Jean Howard

Jean Howard, born Ernestine Hill on October 13, 1910, in Longview, Texas, was an American actress and professional photographer whose career spanned Broadway, Hollywood film, and documentary photography. She died on March 20, 2000, in Beverly Hills, California, and was buried at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

Howard's early life was marked by family instability. Her father departed shortly after her birth, leaving her to be raised by her mother, who died when Howard was thirteen. She subsequently moved to Dallas to live with her father and stepmother, where he worked as a traveling salesman. During her teenage years, a visit to a photographic studio with her nephew introduced her to photographer Paul Mahoney, who became her teacher and mentor. Under his guidance, she adopted the name Ernestine Mahoney and took part in beauty contests and fashion shows, with her father covering her expenses. She also performed in local theatrical productions before relocating to Hollywood in the late 1920s, where she joined the Studio Club, an organization for women pursuing film careers.

Her screen career began when she responded to an advertisement and became a Goldwyn Girl, making her film debut in Whoopee! in 1930. Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. selected her as one of four women from that production to appear in his musical Smiles, but the death of her father in an automobile accident required her to return to Dallas, preventing her participation. Ziegfeld subsequently cast her in the 1931 edition of the Ziegfeld Follies, billing her under the name Jean Howard, the name she would carry professionally thereafter. She followed that engagement with an appearance in Ziegfeld's Hot-Cha! in 1932. A contract with MGM brought her roles in The Prizefighter and the Lady, Broadway to Hollywood, and Dancing Lady, all released in 1933. She continued to appear in films including Break of Hearts in 1935, The Final Hour in 1936, and Claudia in 1943.

Howard's Broadway career ran from 1928 to 1933 and encompassed four productions. She appeared in the play The Age of Innocence alongside Franchot Tone, the play Evensong, the musical Hot-Cha!, and the Ziegfeld Follies of 1931.

Alongside her performing career, Howard pursued photography seriously, studying at the Los Angeles Art Center. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s she documented Hollywood social life, photographing parties, gatherings, and sports tournaments. Her subjects included Tyrone Power, Gene Tierney, Richard Burton, Cole Porter, Judy Garland, Grace Kelly, Hedy Lamarr, Jennifer Jones, Deborah Kerr, Geraldine Page, Ethel Barrymore, Laurence Olivier, Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Ali Khan, Van Johnson, Marti Stevens, Vivien Leigh, and Charles K. Feldman. Two books collecting her photographic work were published: Jean Howard's Hollywood: A Photo Memoir in 1989 and Travels With Cole Porter in 1991.

On August 25, 1934, Howard married Hollywood talent agent Charles K. Feldman in Harrison, New York. They divorced in 1948, though they continued to live together regularly until her travels to Europe with Cole Porter in the mid-1950s. She conceived once with Feldman but lost the pregnancy and had no children. In 1973 she married Tony Santoro, a musician from Italy.