Jane Withers

At 98 years old, Jane Withers physical status not available right now. We will update Jane Withers's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.

Jane Withers (born April 12, 1926) is an American actress, model, and singer.

Withers, a young artist award-winning child actor of the 1930s and early 1970s, as well as her portrayal of "Josephine the Plumber" in a series of television commercials for Comet cleanser in the 1960s and early 1970s, she is perhaps best known for her role as a teen actor in the film she paired with Shirley Temple, Bright Eyes, began her career as a child actor.

In 1944, she premiered "Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out to Dry," a musical intended for Broadway that closed out of Philadelphia and relocated to a neighbor.

Early life

Jane Withers was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on April 12, 1926, the only child of Walter Edward Withers and Lavinia Ruth (née Elble) Withers. Ruth's parents had to be disapproved of her aspirations to be an actress. Jane was determined before Jane was born that she would have one daughter who will go into show business and chose Jane so that "even with a long last name like Withers, it would fit on a marquee." Ruth taught Sunday school and Walter taught Bible classes in their local Presbyterian church. At mealtime, the family recited blessings and pledged themselves to charitable causes, which included Jane's entire life. The family will invite "six busloads of orphanage children" to visit their house after church and Sunday school for lunch and afternoon entertainment, both in Atlanta and Hollywood.

Ruth began enrolling Jane in a tap dance academy and taught her to sing. After winning a local amateur competition named Dixie's Dainty Dewdrop, Jane began her entertainment career at the age of three. She appeared on Aunt Sally's Kiddie Revue, a Saturday-morning children's television show on WGST radio in Atlanta, in which she performed, danced, and did impersonations of film stars such as W. C. Fields, Zasu Pitts, Maurice Chevalier, Fanny Brice, Eddie Cantor, and Greta Garbo. Dainty Dewdrop, Dixie's Dainty Dewdrop, where she also interviewed celebrities who were visiting Atlanta, was her own radio show at age 312.

Ruth took Jane to Hollywood before her sixth birthday in 1932 to investigate film possibilities. She had been working in radio for two years. Walter stayed in Atlanta, costing them $100 a month to live. Janet was a model and appeared on children's shows on KFWB radio, did cartoon voice-overs, and even modeled in Los Angeles. When her neighbor invited her to attend her daughter's interview for Handle with Care (1932), she got her first film role as an extra. When the other children were interviewed with director David Butler, they stayed to the side. The assistant director came over and asked her why she was not among the others. "I wasn't invited to the interview." "I went with our children," she replied. Butler had seen her and wanted her to interview as well, according to the assistant director. Handle with Care was Withers' first film film shoot, though she and the children were photographed with their backs to the camera.

Withers appeared in several films as an uncredited extra, though she did have a line of dialogue occasionally. She stood out among the other girls at auditions because of her appearance: she had a Dutchboy bob and wore tailored clothes rather than frilly dresses. "I was the only one with a tailored outfit, with straight bangs and straight haircut, no curls and no frills in any interview," she recalled. Butler was the first to know this about her. "You're different than every other kid I've ever seen in Hollywood," he told her. You have a natural talent, and one day you will be a well-known little star."

When W. C. Fields selected her from a group of juvenile extras to perform a pantomime hopscotch scene with him, Withers was serving as an extra on It's a Gift (1934). She praised her timing and called on her mother to praise Jane's abilities and predict that she would go far.

Withers' big break came after two years as she landed a supporting role in the Shirley Temple film Bright Eyes (also 1934), which was also directed by Butler. Butler wondered if she could imitate a machine gun in her interview, so she gave it a try. With her impersonations, she also charmed the casting director. Joy Smythe's character is spoilt and obnoxious, making her a natural counterbalance to Temple's dulcet temperament. Withers was worried that filmgoers would be embarrassed for being so cruel to Temple, but the film was a box-office smash. Withers said that director Butler confided in her, "You stole the picture."

Withers has signed a seven-year deal with Fox Film Corporation after filming ended. The right to select the crew members who would work on her productions was included in her deal. All of her sequel films, dubbed the "Withers Family," were shot by her crew.

With the intention of investing $20,000 over an eight-year cycle, Withers' mother invested $10,000 into expanding her repertoire as an actress. "ice skating lessons, voice preparation, horsemanship, dancing, French, Spanish, and swimming lessons were among the lessons included in this series."

