Jean Kent (born Joan Mildred Field; 29 June 1921 − 30 November 2013) was an English film and television actress.
Biography Kent was born Joan Mildred Field (sometimes incorrectly cited as Summerfield) in Brixton, London, in 1921,John Walker, Halliwell's Who's Who of the Movies, London: HarperCollins, 1999, pg. 229; the only child of variety performers Norman Carpenter Summerfield, who used the name "Norman Field", and Mildred Lilian (née Noaks), known as "Nina Norre". She started her theatrical career at age 10 in 1931 as a dancer. She used the stage name Jean Carr when she appeared as a chorus girl in the Windmill Theatre in London, from which she was fired by Vivian Van Damm.
Gainsborough Pictures Kent signed to Gainsborough Pictures during the Second World War. She had small roles in It's That Man Again (1943), Miss London Ltd. (1943) and Warn That Man (1944). Kent appeared in Two Thousand Women (1944), playing a stripper who is interned by the Germans. She portrayed a Pacific Islander in Bees in Paradise (1944) with Arthur Askey and the ingenue in a Tommy Trinder musical Champagne Charlie (1944).
The turning point in her career came when she was given a dramatic part in the Gainsborough melodrama film Fanny by Gaslight (1944). She played a part turned down by Margaret Lockwood, that of the childhood friend of the character played by Phyllis Calvert, who becomes the mistress of James Mason's character. The movie, also starring Stewart Granger, was a box-office success in Britain and established Kent as Gainsborough's back up to Margaret Lockwood.
Kent played another sexually aggressive young woman in Madonna of the Seven Moons (1945), another financial success, with Calvert and Granger. Rank borrowed her to support Rex Harrison in The Rake's Progress (1945), after which she returned to Gainsborough, appearing in Waterloo Road (1945) with John Mills and Granger.
Stardom Kent shared top billing with Granger in Caravan (1946), playing a gypsy girl in another melodrama. It was a financial success and Kent was given a new contract. Granger and Kent were reunited in The Magic Bow (1946), with Kent again taking a part originally meant for Margaret Lockwood.
"There was a pecking order at Gainsborough," Kent later recalled. "First Margaret, then Pat, then Phyllis, then me. I was the odds-and-sods girl. I used to mop up the parts that other people didn't want."
After a support role in Carnival (1946) with Michael Wilding, Kent was the female lead in The Man Within (1947), a costume adventure from a novel by Graham Greene. Kent had a good part in The Loves of Joanna Godden (1947), and was given a star role in Good-Time Girl (1948), a melodrama about a girl who goes bad. Kent was top billed as one of several names in Bond Street (1948), and was the female lead in a thriller Sleeping Car to Trieste (1948), playing a spy.
Kent appeared as the lead in a musical Trottie True (1949), which became her favourite film. She made a comedy in Italy, Her Favourite Husband (1950), and appeared opposite Dirk Bogarde in The Woman in Question (1950). In 1950, Kent was voted the 9th biggest British star in Britain;"Success of British Films." The Times London, England 29 December 1950: 4. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 11 July 2012. the following year she moved up to 8th. Kent starred in the melodrama The Reluctant Widow (1951)m then had a good role as the unfaithful wife in The Browning Version (1951).
Kent was in a thriller The Lost Hours (1952) with American actor Mark Stevens and Before I Wake (1955). She appeared in Arthur Watkyn's historical play The Moonraker in 1952, and in 1953 was in a play Uncertain Joy. That year she appeared on a TV play with Michael Craig, who said she "was on the wane after a successful career as a film star. She didn't like slumming it in television at all and was very grand and one scary lady."
In 1954, Kent fell ill while touring in a stage production of The Deep Blue Sea in South Africa.
Later career Kent's film appearances grew less frequent from the mid-1950s onward. She had supporting roles in The Prince and the Showgirl (1957), Bonjour Tristesse (1958), and the horror film The Haunted Strangler (1959). She was in the comedy Please Turn Over (1959) and the thriller Beyond This Place (1959). She was one of several female stars in Bluebeard's Ten Honeymoons (1960) with George Sanders.
She played Queen Elizabeth I in the historical TV adventure series Sir Francis Drake filmed in 1961–62.
In 1981, she played Jennifer Lamont in the soap opera Crossroads.
Personal life Kent was married to Austrian actor Josef Ramart from 1946 until his death in 1989, aged 70. They met on the set of Caravan, in which both appeared. Actor Stewart Granger, a co-star in the picture, was the best man at their wedding. Kent and Ramart also both had roles in the film Trottie True.
Kent was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1974, being surprised by Eamonn Andrews at the Strand Theatre. Kent made her last public appearance in June 2011, when she was honoured by the British Film Institute on her 90th birthday. She was a guest at a screening of Caravan at the BFI Southbank.
Death Kent died in the West Suffolk Hospital, Bury St. Edmunds, on 30 November 2013, following a fall at her home in Westhorpe. The coroner determined that Kent died from accidental injuries received during a fall that may have been caused by cardiac disease.
