Jean Wallace
American actress (1923–1990)
title: "Jean Wallace" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["actresses-from-chicago", "american-film-actresses", "american-television-actresses", "1923-births", "1990-deaths", "20th-century-american-actresses", "american-people-of-polish-descent", "austin-community-academy-high-school-alumni"] description: "American actress (1923–1990)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Wallace" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary American actress (1923–1990) ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Jean Wallace |
| image | JeanWallace BigCombo (cropped).jpg |
| caption | Wallace in The Big Combo (1955) |
| birthname | Jean Walasek |
| birth_date | |
| birth_place | Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| death_date | |
| death_place | Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| occupation | Actress |
| years_active | 1941–1970 |
| spouse | {{plainlist |
| * {{marriage | Franchot Tone |
| * {{marriage | Jim Lloyd Randall |
| * {{marriage | Cornel Wilde |
| children | 3 |
| :: |
| name = Jean Wallace | image = JeanWallace BigCombo (cropped).jpg | imagesize = | caption = Wallace in The Big Combo (1955) | birthname = Jean Walasek | birth_date = | birth_place = Chicago, Illinois, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S. | resting_place = | othername = | occupation = Actress | years_active = 1941–1970 | spouse = {{plainlist|
| children = 3 | party =
Jean Wallace (born Jean Walasek or Wallasek; October 12, 1923 – February 14, 1990) was an American television and film actress.
Early life
Wallace was born in Chicago, Illinois to John T. Walaszek and Mary A. Walaszek (née Sharkey). Her grandfather Karol Walaszek emigrated from Galicia. She was Polish-American.
Wallace graduated from Austin High School in Chicago before the family moved to Hollywood in 1940.
Career
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/Jean_Wallace_CM142.jpg" caption="Wallace in 1942"] ::
Personal life
Wallace married her Jigsaw costar Franchot Tone on October 18, 1941 in Yuma, Arizona. They had two sons, Pascal "Pat" Franchot Tone, born July 29, 1943, and Thomas Jefferson Tone, born September 16, 1945. Wallace and Tone divorced in 1948, and Tone was awarded custody of their sons.
Wallace attempted suicide in 1946 by ingesting sleeping pills. In 1949, she again attempted suicide with a self-inflicted knife wound, causing her to be replaced by Ella Raines as the star of A Dangerous Profession.
In 1950, Wallace married former U.S. Army captain Jim Lloyd Randall, but the marriage was annulled later that year.
Wallace's third marriage was to actor Cornel Wilde, her costar in The Big Combo, Storm Fear, Lancelot and Guinevere, Sword of Lancelot and Beach Red, from 1951 to 1981. She and Wilde had one son, Cornel Wallace Wilde, born on December 19, 1967.
She sang the theme song from the movie Beach Red, which Wilde produced and directed as well as starred in.
Wallace died from a gastrointestinal hemorrhage on February 14, 1990 at the age of 66.
Filmography
::data[format=table]
| Film | Year | Film | Role | Notes | Television | Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1941 | Ziegfeld Girl | Ziegfeld girl | Uncredited | ||||||
| Glamour Boy | Girl | Uncredited | |||||||
| Louisiana Purchase | Louisiana Belle | ||||||||
| 1943 | Salute for Three | Hostess offering Buzz apple from basket | |||||||
| 1944 | You Can't Ration Love | Madge | |||||||
| 1946 | It Shouldn't Happen to a Dog | Bess Williams | |||||||
| 1947 | Blaze of Noon | Poppy | |||||||
| 1948 | When My Baby Smiles at Me | Sylvia Marco | Uncredited | ||||||
| 1949 | Jigsaw | Barbara Whitfield | Alternative title: Gun Moll | ||||||
| The Man on the Eiffel Tower | Edna Wallace | ||||||||
| 1950 | The Good Humor Man | Bonnie Conroy | |||||||
| 1951 | Native Son | Mary Dalton | Alternative title: Sangre negra | ||||||
| 1954 | Star of India | Katrina | Alternative title: Stella dell'India | ||||||
| 1955 | The Big Combo | Susan Lowell | |||||||
| Storm Fear | Elizabeth | ||||||||
| 1957 | The Devil's Hairpin | Kelly James | |||||||
| 1958 | Maracaibo | Laura Kingsley | |||||||
| 1963 | Lancelot and Guinevere | Guinevere | Alternative title: Sword of Lancelot | ||||||
| 1967 | Beach Red | Julie MacDonald | Appears in flashback photos; sings the title song | ||||||
| 1970 | No Blade of Grass | Ann Custance | (Last appearance) | ||||||
| 1952 | Schlitz Playhouse of Stars | 1 episode | |||||||
| 1955 | General Electric Theater | Leslie Mason | 1 episode | ||||||
| :: |
References
References
- Joseph F. Clarke. (1977). "Pseudonyms". BCA.
- Migrants, Immigrants, and Slaves: Racial and Ethnic Groups in America By Thompson Dele Olasiji. p. 118.
- (October 19, 1941). "Tone, Russell Pierced by Dart". Argus-Leader.
- (October 19, 1941). "Franchot Tone Weds 18 Year Old Chicago Actress in Arizona". Chicago Tribune.
- [https://www.nytimes.com/1990/02/18/obituaries/jean-wallace-66-screen-actress-known-for-1940-s-and-50-s-roles.html Fowler, Glenn]. ''[[The New York Times]]''. Obituary, "Jean Wallace, 66, Screen Actress Known for 1940's and 50's Roles", February 18, 1990. Accessed: July 25, 2013.
- (1949-11-21). "Jean Wallace". The Los Angeles Times.
- (November 21, 1949). "Franchot Tone's Ex-Wife Jean Wallace Stabs Self". The Los Angeles Times.
- (February 17, 1990). "Jean Wallace; Film Star, Wife of Late Cornel Wilde". The Los Angeles Times.
- (August 2, 2022). "Jean Wallace (Beach Red)".
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::