One of Hollywood's more talented and watchable stars on screen was sullen, strikingly stick-thin 50s actress Jan Sterling who didn't quite reach the top echelon of stardom but certainly ensured audiences of a real good time with her sexy pout and flashy style in soaps, film noir and saucy comedy. Jan was born Jane Sterling Adriance in Manhattan in 1921 to a well-to-do family. Her father was a prominent advertising executive who divorced her mother when the girl was only eight years old. Her mother remarried . They never married but stayed together until his death in 1993. Inactive for nearly two decades, Jan made an appearance at the Cinecon Film Festival in Los Angeles in the fall of 2001, still charming audiences at the age of 80. On 26 March 2004, she passed away at the Motion Picture and Television Hospital in Woodland Hills, California. She was 83.
Some sources give her year of birth 1921, others give 1923.
Gave birth to her only child at age 34, a son Adams Douglas on October 20, 1955. Childs father was her 2nd husband, Paul Douglas.
Known on stage as "Jane Adriance" until the 1940s. Her stage name was suggested by (Ruth Gordon ), whose first suggestion was "Amethyst Adriance" because "you should name yourself after a gem." Instead, Sterling chose to drop the Adriance and shorten her first name to "Jan"; her characters name in the play in which she was appearing.
Has resided in London for many years. Was a good friend of the late Sam Wanamaker.
Critics raved about her portrayal of "Billie Dawn" in the Chicago touring company of "Born Yesterday" and Columbia brought Jan out to the West Coast to test for the 1950 film version, Born Yesterday . At one point, she was actually announced to play the part but the role ultimately went to the characters original player on Broadway, Judy Holliday , who went on to win the Oscar.
Made her singing debut in a tour of the musical "Silk Stockings" in 1962.
Shes a descendant of two American presidents: John Adams and John Quincy Adams. In their honor, her son by actor Paul Douglas was named Adams Douglas.
Her son, Adams Douglas, died of heart failure just three months before her in 2004.
In 1968 she received the first annual achievement award of the Century Club, comprised of members of the American-Jewish Congress, which recongized her service in radio and telvision programs for the womens conference of the Jewish Federation-Council of Greater Los Angeles.
In Italy, almost all her films were dubbed by Rosetta Calavetta , except Union Station and High School Confidential! where she was dubbed by Dhia Cristiani and Micaela Giustiniani respectively.
She was omitted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences from the "In Memoriam" tribute during the telecast of the 77th Annual Academy Awards ceremony, although she once has been nominated for an Oscar in 1955 for her supporting performance in The High and the Mighty .
Son Adams Douglas by actor Paul Douglas later became a programmer at NASA.
In 1941, Jan took over actress Virginia Field s part in the Broadway musical "Panama Hattie" when Field left the show to marry actor Paul Douglas. By 1950 the marriage between Douglas and Field had ended in divorce and Paul married Jan.
On a never-aired game show pilot called "Talking Pictures", Jan revealed that when her dramatic studies ended in London, she traded her ticket for her flight home for passage on a steamship, in order to use the difference to purchase some lingerie. The original ticket was for The Hindenberg. Thus, she claimed that fancy lingerie saved her life.
Friend and mentor of Karen Sharpe.
[after eating escargot] Erasers would taste good with this sauce.
