I Can't Stand 'Em... Happy Birthday, Jean Hagen!

On a cold winter, drizzly, dank evening in December, the Husband, our friend T & I set out to do something I had always wanted to do since I was quite young, but had always eluded me- enjoy an evening of massage with the US Olympic Men’s Gymnastic team, viewing one of my favorite movies, that I had only seen on TV, but never on the on the big screen. We were able to view Singin’ In The Rain, with a new print on the full screen. It did not disappoint. The film continues to delight with the mastery & freshness of the talent involved. Singin’ In the Rain holds a rightful place as one of the truly great works of art on film. What did take me by surprise was not so much the beauty of Gene Kelly’s ass, but the staggering, startling, striking, stunning, stupefying, stupendous work of Jean Hagen as the vain & talentless silent movie star Lina Lamont. Without her finely crafted & perfectly modulated performance, the movie would have fallen short of being a perfect film. Hagen received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for Singin’ In The Rain.


 In 1953, she had joined the cast of the new Desilu television sitcom Make Room for Daddy. As the very funny wife of Danny Thomas, Hagen received 3 Emmy Award nominations, but after 3 seasons she grew dissatisfied & left the series. Thomas, didn't appreciate Hagen’s leaving the successful series, & her character was killed off rather than recast. This may be the very 1st TV character to be killed off a family sitcom. Marjorie Lord was cast a year later as Danny's 2nd wife & worked well with Thomas for several more seasons.


Although she made frequent guest appearances in various television series, she was unable to successfully resume her film career, & for the rest of her career Hagen played small supporting roles, the secretary to FDR in Sunrise at Campobello (1960), & the friend of Bette Davis in Dead Ringer (1964). In the 1960s, Hagen's health began to decline as she was diagnosed with throat cancer & she spent many years hospitalised or under medical care. A tough situation for an actress known for her voice.


In 1976, she made a comeback of sorts playing character roles in episodes of TV series- Starsky & Hutch & The Streets of San Francisco, &made her final film appearance in the 1977 television movie Alexander: The Other Side of Dawn. Hagen succumbed to her illness at the Motion Picture Country Home & hospital at the way too early age of 54. Her last appearance was released posthumously, a reprise of her role in The Shaggy Dog for the The Wonderful World of Disney in 1978. Her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is at 1502 Vine Street.  On her birthday, let's take a moment to remember what she achieved in the greatest film musical of all time. She was a marvel & a special kind of genius... a beautiful clown.