Massachusetts-born Jean Rogers had hoped to study art in New York and Europe upon graduation from high school, but her plans changed when she won a national beauty contest in 1933 and was offered a contract by a Hollywood producer. She was soon signed by Warner Bros., and a year later jumped ship to Universal. She began appearing in several of the studios' serials, with 1936's "Flash Gordon" being her most fondly remembered role. Given her delicate blond beauty and the skimpy outfits she wore, it was no wonder she was lusted after so fiercely by archvillain Ming the Merciless . Universal took her out of the serial unit and put her in a string of B pictures. Unsatisfied with the way her career was going, and the fact that the studio refused to give her a raise, she left Universal for 20th Century Fox in 1939. Two years later the spunky Rogers left Fox for the same reasons she left Universal, and signed with MGM, where she found the treatment more to her liking. She walked off the Culver City lot in 1943 when studio boss Louis B. Mayer discovered that she planned to get married, and forbade her to do so. Althugh she freelanced over the next few years, nothing much really came of it, and after making "The Second Woman" in 1951, she retired to raise her family.
Eleanor Dorothy Lovegren chose her professional name from the first name of her best friend at school. Jean, and the last name of her discoverer, producer Charles Rogers.
When Rogers wanted to remarry her first husband Dan Winkler in 1943, she was forbidden to do so by studio boss Louis B. Mayer. Her defiance of Mayers edict brought her association with Metro to an end.
Her "Emmerdale Farm" character Dolly Skilbeck became the 2nd woman on the soap opera to give birth. Dolly had a son Samuel (played by Benjamin Whitehead ), born on 23 December 1982.
Mother of Jeremy Philip (b. 1967) and Justine Anne Moakes (b. 1970).
Looking back on it now, all of us who were part of the serial world,realize only too well what a marvelous training ground it was. My own,experience provided me with knowledge of what to do and what not to do,in front of the camera. Equally important, it gave me the confidence,and the poise one must have to be truly professional. In retrospect, it,was a training ground that paved the way for my growth as an actress,and enabled me to play feature roles in major films while under,long-term contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Twentieth Century-Fox. .
