Jean Heather

Jean Heather (February 21, 1921 – October 29, 1995 ) was an American actress who appeared in eight feature films during the 1940s.

Jean Heather
Born
Jean Hetherington

(1921-02-21)February 21, 1921
Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.
DiedOctober 29, 1995(1995-10-29) (aged 74)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
OccupationActress
Years active1944–1949
Spouse
Arthur F. Meier
​
​
(m. 1944; died 1985)​

Early years

Heather was the only child of Dewey and Florence Heatherington. She was born in Omaha. After she and her parents moved to Oakland, California, she graduated from Oakland High School. She began her collegiate studies at the University of California at Berkeley[1] before studying at Oregon State University, 1940 to 1941. She transferred to the University of Washington in 1942. She was an initiate of the Alpha Theta chapter of Alpha Delta Pi at the University of Washington.[2]

Career

Following her college graduation, Heather signed a contract with Paramount.[1] She acted in two Oscar-nominated movies in 1944: the crime drama Double Indemnity, in which she played Lola Dietrichson, a young woman convinced that her stepmother Phyllis (Barbara Stanwyck) is responsible for the murder of her father, and Going My Way, where she played a runaway teenager assisted by Father O'Malley (Bing Crosby).

Heather's acting career was cut short by an automobile accident in December 1947, in which she was thrown from her car onto the pavement and suffered severe facial lacerations.[3]

Personal life and death

Heather married United States Military Academy graduate Arthur Ferdinand Meier on July 5, 1944, in Glendale, California. Meier later became a corporate executive. After 41 years of marriage, Meier died in 1985 from pulmonary disease.[4] Heather died ten years later. Both were cremated and their ashes scattered in the Pacific Ocean.

Filmography
Year Title Role Notes
1942 Holiday Inn 4th of July Dancer Uncredited
1944 Going My Way Carol James
1944 Double Indemnity Lola Dietrichson
1944 Our Hearts Were Young and Gay Frances Smithers
1944 The National Barn Dance Betty
1945 Murder, He Says Elany Fleagle
1945 Duffy's Tavern Jean Heather
1946 The Well-Groomed Bride Wickley
1947 The Last Round-up Carol Taylor
1949 Red Stallion in the Rockies Cynthia "Cindy" Smith (final film role)

References
  1. "Jean Heather Back in Films". Sunday World-Herald. Nebraska, Omaha. June 15, 1947. p. 50. Retrieved December 25, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. The Adelphean of Alpha Delta Pi September 1945, p. 19.
  3. "Jean Heather Hurt as Car Overturns". The Evening Independent. December 19, 1947. Retrieved August 27, 2017.
  4. JMH (1987). "Assembly". 46. United States Military Academy, West Point, NY: United States Military Academy Association of Graduates: 172. Retrieved December 20, 2021. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
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