). She married actor/director Glenn Tryon in 1942 and had a son, Timothy, but the couple divorced in 1947. Moving into TV guest appearances in the early 1950s, Jane later retired and started a successful real estate business. She died in Newport Beach, California at age 67 following complications from a stroke on September 6, 1985.

Movies for Jane Frazee...

So You Want a Model Railroad
Title: So You Want a Model Railroad
Character: Alice McDoakes
Released: August 27, 1955
Type: Movie
Alice visits Mr. Agony with her latest problem with Joe. They had given Junior a toy railroad for a Christmas present, and Joe had taken it over and become obsessed to the point he has built a railroad empire using all of his time, energy and money. When Alice's mother comes to dinner, Joe even has a rigged-up train serving as the dumb waiter. Mr. Agony helps Alice to solve her problem.
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So You Don't Trust Your Wife
Title: So You Don't Trust Your Wife
Character: Alice McDoakes
Released: January 29, 1955
Type: Movie
When his wife Alice questions Joe as to whether his insurance policy is paid up, he begins to see a plot to murder him in everything she does.
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So You Want to Know Your Relatives
Title: So You Want to Know Your Relatives
Character: Alice McDoakes (uncredited)
Released: December 18, 1954
Type: Movie
Do-gooder Joe McDoakes is the guest on the "Know Your Relatives" TV show where, to his chagrin, many of his black sheep relations reveal the skeletons in the family closet.
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Title: Adventures of Superman
Released: September 19, 1952
Type: TV
Announcer: "The Adventures of Superman. Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to leap tall buildings at a single bound!" Voices: "Look up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Superman!" Announcer: "Yes, it's Superman, strange visitor from another planet who came to Earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men. Superman, who can change the course of mighty rivers, bend steel in his bare hands; and who, disguised as Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper, fights a never ending battle for truth, justice, and the American way."
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Title: Racket Squad
Released: June 7, 1951
Type: TV
Racket Squad is an American TV crime drama series starring Reed Hadley as Captain John Braddock, a fictional detective working for the San Francisco, California Police Department. The show aired in syndication for a season before being picked up by CBS for three seasons. The series was filmed at Hal Roach Studios in Culver City, California, and was sponsored by cigarette manufacturer Philip Morris, hence there was a pack of the sponsor's brand on Braddock's desk at the beginning and end of the episode, as well as occasional scenes of him or other characters "lighting up".
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Rhythm Inn
Title: Rhythm Inn
Character: Carol Denton
Released: February 11, 1951
Type: Movie
A bandleader, desperate to get his band's instruments out of hock, promises the pawnshop clerk--an aspiring songwriter--that he'll let the band's female singer do the clerk's songs at a local club if he will let the band "borrow" their instruments at night. The clerk's girlfriend, however, thinks that the band singer is after more than her boyfriend's songs.
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Title: The Beulah Show
Character: Alice Henderson
Released: October 3, 1950
Type: TV
The Beulah Show is an American situation-comedy series that ran on CBS Radio from 1945 to 1954, and on ABC Television from 1950 to 1952. The show is notable for being the first sitcom to star an African American actress.
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Title: The Gene Autry Show
Released: July 23, 1950
Type: TV
The Gene Autry Show is an American western/cowboy television series which aired for 91 episodes on CBS from July 23, 1950 until August 7, 1956, originally sponsored by Wrigley's Doublemint chewing gum.
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Last of the Wild Horses
Title: Last of the Wild Horses
Character: Jane Cooper
Released: December 27, 1948
Type: Movie
A cowboy must clear himself of a murder he did not commit.
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Grand Canyon Trail
Title: Grand Canyon Trail
Character: Carol Martin aka Carol Vanderpool
Released: November 4, 1948
Type: Movie
Sintown is just a deserted ghost town until Vanerpool starts looking for silver. Cookie and Roy's partners put $20,000 into the business only to find that the mine is worthless and Vanerpool is bankrupt. Carol comes out to look for silver to save the company, but does not know that their engineer, named Regan, is crooked and wants all the silver for himself. But only Old Ed knows where the mother lode is located.
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Incident
Title: Incident
Character: Marion Roberts
Released: October 30, 1948
Type: Movie
An innocent man -- due to a case of mistaken identity -- is beaten. Once recovered, the stockbroker tries to find the actual intended target -- a gangster-- and warn him.
