Jane Greer

Jane Greer

Born: September 9, 1924
Died: August 24, 2001
in Washington, D.C., USA
Jane Greer was a film and television actress who was perhaps best known for her role as femme fatale Kathie Moffat in the 1947 film noir Out of the Past.

A beauty-contest winner and professional model from her teens, Greer began her show-business career as a big-band singer. She sang in Washington, DC, with the orchestra of Enric Madriguera. She "sang phonetically in Spanish" with the group.

Howard Hughes spotted Greer modeling in the June 8, 1942 issue of Life, and sent her to Hollywood to become an actress. Hughes lent her to RKO to star in many films (another source says Greer's husband, Rudy Vallee, "helped her get out of her contract with Hughes and secure another pact with RKO Studios") including Dick Tracy, Out of the Past, They Won't Believe Me, and the comedy/suspense film The Big Steal, with Out of the Past co-star Robert Mitchum. Hughes refused to let her work for a time; when she finally began film acting, she appeared in You're in the Navy Now, The Prisoner of Zenda, Run for the Sun, and Man of a Thousand Faces. In 1984, she was cast in Against All Odds, a remake of Out of the Past, as the mother of the character she had played in 1947. In 1952, Greer obtained a release from her contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios. She said, "When there is a good role at MGM, the producers want Lana or Ava. There is no chance for another actress to develop into important stardom at the studio".

Greer's noteworthy roles in television included guest appearances on episodes of numerous shows over the decades, such as Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Bonanza, Quincy, M.E., Murder, She Wrote, and a 1975 gig with Peter Falk and Robert Vaughn in an episode of Columbo titled Troubled Waters. She even got to make fun of Out of the Past in a parody with Robert Mitchum on TV's Saturday Night Live in 1987. Greer joined the casts of Falcon Crest in 1984 and Twin Peaks in 1990 in recurring roles until her retirement in 1996.

Greer was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1634 Vine Street for her contributions to the motion picture industry. The star was dedicated on February 8, 1960. Greer died of cancer on August 24, 2001, at the age of 76, in Bel Air, Los Angeles. Her body was interred at Los Angeles' Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery.

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Movies for Jane Greer...