Filmography
Film Year Title Role Notes1935The Rocks of Valpre Credited as Joan Summerfield 1935Who's Your FatherMary Radcliffe1939IrisCredited as Jean Carr 1943It's That Man AgainKitty1943Warn That ManFrances Lane1943Miss London Ltd. The Encyclopaedia Girl 1944Bees in ParadiseJani1944Fanny by GaslightLucy BeckettAKA, Man of Evil1944Champagne CharlieDolly Bellwood1944Two Thousand WomenBridie Johnson1945Madonna of the Seven MoonsVittoria1945Waterloo RoadToni1945The Wicked LadyCaptain Jerry Jackson's doxy1945Jill DuncanAKA, Notorious Gentleman1946CaravanRosal1946Bianca1946CarnivalIrene Dale1947LucyAKA, The Smugglers1947Ellen Godden1948Good-Time GirlGwen Rawlings1948Bond StreetRicki Merritt1948Sleeping Car to TriesteValya1949Trottie TrueTrottie TrueAKA, The Gay Lady1950The Reluctant WidowHelena1950Her Favourite HusbandDorothy PellegriniAKA, The Taming of Dorothy1950Agnes / AstraAKA, Five Angles on Murder1951Millie Crocker-Harris1952Louise ParkerAKA, The Big Frame1955Before I WakeFlorence HaddonAKA, Shadow of Fear1957Maisie Springfield1958Bonjour TristesseHelen Lombard1958Cora Seth1959Beyond This PlaceLouise BurtAKA, Web of Evidence1959Please Turn OverJanet Halliday1960Bluebeard's Ten HoneymoonsJulienne Guillin1976Shout at the DevilMrs. Smythe
Television Year Title Role Notes1947CinderellaPrince CharmingTV miniseries1949Big BenGrace GreenTV film1955London PlayhouseElsa CarterEpisode: "A Call on the Widow"1956Theatre RoyalAda WestonEpisode: "The Lovebirds"1956Pantomania, or Dick WhittingtonDick WhittingtonTV film1956HenriettaEpisode: "1000th Night of Don Juan"1956, 1958Sunday Night TheatrePolly Tremayne, Jeanne LironEpisodes: "Morning Star", "The Sulky Fire"1957Lady SimsTV film1957ITV Television PlayhouseAlicia CollinsEpisode: "Love Her to Death"1958WebRita CarpenterEpisodes: "The Painting", "The Other Warren", "The Gallery"1958Sword of FreedomValeskaEpisode: "The Lion and the Mouse"1958Dick Whittington and His CatDick WhittingtonTV film1959Epilogue to CapricornLady KerwinTV series1959, 1962ITV Play of the WeekMolly, ArianeEpisodes: "The Signal", "Coach 7, Seat 15"1960Hotel ImperialMadame TraziniEpisode: "The Leopardess in 424"1961Debt to a SpyMadame SophieTV short1961–62Sir Francis DrakeQueen Elizabeth IMain role1963MaupassantMarquise ObardiEpisode: "Yvette"1963, 1965No Hiding PlacePaula Hudson, Mrs. BlackEpisodes: "A Pocketful of Bones", "Rat in a Trap"1963–1965Emergency Ward 10Gillian BlaineGuest role1964Love StoryZoe SlaterEpisode: "The Smile on the Face of a Tiger"1964Mrs. ThreeganEpisodes: "Three: And an Extra", "The Sending of Dana Da", "The Rescue of Pluffles"1966This Man CraigJoyce MaitlandEpisode: "Period of Adjustment"1966–67United!Margie StringerGuest role1967Vanity FairMrs. O'DowdEpisode: "The Celebrated Battle Scene"1968Comedy PlayhouseAggie PlunkettEpisode: "The Family of Fred"1968DetectiveMiss MayberryEpisode: "The Deadly Climate"1968Mrs. Da TankaEpisode: "A Night with Mrs. Da Tanka"1968–69Thicker Than WaterAggie PlunkettTV series1969Mrs. RandallEpisodes: "1.8", "1.9"1970ITV PlayhouseBeatriceEpisode: "Brother and Sister"1970Up Pompeii!AphroditeEpisode: "Exodus"1970Steptoe and SonDaphne GoodlaceEpisode: "Two's Company"1971Doctor at LargeMrs. BentinckEpisode: "Trains & Notes & Veins"1971Dora MartinEpisode: "Flesh and Blood"1972Public EyeMrs. PodmoreEpisode: "Mrs. Podmore's Cat"1974ThrillerMrs. GarrickEpisode: "Color Him Dead"1976AngelsMiss BuckleEpisode: "Legacies"1978Do You Remember?Milly BilletEpisode: "Night School"1978TycoonMary ClarkTV series1980Time of My LifeMrs. WordsworthEpisodes: "1.4", "1.5"1981CrossroadsJennifer LamontEpisode: "1.3543"1985Lytton's DiaryMargot ShelleyEpisode: "The Silly Season"1990Missing PersonsPhillida MeadowhiteTV film1990After Henry Mrs Judd SkeffertonEpisode: Party Politics1991LovejoyMadelene GilbertEpisode: "National Wealth"1991ShrinksCharlotte MerrickEpisode: "1.5"
Box office ranking For a number of years, British film exhibitors voted her among the top ten British stars at the box office via an annual poll in the Motion Picture Herald. 1950 – 9th 1951 – 8th
References
External links BBC: Jean Kent at 90
British Pictures Stars Photographs of Jean Kent