Howard, Jean

▪ 2001

Ernestine Hill 

      American actress and celebrity photographer (b. Oct. 13, 1910, Longview, Texas—d. March 20, 2000, Beverly Hills, Calif.), was an actress in films of the 1930s and '40s and later became a prominent socialite and a noted photographer of Hollywood's glamour set. She started in show business as a chorus girl, appearing in Florenz Ziegfeld's Broadway musical Whoopee in 1930 and Ziegfeld's last Follies (1931). A screen test led to a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract and roles in such movies as The Prizefighter and the Lady (1933), Broadway to Hollywood (1933), and Claudia (1943). After her marriage to film producer Charles K. Feldman in 1934, Howard increasingly devoted her time and attention to hosting parties, where she snapped pictures of the famous stars who regularly attended, including Marlene Dietrich, Tyrone Power, Clark Gable, and Marilyn Monroe. In the 1950s a few of her photos appeared in the magazines Life and Vogue. She later compiled her photos into two highly praised picture books, Jean Howard's Hollywood: A Photo Memoir (1989) and Travels with Cole Porter (1991).

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