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Jane Nigh Profile
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| (Evelyn Jane Nigh) |
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| 25 February 25 | is born in Hollywood, California, to Gordon Kincaid and Mildred Catherine Nigh, nee Constantine |
| ? | attends school in Long Beach, California |
| War Years | works as a stenographer at the Douglas Aircraft plant in Long Beach, California. There she's discovered by a press agent who tells her: "You ought to be in pictures." |
| ? | is screen-tested by 20th Century-Fox |
| ? | 20th Century-Fox puts her to work studying acting |
| c. 44 | has an uncredited role of a secretary in Laura |
| October 44 | is swamped with GI mail and is elected "The Girl We'd Take to Spend Our First Liberty After Three Years Overseas With" |
| February 45 | columnist Dorothy Kilgallen reports that "David Rose thinks Jane Nigh is nigh perfect..." |
| December 45 | is around the cafes with Huntington Hartford II |
| is seen at the Mocambo lovey dovey with Dave Rose |
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| is seen at the Club Donroy with Dave Rose and Mrs. Franchot Tone |
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| May 46 | is seen around with Lew Ayres, "who has gone out very little since returning from the war" |
| columnist Walter Winchell reports that singer David Street is now letting her use his telephone |
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| 46 | elopes with Victor Cutler, a Samuel Goldwyn contractee |
| ? | divorces Cutler three months after their marriage |
| December 47 | is considered supposedly engaged to Hollywood architect John Lindsay, but "he's carrying the biggest torch in town for a lovely blonde ex-model" |
| February 48 | is mink coated by Lindsay. They're set to get married in the spring. |
| July 48 | columnist Dorothy Kilgallen reports that Jane "will waltz down the aisle with John Lindsay, heir to a bes-fortune, on September 1" |
| August 48 | is a twosome at Ciro's with Clark Cartier, of the jewelry tribe |
| September 48 | duets with Clark Cartier |
| October 48 | columnist Jimmy Fidler knows that she "is readying an announcement of her engagement to Claude Cartier, son of the famous French jeweller, and that her intended will plane for Hollywood next month” |
| November 48 | goes places with Bob Neal, who was formerly engaged to actress Diana Lynn, who is now engaged to John Lindsay |
| December 48 | Fidler reports that Claude Cartier is showing Paris to Georgette Windsor, but Jane "isn't lonesome though: she was at Ciro's with Bob Neal. And that's an item in itself because Neal once expected to marry Diana Lynn, who is now going to wed Jane Nigh's ex-fiancé, John Lindsay." |
| is heartbroken over Diana Lynn’s marriage to architect John C. Lindsay |
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| February 49 | is among other stars dropped from studio contract lists after big build-ups |
| March 49 | Jimmy Fidler thinks that she and Scott Brady still are playing elusive when reporters try to pin them down "but their pals expect them to swap 'I do's' before the month is out" |
| the press reports her "carefree and unattached at 23" |
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| April 49 | lives in a Beverly Hills apartment |
| May 49 | just out of the hospital, she's at Bob Dalton's with Hans Krisel |
| September 49 | dates Marvin Finch at the Windsor |
| May 50 | bewails the dearth of "eligible bachelors" in Hollywood. "It seems," says she through her press agent, "that every time I meet an interesting fellow, he's already married. I've never known Hollywood when it was so lacking in eligible bachelors." Jimmy Fidler advises her to be more patient. |
| June 50 | is pictured at a Hollywood nightclub with disc jockey Johnny Grant |
| dates again Jim McNamara at Ciro's |
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| fumes about being linked with the wolf pack: "I never even knew the men I was linked with and I'd never even heard of some of the places I was supposed to frequent. Believe me; I resented being the town's number one playgirl in the gossip columns. It just wasn't true. I did go out a little - how else are you going to find The Person - but I'm the kind of a girl who can stay home and read a book, too." |
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| July 50 | is seen at Ciro's with Jim McNamara |
| September 50 | is named "Vintage Queen" for National Wine Week October 7-17 |
| Early September 50 | columnist Erskine Johnson advises: "Look for marriage or the termination of their long romance when her constant escort, Jim McNamara, returns from Europe. Jim has been separated from June Haver's sister for several years. If Jane and Jim still get that breathless feeling when he returns from Europe, he will take steps to untie the marital knot and wed Jane." |
| December 50 | her contract deal with Monogram has other studio players green-eyed |
| September 51 | she and Bill McCarthy are an item |
| Mid-October 51 | she and Dan Dailey date more often these nights |
| End October 51 | columnist Hedda Hopper reports: "Ann Miller, escorted by Charles Isaacs, Eva Gabor's ex, threw a cold eye at Dan Daily's party, where Jane Nigh was conspicuously present." and "Don't buy any wedding presents for Dan Dailey and Jane Nigh. Dan said: 'Jane and I are old friends and we expect to remain that way. The announcement is premature.'" |
| November 51 | columnist Dorothy Kilgallen claims that Jane and Dan Dailey "have concluded they weren't meant for each other. Jane just couldn't adjust herself to Dan's many moods." |
| Late November 51 | wails to pals about Daily: "I can't figure him out. Yesterday morning he told me he loved me. In the afternoon he said he hated me." |
| December 51 | she and Dailey resume |
| is seen at the Encore Room back together with Dan Dailey |
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| Late December 51 | Dailey presents her with a string of pearls the night before she takes off for Korea |
| 52 | reveals in the "The Mary Margaret McBride Show” that for a year her photographs employed in picture frames for sale rivalled Betty Grable as the most used photo |