Parents and home life

Although Withers was traditionally portrayed as a brat on film, she was also on film as "one of Hollywood's most charming and well behaved juveniles." Her parents closely monitored her child to ensure she did not grow up spoiled or entitled. Ruth outlined in a 1942 newspaper article how she and her husband encouraged Jane to develop a generous personality and avoid the egoism and self-centeredness that a child star might have as the object of adoring followers and studio "sycophants."

For example, As Withers began to receive dolls from fans to add to her collection, her parents insisted that for every two dolls she received, she gave one to a needy child. Her parents ordered that she use her allowance funds to buy duplicate dolls for children with disabilities as she began to build the collection. Her earnings from film roles were invested in trust funds and annuities; Withers were compelled to purchase things she needed for herself, which often meant saving up for weeks. Her allowance was estimated as $5 a week in 1938, but it was bumped to $10 a week in 1941.

Withers' parents made sure she had fun while still being close to home, but they did keep her routines controlled and close to home to reduce the pressures of a child actor's life. Withers joined the Girl Scouts and her parents' home for the meeting. The Withers' home, a 4-acre (1.6 ha) model home on 10731 Sunset Boulevard that they purchased in 1936, was equipped with a swimming pool, badminton court, and a 78-ft (24 meter) playroom that saw frequent use by Withers and her fellow Hollywood child actors. Her afternoon swim parties lasted into her teens and were the subject of many a fan magazine. When she was a child, her parents created a second-floor addition that included a beauty salon and soda fountain, where Withers would entertain her children. As an infant, she owned a pair of horses, three kittens, three baby alligators, 24 white Leghorn chickens, 2 Chinese hens, a rooster, six bantams, seven frogs, and six dogs. Withers had two motorcycles and a boat at their family's lake Arrowhead, where they spent weekends and holidays.

Withers' birthday parties, described as "the social event of the season for movietown's small fry," were regularly covered by the media. Her parents hired a 21-seat cargo plane for $18,000 to give party guests a low-altitude ride for her twelfth birthday. 60 young people attended a balloon dance and jitterbug contest at Withers' thirteenth birthday party; this event received a two-page pictorial spread in Life magazine. Paramount Pictures' "sweet sixteen" party in 1942, which featured 150 invited guests as well as a hayride and a barn dance, was shot by Paramount Pictures for Hedda Hopper's Hollywood film. During World War II, the short was transferred to a 16 mm film for viewing by US troops overseas. Withers' eighteenth birthday party at Madison Square Garden featured a circus theme and welcomed US servicemen and their dates to be her guests. Withers' twentieth birthday party had been planned for a nightclub of 200 guests but after she fell sick with the flu, she instead served cake and ice cream and watched movies in her personal suite at home with 12 close friends.

Withers were allowed to go on chaperoned dates with boys of her age in her early teens, but by age 16, she was allowed to go on solo dates. She was always accompanied by round-the-clock bodyguards after a 1936 kidnapping incident.

Ruth "handled all negotiations with producers, supervised publicity, [and] completely handled Jane's off-screen life during Withers' first 15 years in film." Ruth, on the other hand, was not a traditional stage mother. She was usually on the sound stage, but she did not watch Jane film her scenes; nor did she ever give instructions or protests to studio employees. Walter Withers did not work in film production at all, but served as a representative for a California wholesale furniture corporation.

Personal life

Following a two-year courtship, Withers declared her commitment to William (Bill) Moss, a Texas entrepreneur and film producer, in May 1947. They married on September 20, 1947. With their three children, the couple lived on ranches in Midland, Texas, and New Mexico. They divorced in April 1953 and 1954, Withers was given a divorce, blaming her husband's "excessive drinking and gambling." She received a $1 million property settlement, which included monthly alimony and children's care, trust fund and insurance fund for the children, and a half-interest in Texas oil fields owned by Moss, as well as complete custody of the children. Withers, who was suffering from emotional turmoil as a result of the impending divorce, was hospitalized for five months in 1953 with severe rheumatoid arthritis and complete paralysis. She recovered with no lasting results.

Withers remarried in October 1955, she married singer Kenneth Errair of The Four Freshmen, with whom she had two more children. Errair died in a plane crash near Bass Lake, California, in June 1968. Withers' sons died of cancer later this year.

Withers, a devout Christian, was a devout Christian. She belonged to the Presbyterian Church like her parents. Eleanor Powell and Gloria Hatrick McLean performed together in Sunday school at the Beverly Hills Presbyterian Church together. She served as a trustee of the Church of Religious Science in Los Angeles.

Withers died in Burbank, California, on August 7, 2021, at the age of 95.

Source