Gloria Jean

Gloria Jean born Gloria Jean Schoonover April 14 1926 August 31 2018 was an American actress and singer who starred or costarred in 26 feature films from 1939 to 1959 and made numerous radio television stage and nightclub appearances She is probably best remembered today for her appearance with WC Fields in the film Never Give a Sucker an Even Break 1941 Gloria Jean was three years old when she first sang on radio in Scranton Pennsylvania she sang under the name Baby Skylark with Paul Whitemans orchestra on radio broadcasts When she was 12 she was engaged by a New York opera company and became the youngest member of an opera troupe in the United States Gloria Jean was being trained as a coloratura soprano when her voice teacher took her to an audition held by Universal Pictures movie producer Joe Pasternak in 1938 Pasternak had guided Deanna Durbin to stardom and with Durbin now advancing to ingénue roles Pasternak wanted a younger singer to make the same kind of musicals He held auditions for a film called The UnderPup Up against hundreds of others Gloria Jean won the audition Newly under contract to Universal she was given the leading role in the 1939 feature The film did well and Gloria Jean became instantly popular with moviegoers She then costarred with Bing Crosby in If I Had My Way 1940 then starred in the wellreceived A Little Bit of Heaven 1940 Her fourth picture became her best known Never Give a Sucker an Even Break 1941 in which she costarred with WC Fields Gloria Jean became one of Universals most prolific performers during the war years she made 14 feature films Most were hepcat musicals which were geared to the teenage market of the day In May 1944 she turned eighteen After leaving Universal when her contract expired at the end of 1944 Gloria Jean made personal appearances across America the successful tour prompted a tour of Europe She then resumed her movie career as a freelance performer appearing in United Artists Columbia Pictures and Allied Artists productions the bestknown being Copacabana 1947 Subsequently she began appearing on TV shows Gloria Jean continued to appear in feature films albeit lowbudget ones Her last motion picture in which she appears as an extra with no dialogue was released in 1961 Her final television appearance was in 1962 In that year she married Franco Cellini an actor By 1966 they were divorced The union produced a son In 1965 Gloria Jean signed on with an employment agency which sent her to a cosmetics company where she worked as a receptionist until 1993 In December 1991 she was honored by the Young Artist Foundation with its Former Child Star Lifetime Achievement Award recognizing her achievements within the film industry as a juvenile performer She also participated in various nostalgia and autograph shows meeting fans and displaying memorabilia She had always retained her fan following During her final years she moved to Hawaii to live with her son and his family Gloria Jean suffered health problems including two serious falls and a heart condition She died on August 31 2018 Her authorized biography Gloria Jean A Little Bit of Heaven was published in 2005