Jane Randolph

Poised and pretty lead and second lead actress 'Jane Randolph' (qv) decorated a number of second-string World War II and post-war 1940's film features. Born Joan Roemer in Youngstown, Ohio on October 30, 1914, her father, a steel-mill designer, moved the family to Kokomo, Indiana when she was still quite young. Following her graduation from high school, she studied at Indiana's DePauw University, where she was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta. Jane's interest was acting was increasingly prodded during this time and in 1939, she decided to try her luck in Hollywood.Studying at 'Max Reinhardt' (qv)'s school, she was eventually tested and picked up by Warner Bros in 1941. Publicized as a WWII pin-up in such Army magazines as Yank, and provided only in bit parts while there, such as a hatcheck girl in _Manpower (1941)_ (qv), a singer who warbles the tune "What's New?" in the film _Dive Bomber (1941)_ (qv) and a secretary in _The Male Animal (1942)_ (qv), RKO Studios saw promise in the nascent actress. Picking up her contract in 1942, the studio immediately handed her two "B" leading lady roles -- as rich, naïve inventor 'Richard Carlson' (qv)'s love interest in the adventure comedy _Highways by Night (1942)_ (qv) and spunky girl reporter Marcia Brooks in the Nazi espionage crime drama _The Falcon's Brother (1942)_ (qv) opposite real-life brothers 'Tom Conway' (qv) and 'George Sanders' (qv).Over the years, brown-eyed, auburn-haired Jane would become best known for her benign, classy, but vulnerable femmes in film noir, easy comedy and whodunnits. Her best-remembered role was as poor, tormented co-worker Alice Moore in one of the few decent productions released by bottom-of-the-barrel Producers Releasing Corporation, the atmospheric horror classic _Cat People (1942)_ (qv) and its equally successful sequel, _The Curse of the Cat People (1944)_ (qv). In both, Jane innocently brings out the revengeful claws of feral lady cat 'Simone Simon' (qv). At one point she was hired by the Disney people as a human model used for the ice-skating sequence with "Bambi" and "Thumper" in their classic film _Bambi (1942)_ (qv).As for subsequent filming, Jane would return to her intrepid girl reporter in _The Falcon Strikes Back (1943)_ (qv), again with Conway. She was also featured in a poignant scene with lovely 'Jeanne Crain' (qv) in the war-themed film _In the Meantime, Darling (1944)_ (qv); is married to 'Nils Asther' (qv) but in love with doctor 'John Loder' (qv) in the film noir _Jealousy (1945)_ (qv); involves herself with the Bowery Boys in Monogram Picture's _In Fast Company (1946)_ (qv); played an attractive second lead distraction in the Universal adventure serial _The Mysterious Mr. M (1946)_ (qv) and an equally attractive lead in the "Hopalong Cassidy" western entry _Fool's Gold (1946)_ (qv).Jane enjoyed a rare femme fatale role as a conniving beautician and girlfriend of cold-blooded mobster 'John Ireland' (qv) in the film noir _Railroaded! (1947)_ (qv). She finished her career in two other film noir thrillers, _T-Men (1947)_ (qv) and _Open Secret (1948)_ (qv), and joined 'Bud Abbott' (qv) and 'Lou Costello' (qv) in, arguably, their most popular Universal outing, the comedy chiller _Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)_ (qv). Here, all three are menaced by the classic terror trio of 'Lon Chaney Jr.' (qv)'s Wolfman, 'Bela Lugosi' (qv)'s Dracula and 'Glenn Strange' (qv)'s Frankenstein monster.Divorced from talent agent Bert D'Armand, Jane married sometime producer 'Jaime del Amo' (qv) on April 20, 1949, and retired to move to Spain and live the life of a socialite. In later years, following his death, she returned to Los Angeles, but also maintained a home in Gstaad, Switzerland. She died in Switzerland at age 94, of complications following surgery for a broken hip. She was survived by daughter, Cristina del Amo.::Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net