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Under California Stars
Title: Under California Stars
Character: Caroline Bullfincher
Released: April 30, 1948
Type: Movie
On vacation at his ranch, western actor Roy quickly finds himself involved with a horse rustling operation and a boy ward of one of the rustlers, leading to the kidnapping of Roy's trick horse Trigger by the gang with a demand for ransom.
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The Gay Ranchero
Title: The Gay Ranchero
Character: Betty Richards
Released: January 14, 1948
Type: Movie
Manzanita Springs ia a combination small airline and spa and Vance Brados wants it. He pays their mechanic to have the planes run out of fuel so his men can rob the gold shipments and kill the pilots. After Sheriff Roy Rogers catches the mechanic, Roy plans one more gold shipment to get proof and this time his men will be ready. But it looks like Roy's plan will fail when Brados suspects a trap and call off the raid.
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On the Old Spanish Trail
Title: On the Old Spanish Trail
Character: Candy
Released: October 15, 1947
Type: Movie
A cowboy turns bounty hunter to pay off his debts.
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Springtime in the Sierras
Title: Springtime in the Sierras
Character: Taffy Baker
Released: July 15, 1947
Type: Movie
Jean Loring has her men illegally killing and selling game. Roy suspects her and gets himself invited to stay at her ranch. Investigating he finds the freezer where the slaughtered game are kept. But he is caught, tied up, and left to freeze.
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Calendar Girl
Title: Calendar Girl
Character: Patricia O'Neill
Released: January 31, 1947
Type: Movie
Around the turn of the century, two young men, Johnnie Bennett, a composer and Steve Adams, an artist, go to New York City to make their fortune. They both fall in love with the same girl, Patricia O'Neill. The artist paints a picture of her which outrages her father's sensibilities; but, as a result of the picture, she wins a chance to star in a Broadway play. She soon learns that the artist is just a trifler; and she turns to the composer, who loves her sincerely
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A Guy Could Change
Title: A Guy Could Change
Character: Barbara Adams
Released: January 27, 1946
Type: Movie
A playboy is reformed by his daughter and fiancee.
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Swingin' on a Rainbow
Title: Swingin' on a Rainbow
Character: Lynn Ford
Released: September 1, 1945
Type: Movie
A young girl goes to New York to find a band leader who has stolen all the songs she wrote and is passing them off as his own.
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Ten Cents a Dance
Title: Ten Cents a Dance
Character: Jeanne Hollis
Released: June 7, 1945
Type: Movie
Two privates on a 36 hour pass meet two dance hall dames, complications ensue!
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The Big Bonanza
Title: The Big Bonanza
Character: Chiquita McSweeney
Released: December 30, 1944
Type: Movie
Having been falsely court marshaled for cowardice and sentenced to prison by the Army, Jed Kilton escapes and heads to Nevada Springs to see his kid brother. There he meets his old school friend Sam Ballou. But the two old friends soon find themselves on opposite sides and Sam has Jed arrested. Then when Jed's young brother sees one of Sam's men kill another man, the boy becomes Sam's intended victim.
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Practically Yours
Title: Practically Yours
Character: Jane Frazee - Vocalist
Released: December 20, 1944
Type: Movie
In this screwball comedy a WW2 US pilot bombs a Japanese aircraft carrier, is assumed to be dead, and then is misquoted in the press as fondly remembering his days back home walking his dog Piggy. Instead of his dog Piggy he is thought to be in love with Peggy, a girl he worked with. The usual farce ensues after he returns home alive and tries to play along with the mistake to save embarrassment for all.
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She's a Sweetheart
Title: She's a Sweetheart
Character: Maxine Lecour
Released: December 7, 1944
Type: Movie
In this musical drama, a woman turns her mansion into a boarding house for soldiers on furlough, providing them with room, board, and musical entertainment.
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Kansas City Kitty
Title: Kansas City Kitty
Character: Eileen Hasbrook
Released: August 24, 1944
Type: Movie
A piano teacher and her roommate decide invest their savings in a music publishing company. Comedy with music.
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Swing in the Saddle
Title: Swing in the Saddle
Character: Penny Morrow
Released: July 30, 1944
Type: Movie
In this tuneful western, two curious actresses head West to find out the name of their secret admirer. Songs include: "Amor," (Sunny Skylar, Gabriel Ruiz), "Hey Mabel" (Fred Stryker), "By the River Sainte Marie" (Edgar Leslie, Harry Warren), "She Broke My Heart in Three Places" (Oliver Drake), "When It's Harvest Time in Peaceful Valley" (Robert Martin, Raymond McKee), and "There'll Be a Jubilee" (Phil Moore).
