Jean Hagen

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Jean Hagen (born Jean Shirley Verhagen, August 3, 1923 – August 29, 1977) was an American actress best known for her role as Lina Lamont in Singin' in the Rain (1952), for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Margaret Williams (1953–56) on the television show Make Room for Daddy was also nominated three times for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.

Early life

Hagen was born in Chicago on August 3, 1923, to Christian Verhagen, a Dutch immigrant, and Marie, his Chicago-born wife. When she was 12, the family moved to Elkhart, Indiana, where she graduated from Elkhart High School. She studied drama at Northwestern University, where she was a roommate of actress Patricia Neal. She graduated from Northwestern University in 1945. She also worked as an usher.

Personal life

On June 12, 1947, Jean Hagen married actor Tom Seidel (who portrayed Dr. Sanderson in the play Harvey) in Brentwood, California. Christine Patricia Seidel and Aric Phillip Seidel were married to two children. According to Lorraine LoBianco's authoritative biography, Seidel, in his effort to discourage his wife from drinking, divorced her and gained custody of the children. It didn't work; Hagen's alcoholism only got worse, and by 1968, she was hospitalized and lapsed into a coma at UCLA Medical Center. Hagen survived the ordeal, and her daughter, Christine, said she never drank again after coming out of the hospital.

Unfortunately, throat cancer was the product of another health issue. Hagen went to Germany "for laetrile," a supposedly effective treatment that is not available in the United States, according to Patricia Neal in her autobiography. But she was bubbly and bright, and so much the way I remembered her from the old days.'

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Career

Hagen began her show-business career in radio in the 1940s, appearing in Light of the World, Hollywood Story, and other genres. Betty Websters played Betty Webster on Those Websters, using her maiden name (Jean Verhagen).

Hagen first appeared on Broadway in Swan Song. Born Yesterday, she appeared in Another Part of the Forest, Ghosts, and The Traitor.

In the 1949 Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn film Adam's Rib, directed by George Cukor, she made her film debut as a comedic femme fatale. Hagen's first appearance in The Asphalt Jungle (1950) was in her first film role. Doll Conover, a woman who sticks by illegal Dix's side until the bitter end, was played by Hagen. She appeared in the film noir Side Street (1950), portraying a gangster's sincere but dim mother. Lina Lamont, the vain, spoilt, and talentless silent film actress, gave a memorable comedy appearance in Singin' in the Rain. For her role, she was named Best Supporting Actress by the Academy Award for her role.

By 1953, she had joined the cast of the television sitcom Make Room for Daddy. Hagen was nominated for her role as Danny Thomas' first wife. She became dissatisfied with the role and left the show after three seasons. Thomas, the show's producer, was reportedly unaware of Hagen's departure and her character was killed rather than recasting, making her the first TV character to be killed off in a family sitcom. Marjorie Lord was portrayed a year later as Danny's second wife and performed well against Thomas for the remainder of the series.

Hagen co-starred in "Enough Rope for Two" on Alfred Hitchcock Presents in 1957, depicting a woman who accompanies two criminals trying to recover stolen money from a desert mine shaft. In 1960, Hagen appeared as Elizabeth on "Once Upon a Knight" on The DuPont Show; and in 1963 Hagen portrayed Sarah Proctor on Wagon Train; and in the episode "The Sarah Proctor Story," Hagen portrayed her as Elizabeth; In the episode "Andy and the Woman Speeder" from the Andy Griffith Show the following year, she appeared on The Andy Griffith Show the following year.

Despite making frequent appearances in television series, Hagen was unable to return to film in starring roles. In the 1960s, her health began to decline, and she spent many years in hospitals or under medical care. For the remainder of her career, she played supporting roles, including Marguerite LeHand, personal secretary to Franklin Delano Roosevelt in Sunrise (1960) and Bette Davis in Dead Ringer (1964).

Much later, in 1976, she made a comeback of sorts by appearing in scenes of Starsky and Hutch and The Streets of San Francisco. In Alexander: The Other Side of Dawn, she made her last acting appearance in the television show Alexander: The Other Side of Dawn earlier this year.

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