Mary Jane French

Born on March 13, 1920, in the coastal community of Sea Isle City, New Jersey, to a working class family she began her career in 1939 as a professional dress model for the prestigious William Thornton Agency in New York City, New York, not long after her high school graduation. While doing a fashion show in Manhattan, New York, one fateful day in 1942 she was plucked out of the blue by a Hollywood talent scout who brought her out to California for some screen testing. She made her debut, uncredited, as 'Miss November' in the 1943 Dubarry Was a Lady in the 'Esquire Girl' musical number with Red Skelton. Although her work was mostly uncredited she appeared in over twenty motion pictures between 1943 and 1952, and later made a name for herself as a high demand pin-up girl and cheesecake model ranking as one of the seven out of ten most popular pin-up girls during World War II. Her other screen appearances included ''Girl Crazy'' (1943), ''Thrill of a Romance'' (1945), ''The Harvey Girls'' (1946), ''Up Goes Maisie'' (1946), ''Lured'' (1947), ''Homecoming'' (1948), and ''An American in Paris'' (1951). She also supplemented her income working as the official stand-in for fellow red-headed actresses 'Maureen O'Hara' and Susan Hayward during the later half of the 1940s. In 1952, she retired from movie appearances following her marriage to a wealthy physician and spent the remainder of her life living in Trinity County, California, keeping busy as a mother, was active in Democrat politics, vacationing around the United States, and doing constant work with St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital, The March of Dimes, and Catholic Charities. Her son later went on to become a successfully prosperous plastic surgeon. During her time in Hollywood, she became a close personal friend of actress Lynn Merrick and the two remained in contact until Merrick's death in 2007. French passed away from issues relating to congestive heart failure on September 27, 2009, at the age of 89. She was survived by her son, daughter in law, and several grand and great-grandchildren. As per her last will and testament, there was no funeral service nor any public memorials.