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Rosie the Riveter
Title: Rosie the Riveter
Character: Rosalind 'Rosie' Warren
Released: April 8, 1944
Type: Movie
In this romantic wartime comedy, four female defense plant workers share a house with four male workers. The situation is on the up and up as the men and women work different shifts and they are only making do because there is a housing shortage. Unfortunately, they soon begin to fight about who gets the house during certain hours. Romance ensues.
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Cowboy Canteen
Title: Cowboy Canteen
Character: Connie Gray
Released: February 9, 1944
Type: Movie
Song and comedy revue, featuring Western talents, along with a theatrical troupe taking their vacation on the Lazy B Ranch run by Steve Bradley. Steve is about to enter the army and he and Tex Coulter compete for the love of Connie Grey.
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Beautiful But Broke
Title: Beautiful But Broke
Character: Sally Richards
Released: January 28, 1944
Type: Movie
Theatrical agent Waldo Main is inducted into the army, and turns his now clientless agency over to his secretary Dottie Duncan. Dottie decides to organize an all-girl orchestra to fill the void caused by so many orchestra members being called to service due to WWII, and joins struggling singers/songwriters Sally Richards and Sue Ford in this endeavor. Dottie's screwball schemes to get engagements for the group often lead to disaster.
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Rhythm of the Islands
Title: Rhythm of the Islands
Character: Joan Holton
Released: April 16, 1943
Type: Movie
Rhythm of the Islands is set in the South Seas, presumably far away from the shooting war. The nonsensical plotline finds hero Tommy (Allan Jones) posing as a native chief. Joan Holton (Jane Frazee), daughter of a millionaire (Ernest Truex), falls in love with Tommy, unaware that he's a charlatan.
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Keep 'Em Slugging
Title: Keep 'Em Slugging
Character: Star of Movie House Film
Released: March 1, 1943
Type: Movie
A gang of tough street kids decide to go straight and get jobs in order to free draft-age men for the war effort. However, because of their past tangles with the law, they can't find anybody who'll hire them. Finally one of them gets a job at the department store where his sister works, but runs afoul of a store executive who is in league with a ring of hijackers.
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Hi'ya, Chum
Title: Hi'ya, Chum
Character: Sunny Lee
Released: February 25, 1943
Type: Movie
Entertainers get stranded in a small boomtown, and open up a restaurant.
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When Johnny Comes Marching Home
Title: When Johnny Comes Marching Home
Character: Joyce Benton
Released: December 24, 1942
Type: Movie
By popular consensus, Allan Jones' best Universal mini-musical of the 1940s was the timely When Johnny Comes Marching Home. Jones is cast as war hero Johnny Kovacs, who wearies of the adulation heaped upon him and takes refuge under an assumed name in a theatrical boarding house. Here he befriends orchestra leader Phil Spitalny and his all-girl aggregation, including the inimitable Evelyn and Her Magic Violin. When Army officials trace Johnny to the boarding house, his new friends assume that he's a deserter and try to convince him to return to duty.
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Moonlight in Havana
Title: Moonlight in Havana
Character: Gloria Jackson
Released: October 16, 1942
Type: Movie
Allan Jones stars as hotshot baseball player Johnny Norton, in Havana for spring training. It turns out that Johnny has a beautiful singing voice, but only when he's suffering from a cold. Enterprising nightclub manager Barney Crane (William Frawley) attempts to inflict poor Johnny with cold germs, resulting in unchecked zaniness whenever our hero recovers sufficiently to lose his voice. The film's 63-minute running time manages to accommodate the drunken comedy relief of Hugh O'Connell and Jack Norton, and an abundance of musical numbers, courtesy of Allan Jones, Jane Frazee, the Horton Dancing Group, the Jivin' Jacks and Jills and Grace & Nicco.
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Get Hep to Love
Title: Get Hep to Love
Character: Ann Winters
Released: October 2, 1942
Type: Movie
Orphan prodigy singer runs away from her oppressive aunt and tricks a rural couple into adopting her.
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Moonlight Masquerade
Title: Moonlight Masquerade
Character: Vicki Forrester
Released: June 10, 1942
Type: Movie
Two business partners, John Bennett, Sr. and Robert Forrester, are starting to get nervous when the birthday of Victoria, Forrester's daughter, approaches. A long time ago the two men made an arrangement that they would sign over one third of their company to their oldest children when they turned twenty-one, with the condition they married each other within thirty days....