Film Noir: Bringing Darkness to Light
Title: Film Noir: Bringing Darkness to Light
Character: Self
Released: July 18, 2006
Type: Movie
Film Noir burrows into the mind; it's disorienting, intriguing and enthralling. Noir brings us into a gritty underworld of lush morbidity, providing intimate peeks at its tough, scheming dames, mischievous misfits and flawed men - all caught in the wicked web of a twisted fate.
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Gary Cooper: The Face of a Hero
Title: Gary Cooper: The Face of a Hero
Character: Self
Released: March 17, 1998
Type: Movie
Known for his personification of the Western Hero, it was Montana-born Gary Cooper's horse-riding skills that first brought him bit parts in movies. And he never lost his love of the great American outdoors. Though he rarely played a villain and was an adept comedian, Cooper is best remembered for his strong, silent heroes. With his lanky country boy looks and shy hesitancy he created a unique screen presence, though his real life was one of sophisticated elegance.
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Robert Mitchum: The Reluctant Star
Title: Robert Mitchum: The Reluctant Star
Character: Self
Released: March 10, 1991
Type: Movie
A retrospective on the career of Robert Mitchum through interviews with friends and co-workers, scenes from his films and the actor himself.
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Title: Twin Peaks
Released: April 8, 1990
Type: TV
The body of Laura Palmer is washed up on a beach near the small Washington state town of Twin Peaks. FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper is called in to investigate her strange demise only to uncover a web of mystery that ultimately leads him deep into the heart of the surrounding woodland and his very own soul.
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Immediate Family
Title: Immediate Family
Character: Michael's Mother
Released: October 27, 1989
Type: Movie
Linda and Michael, married for ten years, desperately want a baby and turn to an adoption agency which introduces them to Lucy, a teenage girl expecting her first baby. The three agree that Linda and Michael will adopt Lucy's baby and that Lucy will sign away custody. Things don't go quite to plan however..
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Title: The RKO Story: Tales From Hollywood
Character: Self
Released: July 3, 1987
Type: TV
Ed Asner tells the story of RKO Pictures from the 1920s to the 1960s.
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Just Between Friends
Title: Just Between Friends
Character: Ruth Chadwick
Released: March 21, 1986
Type: Movie
Holly and Sandy strike up an instant friendship; they don't know however that they have more in common than they'd like. When tragedy strikes, their relationship is tested.
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Title: Murder, She Wrote
Character: Bonnie Phelps
Released: September 30, 1984
Type: TV
An unassuming mystery writer turned sleuth uses her professional insight to help solve real-life homicide cases.
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Against All Odds
Title: Against All Odds
Character: Mrs. Wyler
Released: March 2, 1984
Type: Movie
She was a beautiful fugitive. Fleeing from corruption. From power. He was a professional athlete past his prime. Hired to find her, he grew to love her. Love turned to obsession. Obsession turned to murder. And now the price of freedom might be nothing less than their lives.
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The Shadow Riders
Title: The Shadow Riders
Character: Ma Traven
Released: September 28, 1982
Type: Movie
After starring in "The Sacketts", Tom Selleck and Sam Elliott team up again but this time as Mac and Dal Traven, in a movie based on a classic Louis L'Amour novel. They are brothers, who meet up at the end of the Civil War fighting on opposite sides. They go home only to find their family in dire need and their sisters and brother kidnapped by ruthless raiders. They set out to rescue their family.
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Title: Falcon Crest
Released: December 4, 1981
Type: TV
Falcon Crest is an American primetime television soap opera which aired on the CBS network for nine seasons, from December 4, 1981 to May 17, 1990. A total of 227 episodes were produced. The series revolves around the feuding factions of the wealthy Gioberti/Channing family in the Californian wine industry. Jane Wyman starred as Angela Channing, the tyrannical matriarch of the Falcon Crest Winery, alongside Robert Foxworth as Chase Gioberti, Angela's nephew who returns to Falcon Crest following the death of his father. The series was set in the fictitious Tuscany Valley northeast of San Francisco.
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A Christmas for Boomer
Title: A Christmas for Boomer
Released: December 6, 1979
Type: Movie
A sacked maid and butler kidnap a pampered dog and want $20,000 ransom from the rich owner, Lila Manchester. A shaggy dog named Boomer helps save it and becomes a member of the family who originally found him.
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Title: Quincy, M.E.
Released: October 3, 1976
Type: TV
Quincy, M.E. is an American television series from Universal Studios pert in several of the later episodes.
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The Outfit
Title: The Outfit
Character: Alma
Released: October 19, 1973
Type: Movie
A two-bit criminal takes on the Mafia to avenge his brother's death. Earl Macklin is a small time criminal who is released from prison after an unsuccessful bank robbery only to discover that a pair of gunmen killed his brother.
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Title: Columbo
Character: Sylvia Danziger
Released: September 15, 1971
Type: TV
Columbo is a friendly, verbose, disheveled-looking police detective who is consistently underestimated by his suspects. Despite his unprepossessing appearance and apparent absentmindedness, he shrewdly solves all of his cases and secures all evidence needed for indictment. His formidable eye for detail and meticulously dedicated approach often become clear to the killer only late in the storyline.
