Adele Jergens

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American actress (1917–2002)

title: "Adele Jergens" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["american-film-actresses", "burials-at-oakwood-memorial-park-cemetery", "musicians-from-brooklyn", "1917-births", "2002-deaths", "american-female-dancers", "dancers-from-new-york-(state)", "actresses-from-brooklyn", "20th-century-american-actresses", "20th-century-american-musicians", "american-radio-actresses", "american-television-actresses", "20th-century-american-dancers", "columbia-pictures-contract-players", "deaths-from-pneumonia-in-california"] description: "American actress (1917–2002)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adele_Jergens" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American actress (1917–2002) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

FieldValue
nameAdele Jergens
imageAdele Jergens pin-up from Yank, The Army Weekly, July 1945.jpg
captionJergens pin-up, July 1945
birthnameAdele Louisa Jurgens (or Jurgenson)
birth_date
birth_placeBrooklyn, New York. U.S.
death_date
death_placeCamarillo, California, U.S.
resting_placeOakwood Memorial Park Cemetery
resting_place_coordinatesPioneer Section, Lot 553, Grave 1
years_active1943–1956
spouse
children1
::

| name = Adele Jergens | image = Adele Jergens pin-up from Yank, The Army Weekly, July 1945.jpg | caption = Jergens pin-up, July 1945 | birthname = Adele Louisa Jurgens (or Jurgenson) | birth_date = | birth_place = Brooklyn, New York. U.S. | death_date = | death_place = Camarillo, California, U.S. | othername = | occupation = | resting_place = Oakwood Memorial Park Cemetery | resting_place_coordinates = Pioneer Section, Lot 553, Grave 1 | years_active = 1943–1956 | spouse = | children = 1

Adele Jergens (November 26, 1917 – November 22, 2002) was an American actress.

Early life

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/Adele_Jergens_by_Ned_Scott,_1945.jpg" caption="Jergens in 1945"] ::

Adele Louisa Jurgens (some sources say Jurgenson) was born in Brooklyn, New York.

Career

Jergens rose to prominence in the late 1930s when she was named "Miss World's Fairest" at the 1939 New York World's Fair. In the early 1940s, she briefly worked as a Rockette and was named the number-one showgirl in New York City.

After a few years' work as a model and chorus girl, including being an understudy to Gypsy Rose Lee in the Broadway show Star and Garter in 1942, Jergens landed a movie contract with Columbia Pictures in 1944, and dyed her brown hair blonde.

At the beginning of her career, she was usually cast as a floozy or burlesque dancer, such as in Down to Earth starring Rita Hayworth (1947), The Dark Past starring William Holden (1948), and Armored Car Robbery (1950).

She played Marilyn Monroe's mother in Ladies of the Chorus (1948) despite being only nine years older than Monroe. She played a criminal's girl in Try and Get Me (1950), and appeared in the movie Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951).

She had a part in The Cobweb (1955), directed by Vincente Minnelli and starring Richard Widmark and Lauren Bacall. She worked in the 1950s radio show Stand By for Crime as Glamourpuss Carol Curtis alongside her real-life husband Glenn Langan as Chuck Morgan.

Personal life

In 1949, while filming Treasure of Monte Cristo, a film noir set in San Francisco, she met and married co-star Glenn Langan. They remained married until his death from lymphoma on January 26, 1991, at age 73.

They had one child, a son, Tracy Langan, who eventually worked in Hollywood as a film technician. He died of a brain tumor in 2001.

Death

Jergens died from pneumonia on November 22, 2002, in her home in Camarillo, California, aged 84.

She was buried beside her husband and son at Oakwood Memorial Park Cemetery in Chatsworth, California.

Selected filmography

References

References

  1. "Adele Jergens". BFI.
  2. Hal Erickson. "Adele Jergens – Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos". AllMovie.
  3. (9 December 2002). "Adele Jergens, 84; Blond Bombshell in Many Films". [[The Los Angeles Times]].
  4. Bergan, Ronald. "Obituary: Adele Jergens". The Guardian.
  5. "Adele Jergens at Brian's Drive-In Theater". briansdriveintheater.com.
  6. (13 July 2006). "Stand by for Crime".
  7. "Adele Jergens – The Private Life and Times of Adele Jergens". glamourgirlsofthesilverscreen.com.
  8. (January 2018). "Archives: Story". filmsofthegoldenage.com}}{{dead link.
  9. Wilson, Scott. (2016). "Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons". McFarland.

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american-film-actressesburials-at-oakwood-memorial-park-cemeterymusicians-from-brooklyn1917-births2002-deathsamerican-female-dancersdancers-from-new-york-(state)actresses-from-brooklyn20th-century-american-actresses20th-century-american-musiciansamerican-radio-actressesamerican-television-actresses20th-century-american-dancerscolumbia-pictures-contract-playersdeaths-from-pneumonia-in-california