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Almost Married
Title: Almost Married
Character: Gloria Dobson
Released: May 22, 1942
Type: Movie
To avoid a costly breach of contract suit, a rich young man marries a nightclub singer.
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What's Cookin'?
Title: What's Cookin'?
Character: Anne Payne
Released: February 20, 1942
Type: Movie
J. P. Courtney wants to update the music on the radio program he sponsors, but his wife, Agatha Courtney, is the final authority and addicted to the classics and won't allow him to replace Professor Bistell and his symphonic orchestra. Conspiring with his daughter Sue and her friends, Marvo the Great, the Andrews Sisters, Anne Payne and bandleader Woody Herman, they devise a sabotage plot that gets rid of Professor Bistell, and a new sound is soon heard on the program.
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Don't Get Personal
Title: Don't Get Personal
Character: Mary Reynolds
Released: January 2, 1942
Type: Movie
Elmer Whippet inherits the Whippet Pickles company and sets out to meet the two stars, Mary Reynolds and John Stowe, of the radio program sponsored by his company, as he thinks their on-air quarreling is real. Two former associates, Jules Kinsey and J.M. Snow cross him up by substituting Susan Blair, an office secretary, for Mary and Elmer thinks the show's writer Paul Stevens is John.
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Hellzapoppin'
Title: Hellzapoppin'
Character: Kitty Rand
Released: December 25, 1941
Type: Movie
Olsen and Johnson, a pair of stage comedians, try to turn their play into a movie and bring together a young couple in love, while breaking the fourth wall every step of the way.
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Moonlight in Hawaii
Title: Moonlight in Hawaii
Character: Toby Spencer
Released: October 9, 1941
Type: Movie
Deciding to quit his singing act and become a tourist guide, Pete Fleming escorts wealthy Mrs. Floto and her three nieces to Hawaii for a vacation. Behind his back, Pete's three bandmates stowaway and tag along.
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Sing Another Chorus
Title: Sing Another Chorus
Character: Edna
Released: September 19, 1941
Type: Movie
In this musical, an idealistic college graduate is bitten by the show business bug after he finds success writing and producing the campus variety show. Wanting to launch his career, he convinces his father to allow him to create a production using the workers at the old man's clothing factory. Unfortunately, the young man is naive and an unscrupulous producer bilks his father's advance money from him.
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San Antonio Rose
Title: San Antonio Rose
Character: Hope Holloway
Released: June 20, 1941
Type: Movie
San Antonio Rose is an amiably wacky mini-musical evenly divided between its "official" stars, The Merry Macs, and a strong cast of supporting clowns. Robert Paige plays roadhouse operator Con Conway, whose establishment is in danger of being squeezed out by its competition. Stranded entertainers Hope Holloway (Jane Frazee) and Gabby Trent (Eve Arden) decide to revivify Conway's establishment by staging an energetic floor show built around the talented Merry Macs. A rival club owner dispatches his two top hooligans Jigsaw Kennedy (Lon Chaney Jr.) and Benny the Bounce (Shemp Howard) to wreck Conway's club by posing as waiters, but the two stupes are easily cowed into submission--by the leading ladies!
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Angels with Broken Wings
Title: Angels with Broken Wings
Character: Jane Lord
Released: May 27, 1941
Type: Movie
Charlotte Lord, a widow in her early forties and owner of Manhattan's smartest modiste shop, is about to marry Guy Barton, a wealthy businessman. But Mexican divorces have been declared illegal, so Guy is still married to Sybil Barton, an unscrupulous gold-digger who left him twelve years earlier. She demands that Guy give her $250,000 for his freedom.- Written by Les Adams
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Buck Privates
Title: Buck Privates
Character: Judy Gray
Released: January 31, 1941
Type: Movie
Petty con artists Slicker Smith and Herbie Brown mistakenly join the Army evading the cops. The cop chasing them winds up as their drill instructor. A rich young man and his former working class chauffeur are not only in the same unit, they're vying for a pretty girl who seems attracted to both.
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Melody and Moonlight
Title: Melody and Moonlight
Character: Kay Barnett
Released: October 10, 1940
Type: Movie
Jane Frazee made her starring film debut in the Republic B-plus musical Melody and Moonlight. The plot is motivated by the show-biz aspirations of bellboy Danny O'Brien (Johnny Downs). With the help of a wealthy chiropodist (Jerry Colonna), O'Brien not only gets to star on a big-time radio show, but also sprinkles stardust upon his sweetheart Kay Barnett (Jane Frazee)-who, unbeknownst to everyone but the audience, is the daughter of the show's sponsor.