Janis Paige

Janis Paige
Born	Donna Mae Tjaden September 16, 1922 (1922-09-16) Tacoma, Washington, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1944–2001
Spouse	Frank Martinelli, Jr. (1947-1951) (divorced) Arthur Stander (1956-1957) (divorced) Ray Gilbert (1962-1976) (his death)

Janis Paige (born September 16, 1922) is an American film, musical theatre and television actress.

Early life and career

Born Donna Mae Tjaden in Tacoma, Washington, she began singing in public from the age of five in local amateur shows. She then moved to Los Angeles after graduating from high school and then got a job as a singer at the Hollywood Canteen during World War II.

The Canteen, which was a studio-sponsored gathering spot for servicemen, is where Warner Bros. saw her potential and signed her up. She began her film career co-starring in secondary musicals, often paired with either Dennis Morgan or Jack Carson. She later was relegated to rugged adventures and dramas in which she was out of her element. Following her role in the forgettable Two Gals and a Guy (1951), she decided to leave the Hollywood scene.

She then took to the Broadway boards and scored a huge hit with the 1951 comedy-mystery play, Remains to Be Seen, co-starring Jackie Cooper. She also toured successfully as a cabaret singer, performing everywhere from New York City and Miami to Las Vegas and Los Angeles.

Stardom came in 1954 with the role of "Babe" in the Broadway musical The Pajama Game. (Doris Day went on to play the role on film.) After a six-year hiatus, Paige returned to films in Silk Stockings (1957), which starred Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse, plus the Doris Day comedy Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1960) followed by a role as a love-starved married neighbor in Bachelor in Paradise (1961) with Bob Hope.

One of her rare dramatic roles was "Marion," an institutionalized hooker, in The Caretakers (1963).

Musical theatre

Paige returned to Broadway in 1963 in the short-lived Here's Love, and as one of a succession of actresses playing the title role in the musical Mame. She also appeared in touring productions of musicals such as Annie Get Your Gun, Applause, Ballroom, Gypsy: A Musical Fable, and Guys and Dolls.

Television

In the 1955-1956 television season, Paige starred in her own CBS situation comedy, It's Always Jan, co-starring Merry Anders. The 26-week program preceded the first season of Gunsmoke on the Saturday evening schedule. The plot, set in New York City, centered around Paige as Jan Stewart, a widowed mother, and her two female roommates played by Anders and Patricia Bright.

She also appeared on The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom, Trapper John, M.D., All in the Family, Columbo and Caroline in the City. In the 1980s and 1990s, she was seen on soap operas such as General Hospital, Capitol, and Santa Barbara. In 1982 she appeared on St. Elsewhere as a female flasher who stalked the hallways of the hospital to "cheer up" the male patients. Although her character said she was "celebrating her 50th birthday," Ms. Paige was actually 60 at the time of filming.

Marriages

Paige has been married to:

• Frank Louis Martinelli Jr, restaurateur; married 1947, divorced 1950
• Arthur Stander, television writer and creator of It's Always Jan; married 1956, divorced 1957
• Ray Gilbert, composer and music publisher; married 1962, died 1976; he wrote the classic song "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah".

She has no children.

Selected films

• Bathing Beauty (1944)
• Hollywood Canteen (1944)
• Her Kind of Man (1946)
• Of Human Bondage (1946)
• Two Guys from Milwaukee (1946)
• The Time, the Place and the Girl (1946)
• Always Together (1947)
• Winter Meeting (1948)
• Wallflower (1948)
• Romance on the High Seas (1948)
• One Sunday Afternoon (1948)
• Fugitive Lady (1949)
• The Younger Brothers (1949)
• The House Across the Street (1949)
• This Side of the Law (1950)
• Mr. Universe (1951)
• Two Gals and a Guy (1951)
• Silk Stockings (1957)
• Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1960)
• Bachelor in Paradise (1961)
• Follow the Boys (1963)
• The Caretakers (1963)
• Welcome to Hard Times (1967)

Documentary/short subjects

• Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There (2003 documentary)
• I Won't Play (1944)
• So You Want to Be in Pictures (1947)
• So You Want to Be an Actor (1949)

Selected television work

• It's Always Jan (1955–1956)
• The Secret World of Eddie Hodges (1960)
• The Fugitive: Ballad for a Ghost (1964)
• Columbo: Blueprint for Murder (1972)
• All in the Family (1976 and 1978)
• Eight Is Enough (1977–1980) Recurring role as Aunt Vivian ('Auntie V')
• Charlie's Angels (1978)
• Hawaii Five-O The case Against Philip Christie (1978)
• Happy Days (1981)
• Bret Maverick (1981) (pilot for series)
• Baby Makes Five (1983)
• Night Court (1984)
• Trapper John, M.D. (cast member from 1985–1986)
• Capitol (cast member in 1987)
• General Hospital (cast member in 1989)
• Santa Barbara (cast member from 1990–1993)

External links

• Janis Paige at the Internet Movie Database
• Janis Paige at the Internet Broadway Database
• Janis Paige at AllRovi