Child Star Jane Withers Passes Away At Age 95

 

CREDIT: Getty Images

Former child actor, Jane Withers, known for tormenting Shirley Temple on screen, and later a box-office champion, has sadly passed away at the age of 95.

Jane was also known as 'Josephine the Plumber,' appearing in TV commercials in the 1960s and 1970s.

Jane was one of the last remaining stars from the height of Hollywood studio dominance in the 1930s and 1940s.

She played many minor roles as a child actor and then got her big break when Twentieth Century Fox cast her as Shirley Temple's nemesis in Bright Eyes (1934).

"I had to play the meanest, creepiest little girl that God ever put on the planet. I ran over Shirley with a tricycle, and a baby buggy. And I thought, 'Oh dear, everybody's going to hate me forever because I was so creepy mean to Shirley Temple!" Jane recalled in 2000.

CREDIT: John Engstead

Critics claimed she was the star of the show and stole the picture from Shirley. Children even wrote admiring letters to her loving what she did to Shirley "because she's so perfect."

Fox boss at the time, Darryl F. Zanuck decided there was room for another child actor at the studio and signed a contract with her.

She became the anti-Shirley. A bright, talky, mischief-prone girl who had wide eyes, chubby cheeks and straight black hair. Her hair contrasted with Shirley blonde curly top.

For the next four years, three or four Withers movies would be released annually. The budgets were far lower than those of Shirley Temple. Some of the films were Ginger (1935), Paddy O'Day (1935), Little Miss Nobody (1936), Wild and Woolly (1937), and The Arizona Wildcat (1939).

CREDIT: edition.cnn.com

Jane was named one of the top money-making stars in 1936 and 1937.

Shirley Temple films were made on Fox's modern Westwood lot, whereas Jane Withers films were made at the old studio on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood.

"I wasn't allowed to shoot in Westwood until Shirley left the studio."

Once she became a teenager, and into her adulthood, films became few and her career started to dwindle.

She then landed the role of 'Josephine the Plumber' in TV commercials for Comet cleanser. She played this role for 12 years.

In 1963 Jane said, "Oh, the money is nice, all right. I got five figures for eight of those commercials, and I'm doing four more."

Jane said the biggest advantage of this job was that it didn't interfere with her home life in Hollywood. The Broadway offers she was getting, did.

Jane has stated previously that she thought the original Josephine character was "too smart-alecky, too brash" but believed "any lady who was going to become a plumber" would take pride in her work and care about every customer.

CREDIT: chicago.suntimes.com

Jane became famous from a very early age. Born on April 12th, 1926 in Atlanta, by the age of three she had appeared as Dixie's Danity Dewdrop on local radio.

Her mother had all the ambitions and convinced her father to move the family to Hollywood.

She then played bit roles in movies, and even supplied voices for the Willie Whopper and the Looney Tunes cartoons.

She also appeared in It's A Gift (1934) with W.C. Fields. Fields chose her for a scene where she played hopscotch in front of his store, which frustrated his exit. He coached Jane and praised her for her professionalism.

He also sent her two large bouquets and a note when she won her first starring role. The note said, "I know you're going to knock them dead in Ginger and you're going to have a fantastic career."

Jane became so popular that she had dolls and other merchandise. When she was at her peak she was earning $2,500 a week and $50,000 a year in endorsements. Her earnings also didn't disappear like other child actors. 

CREDIT: macleayargus.com.au

In 1974 she said, "Fortunately, my dad had a great love of California land. He kind of dibble-dabbled in real estate in a marvellous way."

During her childhood, she began a collection of dolls and teddy bears that carried on through her life. It was reported in 1988, that she had 12,000 dolls and 2,500 teddy bears that were boxed and crated in a 27,000-square-foot warehouse.

Jane didn't appear in too many films as an adult due to her three marriages and five children. She did appear in Giant (1956) and Captain Newman, M.D. (1963). These were her most notable credits.

Jane left Hollywood in 1947 to live with her first husband, producer-oil man William Moss in Midland, Texas. Together they had three children and were married for seven years.

Jane returned to Hollywood and was paralysed with arthritis. She spent five months in hospital before she recovered.

She and her second husband Kenneth Errair had two children together before he passed away in 1968. He was one of the Four Freshman singing group. She then married Thomas Pierson, a travel agency executive in 1985.

As a lifelong Presbyterian, Jane explained in 1974 how she escaped the troubles that came into the adult lives of child actors. "I always took my troubles to the good Lord, and I never failed to get an answer."