| January 52 | steps out of her Monogram contract and is about to leap into a long-term TV deal with a major network. First up for her is the role of news-doll Lorelei Kilbourne in the TV film version of Big Town. |
| returns from Korea, and Dan Dailey is there to meet her at the airport |
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| ? | brings Dan Dailey a silk kimono back from her USO tour to Korea. Along with Ann Miller, June Haver, and Barbara Whiting, she is Dan's frequent date. |
| February 52 | advertises for Hollywood Bread |
| March 52 | is seen at the Encore Room with her bridegroom, Navy Lieutenant John E. Baker. They are noted chatting comely with Dan Dailey, to whom she once was reported engaged. She and Baker met on a blind date and he proposed the first night they were out. |
| 15 March 52 | marries Baker in Las Vegas, Nevada. It's her second marriage. She says about her sudden marriage to Baker: "I'm 27 years old and I looked all over for a good, steady man. The trouble with men in Hollywood is that they've been everywhere and they know all the answers." |
| August 52 | will give up her acting career after her baby arrives to farm in upstate California with husband, Baker. There will be a new Lorelei Kilbourne in "Big Town." |
| 3 November 52 | her baby daughter is born prematurely. The girl lives less than 48 hours. |
| September 53 | she and her husband have made a winter date with the stork again |
| seven Hollywood cuties are reported to be tested to replace her as Lorelei Kilbourne |
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| October 53 | her part of Lorelei Kilbourne goes to Beverly Tyler |
| 2 February 54 | her son, John Christopher, is born in Kern County, California. She and Baker live on a 2,000-acre cotton ranch near Bakersfield, California. |
| April 54 | is reported packing her make-up kit for a new telefilm series for Gross-Krasne Productions |
| 2 January 55 | her daughter Stacy Jane is born prematurely in Kern County, California, and has to be kept in an incubator for eight weeks |
| July 55 | confesses to columnist Erskine Johnson that she’s really become a farm housewife |
| 9 November 59 | she and Baker separate |
| February 61 | is rushed by Ted Jordan, the ex of stripper Lili St. Cyr |
| June 61 | she and Baker agree on divorce and file in Los Angeles, both charging cruelty. He's 35 / 36; she's 35 / 36. She asks a minimum of $500 a month for support for herself and for her two children, John, 7; and Stacy Jane, 6. Three hours of negotiations fail to produce a financial agreement. Baker, who operates a ranch at Delano in adjacent Kern Country, balks at permanent alimony. Their two suits will be tried September 14. |
| 14 September 61 | wins a divorce from Baker in Los Angeles testifying that hunting, fishing, and alcohol came before her. She receives custody of their two children, $300 monthly alimony, and $200 monthly child support. After the hearing, she lightly banters with Baker, lets him light her cigarette, and shakes his hand. |
| 18 March 63 | marries millionaire Norman Davidson, Jr., a plywood manufacturer. He's 47; she's 38. |
| 19 December 63 | her daughter Julia Lee is born in Los Angeles |
| 13 February 64 | obtains a Los Angeles Superior Court order requiring Davidson to move from their home at once. Her attorney also files a suit for separate maintenance of $2,191 a month for her and an infant daughter. She claims Davidson threw her down and kicked her, demolishing their room at a hotel, and knocked out a hotel employee who tried to intervene. She estimates his net worth at over $2 million. |
| 24 July 64 | divorces Davidson |
| 28 April 66 | remarries Davidson in Los Angeles |
| 15 July 66 | she and Davidson separate after two months and 17 days |
| ? | the Davidsons reside at 4200 Chevy Chase Drive, La Canada |
| 7 June 67 | files for divorce from Davidson in Los Angeles charging extreme cruelty. He's 52; she's 42. She says Davidson "came home under the influence of liquor and bangs on the door, screaming obscenities." She wants a court order to stop the alleged harassment, plus $1247 a month, and $400 a month child support for their daughter Julia, 3. Davidson is alleged to be worth over $3 million and earns more than $100,000 a year. She claims he owns homes in Wisconsin; Hawaii; and Mecca, California; besides the one in La Canada. He also has a 60-foot yacht and is now paying $850 support voluntarily. Her address is 8650 Vine Valley Drive, Sun Valley. |
| October 68 | divorces Davidson in Los Angeles. He will die at age 76 in 1991. |
| 70 | moves to Newport Beach, California |
| 80 | moves to a townhouse in Corona Del Mar |
| 85 | closes her business, Jazzy Jewels |
| May 88 | sells her condominium in Costa Mesa and moves to Bakersfield, California |
| ? | moves to Sparks, Nevada, to recover from her first stroke. She wants to be near her sister Alice. |
| c. 91 | her daughter, Julia Davidson, is killed in a car crash. That might be the reason for the stress that finally leads to her strokes and death. |
| 5 October 93 | as Evelyn Jane Nigh, she dies from a stroke at age 68 in Bakersfield, California. Her death isn't reported in film annuals until three months later. |
| Sources: Allen J. Duffis, Whatever became of... #11 by Richard Lamparski, "Diana Lynn - A Reluctant Peter Pan" by Colin Briggs in Classic Images, The Progress, The Times Recorder, The Lowell Sun, The Zanesville Signal, Syracuse Herald-Journal, The Coshocton Tribune, Nevada State Journal, Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune, Pottstown Mercury, The Era, The Independent-Record, Joplin Globe, Waukesha Daily Freeman, Waterloo Sunday Courier, Valley Morning Star, The Era, Dixon Evening Telegraph, Mansfield News-Journal, Gazette and Bulletin, The Monessen Daily Independent, The Newark Advocate and American Tribune, The Daily Register, Modern Screen, The Salisbury Times, Appleton Post-Crescent, The Portsmouth Herald, Indiana Evening Gazette, Van Nuys News, www.IMDb.com | |
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| Links: Filmography World War II Pinups: Jane Nigh | |