Brunette American actress of the mid-late 1920s. She got her start in Christie comedies, working up to leading lady status, before settling into supporting and bit roles in features through 1929. Her mother was Laura Cornelia Hughes (1889-1959), who was only 16 years old at the time of Jean/Frances' birth; her father was identified as James Munsell (1883-1956), a 22-year old Patton State Hospital employee who reportedly led Laura to "forbidden ways." The episode caused a bit of a scandal, with a hurried marriage between the new parents that ended the next day when James immediately took off, never being a part of Jean/Frances' life afterward. Laura would marry thrice more, being divorced once then widowed twice.
Jean herself was married twice, first to Canadian-born cinematographer Alex Phillips (1900-1977), whom she met at Christie, in 1925; they separated around 1929-30. Her second marriage was to theatre projectionist Myron Bonner (1908-2007) in 1940; she filed for divorce in 1946. Jean spent her later years working as a PBX (telephone switchboard) operator for a hotel and later for an interior decorator. Jean passed away the night of 24 January 1958 the same night a fire occurred at her apartment complex (615 South Virgil Street, Los Angeles). Newspapers reported that she succumbed to smoke inhalation as a result of the fire; however, per her death certificate, an autopsy revealed the cause of her death to have actually been acute barbiturate intoxication (whether it was suicide or accidental was undetermined; perhaps worth noting that Jean did previously attempt suicide in the same fashion in 1937). Jean was cremated and interred within the Mausoleum of the Golden West at Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California.
Jean's information and filmography have been continually mixed up with two other actresses. One is a Belgian-born actress named Jeanne Lorraine (née Vanvliet) who won a 1925 Screenland magazine beauty contest and was subsequently involved in a scandalous divorce. The other was a one-time child actress named Jean O'Rourke (1912-1969) who, as a dancer and actress in adulthood, later adopted the stage name of Jean Lorraine. The Vitaphone Zone article linked below has done a good job of tracking "our" Jean's life and career, and separating such amidst the confusion that arose and has persisted between the three different Jean(ne)s even in their time (contemporary articles on the Belgian Jeanne's divorce occasionally mixed her up with "our" Jean, while even "our" Jean's obituary in the Los Angeles Times mentioned a 1943 plane crash Jean O'Rourke/Lorraine was injured in). |
