Isabel Jeans
Isabel Jeans was an English stage and film actress known for her roles in several Alfred Hitchcock films and her portrayal of Aunt Alicia in the 1958 musical film Gigi.
Early life and career
Born in London, Jeans was the daughter of an art critic.She planned to become a singer but began her career on the London stage in 1908 at age 15, at the invitation of Herbert Beerbohm Tree. An early appearance on Broadway was in The Man Who Married a Dumb Wife in January 1915 and as Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream in February 1915. She played Lady Mercia Merivale in the London musical hit Kissing Time. She appeared in a production of James Elroy Flecker's Hassan at His Majesty's Theatre in London in 1923. Incidental music for the play was by Frederick Delius, and the ballet in the House-of-the-Moving Walls was created by Fokine. In 1924, she appeared in Ivor Novello's play The Rat at the Prince of Wales's Theatre in London. The following year, she was in Richard Brinsley Sheridan's play The Rivals at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, together with her ex-husband Claude Rains, his ex-wife Marie Hemingway, and his then-current wife Beatrix Thomson.
Films and later years
She appeared in major roles in two Alfred Hitchcock silent films, Downhill and Easy Virtue and various other British films, then played a number of grande dames in Hollywood films, such as Suspicion, Banana Ridge, Gigi and A Breath of Scandal.Later stage roles included The Beggar's Opera at the Comedy Theatre, London in 1935, a revival of The Happy Hypocrite in 1936. Later Broadway roles were Crystal Wetherby in The Man in Possession in 1930 and Mrs. Emmeline Lucas in Make Way for Lucia in 1948. English productions included Anton Chekhov's play The Seagull, Jean Anouilh's play, "Ardele", Noël Coward's play, The Vortex, T. S. Eliot's play The Confidential Clerk, William Congreve's play The Double Dealer, A Woman of No Importance and as Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest.
Family and personal life
Jeans' brother Desmond was an actor and boxer, and her sister Ursula became a respected character actress.She was married twice: first to the actor Claude Rains, from 1913 to 1915, and then to the barrister and playwright Gilbert Edward "Gilley" Wakefield from 1920 until his death in 1963.