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Billie
Title: Billie
Character: Agnes Carol
Released: December 13, 1965
Type: Movie
A 16-year-old tomboy and high school athlete becomes embroiled with the lives around her boyfriend whose conservative father is running for mayor.
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Where Love Has Gone
Title: Where Love Has Gone
Character: Marian Spicer
Released: November 2, 1964
Type: Movie
A divorced couple's teen-age daughter stands trial for stabbing her mother's latest lover.
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Title: Burke's Law
Character: Lonnie Smith
Released: September 20, 1963
Type: TV
Burke's Law is an American detective series that ran on ABC from 1963 to 1965 and was revived on CBS in the 1990s. The show starred Gene Barry as Amos Burke, millionaire captain of Los Angeles police homicide division, who was chauffeured around to solve crimes in his Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud II.
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Title: Thriller
Character: Ann Moffat
Released: September 13, 1960
Type: TV
Thriller is an American anthology television series that aired during the 1960–61 and 1961–62 seasons on NBC. The show featured host Boris Karloff introducing a mix of self-contained, macabre weird-horror and morbid, hitchockian crime stories, in some of which he also starred.
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Title: Bonanza
Character: Julia Bulette
Released: September 12, 1959
Type: TV
The High-Sierra adventures of Ben Cartwright and his sons as they run and defend their ranch while helping the surrounding community.
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No Time at All
Title: No Time at All
Character: Karen
Released: February 13, 1958
Type: Movie
An airliner flying nonstop at night from Miami to New York fails to check in, then disappears from radar. We see how its disappearance affects people on the ground.
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Title: Suspicion
Character: Clare Stengler
Released: September 30, 1957
Type: TV
Suspicion is the title of an American television mystery drama series which aired on the NBC from 1957 through 1959. The executive producer of Suspicion was film director Alfred Hitchcock.
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Man of a Thousand Faces
Title: Man of a Thousand Faces
Character: Hazel Bennet Chaney
Released: August 15, 1957
Type: Movie
The turbulent life and professional career of vaudeville actor and silent screen horror star Lon Chaney (1883-1930), the man of a thousand faces; bearer of many personal misfortunes that even his great success could not mitigate.
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Title: Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
Character: Ellen Morrow
Released: October 5, 1956
Type: TV
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre, sometimes simply called Zane Grey Theatre, is an American Western anthology series which ran on CBS from 1956 to 1961.
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Title: Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
Character: Julie Benton
Released: October 5, 1956
Type: TV
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre, sometimes simply called Zane Grey Theatre, is an American Western anthology series which ran on CBS from 1956 to 1961.
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Title: Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
Character: Ellie Matson
Released: October 5, 1956
Type: TV
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre, sometimes simply called Zane Grey Theatre, is an American Western anthology series which ran on CBS from 1956 to 1961.
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Run for the Sun
Title: Run for the Sun
Character: Katherine 'Katie' Connors
Released: July 30, 1956
Type: Movie
Mike, a Hemingway-esque adventure novelist, is spending his days in a self-imposed exile somewhere in Central America. A reporter for Sight Magazine, Katie, has tracked him down in the hope of getting the biggest scoop of her career. Mike falls for Katie. On a flight to Mexico City, their plane crashes near a remote hideaway of Nazi war criminals in hiding. The Nazis want to stay hidden and plan to dispose of their new guests
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Title: Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Character: Mrs. Cannon-Hughes
Released: October 2, 1955
Type: TV
A television anthology series hosted by Alfred Hitchcock featuring dramas, thrillers, and mysteries.
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Down Among the Sheltering Palms
Title: Down Among the Sheltering Palms
Character: Diana Forrester
Released: March 1, 1953
Type: Movie
War-weary Captain Willoby and his men are the occupation force on an island of lovely women...and are forbidden to fraternize.
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The Clown
Title: The Clown
Character: Paula Henderson
Released: January 16, 1953
Type: Movie
Once a famous Ziegfeld star, Dodo Delwyn is reduced to playing clowns in burlesque and amusement parks as a result of his drinking. His son Little Dink idolizes Dodo and faithfully believes in a comeback. He persuades "Uncle" Goldie, Dodo's agent in the good old days, to find a booking for Dodo. He can't, and Dink is sent to live with his remarried-and-wealthy mother, Paula. The unhappy Dink runs back to his father. His welcome return gives Dodo the courage needed to try a knockabout TV show offered by Goldie
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Desperate Search
Title: Desperate Search
Character: Julie Heldon
Released: November 19, 1952
Type: Movie
A man (Howard Keel), his wife (Jane Greer) and his famous-aviator ex-wife (Patricia Medina) search for their two children lost with a cougar.
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The Prisoner of Zenda
Title: The Prisoner of Zenda
