Jane Greer
American actress
Who was Jane Greer?
Jane Greer (born Bettejane Greer; September 9, 1924 – August 24, 2001) was an American film and television actress best known for her role as femme fatale Kathie Moffat in the 1947 film noir Out of the Past. Greer was born in Washington, D.C., the daughter of Charles Durell McClellan Greer Jr. and his wife, Bettie. She had a twin brother Donn, who became an actor and director starting in 1951, after getting out of the service when World War II ended. In 1940, at age 15, Greer suffered from a facial palsy, which paralyzed the left side of her face.
She recovered, but the condition may have contributed to her "patented look" and "a calm, quizzical gaze and an enigmatic expression that would later lead RKO to promote her as 'The Woman with the Mona Lisa Smile'." She claimed that the facial exercises used to overcome the paralysis taught her the importance of facial expression in conveying human emotion. On December 4, 1945, Greer had her name legally changed to Jane Greer by a court in Los Angeles. She said of her previous name: "Mine is a sissy name.
Historical significance
In 2009, The Guardian named her one of the best actors never to have received an Academy Award nomination.
