Jeffrey Lynn

Jeffrey Lynn, born Ragnar Godfrey Lind on February 16, 1909, in Auburn, Massachusetts, was an American stage and screen actor and film producer whose career spanned the Golden Age of Hollywood and extended to Broadway and television. He died on November 24, 1995, in Burbank, California, from natural causes and was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills.

Lynn attended Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, graduating in 1930 with a bachelor's degree in education. During his college years he participated in the 1930 Penn Relays as part of a winning two-mile relay team and was a member of the secret society Nova Scotia. After considering law school, he instead took work with the New England Telephone Company and later taught English, speech, and drama at the high school level. His professional acting career began at the Barter Theater in Abingdon, Virginia, after which he pursued small parts on Broadway and in road companies, supplementing his income as a department store clerk and movie usher. While performing in a Chicago production of Brother Rat, he was spotted by a Warner Bros. talent scout and signed to a long-term contract in January 1938.

Lynn made his film debut in the short Out Where the Stars Begin in 1938, followed by supporting work in When Were You Born alongside Anna May Wong. His breakthrough came when he was cast in Four Daughters, taking a role originally declined by Errol Flynn and appearing opposite the Lane Sisters, Claude Rains, and John Garfield. The film's success led directly to two sequels, Four Wives in 1939 and Four Mothers in 1941, with Lynn reprising his role in each, as well as Daughters Courageous in 1939, which featured the same director and cast but carried a separate storyline. During this period he was also used extensively in screen tests for Gone with the Wind, playing Ashley Wilkes opposite the many actresses auditioning for Scarlett O'Hara. Considered the front-runner for the role in part because of his physical resemblance to the character as written, Lynn was ultimately passed over in favor of the more experienced Leslie Howard, a decision made by producer David O. Selznick.

The Roaring Twenties in 1939 placed Lynn alongside James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart in a gangster film that also reunited him with Priscilla Lane and earned him strong critical notices. He reteamed with Cagney in The Fighting 69th in 1940, portraying poet-soldier Joyce Kilmer. Other notable films from this period include It All Came True in 1940, in which he played Ann Sheridan's love interest opposite Bogart, All This, and Heaven Too in 1940 with Bette Davis and Charles Boyer, and Million Dollar Baby in 1941 with Priscilla Lane and Ronald Reagan. In 1941 Lynn was ranked seventh in the industry's Top Ten Stars of Tomorrow poll, two places behind Reagan. His final film before military service was the comedy The Body Disappears in 1941, in which he received top billing alongside Jane Wyman.

Lynn joined the United States Army Air Forces in February 1942, serving with a bomber unit and rising to the rank of captain by May 1945. He earned a Bronze Star for his service as a combat intelligence captain in Italy and Austria and was discharged in 1946 as a Special Intelligence Officer. While in service he legally changed his name from Ragnar Godfrey Lind to Jeffrey Lynn, noting that he wished to serve under the name that had become publicly known. He returned to Hollywood in November 1946, though a car accident at Donner Pass in April 1947 delayed his return to the screen until 1948.

His post-war film work included A Letter to Three Wives in 1949, which received a Best Picture nomination at the Academy Awards, and Home Town Story in 1951, in which he was billed alongside Marilyn Monroe. Later credits included BUtterfield 8 in 1960 with Elizabeth Taylor and Laurence Harvey, and Tony Rome in 1967 with Frank Sinatra.

On Broadway, Lynn appeared in productions spanning 1951 to 1966. He starred in Lo and Behold, the drama Two for the Seesaw, and Any Wednesday, and also appeared in Dinner at Eight, A Call on Kuprin, and The Long Days. His television work included appearances on Robert Montgomery Presents, Your Show of Shows, My Son Jeep with young Martin Huston, and Lux Video Theatre.