Character: Antoinette de Mauban
Released: November 4, 1952
Type: Movie
An Englishman vacationing in Ruritania is recruited to impersonate his cousin, the soon-to-be-crowned king after the monarch is drugged and kidnapped.
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Title: The Ford Television Theatre
Character: Mona Patton
Released: October 2, 1952
Type: TV
This show started in New York City, with Broadway actors and actresses. It then moved to Hollywood, California, where Hollywood actors and actresses headed the cast.
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You for Me
Title: You for Me
Character: Katie McDermad
Released: July 19, 1952
Type: Movie
A good-hearted nurse gets mixed up with a millionaire who could help her hospital.
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You're in the Navy Now
Title: You're in the Navy Now
Character: Ellie C. Harkness
Released: February 23, 1951
Type: Movie
When Lt. John Harkness is assigned as the new skipper of a submarine chaser equipped with an experimental steam engine, he hopes that the U.S.S. Teakettle's veterans will afford him enough help to accomplish the ship's goals. Unfortunately, he finds the crew and its officers share his novice status or only have experience in diesel engines.
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The Company She Keeps
Title: The Company She Keeps
Character: Diane Stuart aka Mildred Lynch
Released: January 27, 1951
Type: Movie
A lady con artist sets out to steal her parole officer's fiance.
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The Big Steal
Title: The Big Steal
Character: Joan 'Chiquita' Graham
Released: July 1, 1949
Type: Movie
Army Lieutenant Halliday, accused of stealing the Army payroll, pursues the real thief on a frantic chase through Mexico aided by the thief's ex-girlfriend and is in turn being chased by his accuser, Capt. Blake.
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Station West
Title: Station West
Character: Charlie
Released: September 1, 1948
Type: Movie
When two US cavalrymen transporting a gold shipment get killed, US Army Intelligence investigator John Haven goes undercover to a mining and logging town to find the killers.
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Out of the Past
Title: Out of the Past
Character: Kathie Moffat
Released: November 25, 1947
Type: Movie
Jeff Bailey seems to be a mundane gas station owner in remote Bridgeport, California. He is dating local girl Ann Miller and lives a quiet life. But Jeff has a secret past, and when a mysterious stranger arrives in town, Jeff is forced to return to the dark world he had tried to escape.
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They Won't Believe Me
Title: They Won't Believe Me
Character: Janice Bell
Released: July 16, 1947
Type: Movie
On trial for murdering his girlfriend, philandering stockbroker Larry Ballentine takes the stand to claim his innocence and describe the actual, but improbable sounding, sequence of events that led to her death.
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Sinbad the Sailor
Title: Sinbad the Sailor
Character: Pirouze
Released: January 13, 1947
Type: Movie
Daredevil sailor Sinbad embarks on a voyage across the Seven Seas to find the lost riches of Alexander the Great. His first stop is the port of Basra, where his ship is seized and scheduled for auction. In his attempt to win it back, he befriends beautiful concubine Shireen. But when her master, the nefarious Emir, calls her back to duty, Sinbad must interrupt his adventure to save the "Jewel of Persia."
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The Bamboo Blonde
Title: The Bamboo Blonde
Character: Eileen Sawyer
Released: July 15, 1946
Type: Movie
A pilot of a B 29 meets Louise Anderson, a singer in a New York nightclub. He falls in love with her, but he had to leave next day for action in the Pacific. He lets paint her picture on his bomber, the "Bamboo Blonde" and becomes a hero with his crew sinking a Japanese battleship and shooting down a Japanese fighter wing. Back in New York, he leaves his fiancée and engages him to Louise.
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Sunset Pass
Title: Sunset Pass
Character: Lolite Baxter
Released: July 8, 1946
Type: Movie
A young outlaw gets involved with a gang of crooks. When he tells them he is breaking away, they threaten to pin a false murder charge on him. But he is rescued and reformed by his sister, and an undercover agent for the express company.
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The Falcon's Alibi
Title: The Falcon's Alibi
Character: Lola Carpenter
Released: April 12, 1946
Type: Movie
A society sleuth sets out on the trail of a society matron's lost jewels.
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Dick Tracy
Title: Dick Tracy
Character: Judith Owens
Released: December 1, 1945
Type: Movie
Detective Tracy (Morgan Conway) rescues Tess Trueheart (Anne Jeffreys) and Junior from a killer called Splitface (Mike Mazurki).
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George White's Scandals
Title: George White's Scandals
Character: Billie Randall
Released: October 9, 1945
Type: Movie
Two couples work through their issues in this backstage Broadway musical.
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Two O'Clock Courage
Title: Two O'Clock Courage
Character: Helen Carter (as Bettejane Greer)
Released: April 13, 1945
Type: Movie
After nearly running over him with her cab, Patty Mitchell picks up a fare who claims to have amnesia. As he fumbles to remember the basic facts of his identity, Patty becomes interested in the stranger and decides to help him in his search. But as the pieces of the puzzle begin to fall into place, and Patty's interest becomes more personal, the stranger finds that he is the prime suspect in a murder case.
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Pan-Americana
Title: Pan-Americana
Character: Miss Downing (uncredited)
Released: March 22, 1945
Type: Movie
A New York magazine sends its editors to South America to find beautiful girls.