Occupation Actress Education Hamilton College Role Actress | Name Isabel Jewell Years active 1932–1972 | |
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Other names Isabel JewelIsobel Jewell Died April 5, 1972, Hollywood, California, United States Movies Gone with the Wind, Lost Horizon, Marked Woman, The Seventh Victim, Ciao! Manhattan Similar People Carroll Nye, H B Warner, Thomas Mitchell, Paul Marion, Jane Wyatt | ||
Isabel Jewell: Beyond The Shadow of a Doubt (Lane-Adamson)
Isabel Jewell (July 19, 1907 – April 5, 1972) was an American actress most active in the 1930s and early 1940s. Some of her most famous films were Ceiling Zero, Marked Woman, A Tale of Two Cities, and Gone With the Wind.
Contents
- Isabel Jewell Beyond The Shadow of a Doubt Lane Adamson
- She Had to Choose 1934 BUSTER CRABBE
- Early life and career
- Personal life
- Death
- Legacy
- Filmography
- References
She Had to Choose (1934) BUSTER CRABBE
Early life and career
Born in Shoshoni, Fremont County, Wyoming, Jewell was the daughter of Emory Lee Jewell and Livia A. Willoughby Jewell. Her father was "a prominent ... doctor and medical researcher." She was educated at St. Mary's Academy in Minnesota and at Hamilton College in Kentucky.
After years in theater stock companies, including an 87-week stint in Lincoln, Nebraska, she hit the big time after getting a part on Broadway in Up Pops the Devil (1930). She received glowing critical reviews for Blessed Event (1932) as well.
Jewell's film debut came in Blessed Event (1932). She had been brought to Hollywood by Warner Brothers for the film version of Up Pops the Devil. Jewell gained other supporting roles, appearing in a variety of films in the early 1930s. She played stereotypical gangsters' women in such films as Manhattan Melodrama (1934) and Marked Woman (1937). She was well received playing against type, as the seamstress sentenced to death on the guillotine along with Sydney Carton (Ronald Colman in A Tale of Two Cities (1935). Her most significant role was as the prostitute Gloria Stone in Lost Horizon (1937). Jewell's films included Gone with the Wind (1939) (in the role of "that white trash, Emmy Slattery"), Northwest Passage (1940), High Sierra (1941), and the low-budget The Leopard Man (1943).
By the end of the 1940s, her roles had reduced in significance to the degree that her performances were often uncredited, e.g. The Snake Pit. She performed in radio dramas in the 1950s, including This is Your FBI.
In 1972, Jewell appeared opposite Edie Sedgwick in the film Ciao! Manhattan. Her final film was the B movie Sweet Kill (1973), the directorial debut of Curtis Hanson, a future Academy Award winner.
Personal life
Jewell's first marriage (which "was not generally known during Jewell's lifetime ... [nor] mentioned in the press during her heyday in American films") occurred when she wed Lovell "Cowboy" Underwood when she was 19.
In the mid to late 1930s, Jewell was seen at nightclubs with actor William Hopper. (He appeared on the Perry Mason TV series and was the son of gossip columnist Hedda Hopper and stage star DeWolf Hopper).
In 1941, Jewell married actor Paul Marion, who was then a private in the Army. They separated in 1943 and were divorced on May 12, 1944.
Death
Jewell died in Los Angeles, California, aged 64, from undisclosed causes. Her ashes were scattered in the Pacific Ocean.
Legacy
In 1960, Jewell was recognized with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contribution to motion pictures. The star is located at 1560 Vine Street.