Shirley Deane (born Shirley Deane Blattenberger; March 16, 1913 – April 26, 1983) was an American film actress.
Early years
Born in Fresno, California,[1] to Jesse H. Blattenberger and his wife Zola (née Redden), she was raised by her maternal grandmother.[2]
Career
Deane was best known as an actress for playing "Bonnie Jones" in 20th Century Fox's Jones Family series of films.[3] She was under contract with 20th Century Fox, and she acted in Prairie Moon (1936), the Flash Gordon serial, and some of the Charlie Chan films.[1] She was the original choice for the title role in the Blondie film series, a role that went to Penny Singleton after Deane was considered to be "too harsh when she nagged Dagwood", while Singleton came across as softer and sweeter.[4]
Deane also toured in revues, singing "some stirring patriotic and soft sentimental numbers".[5] She was the headline attraction in Star Dust Revue, a stage show that toured the southern United States in 1942,[6] and she performed in U. S. military camps.[7]
Personal life and death
On December 20, 1941, Dean married theatrical agent Thomas Kettering Jr. in Reno, Nevada.[8] Deane left the film business in the 1940s, when she began her family. She died of cancer in Glendale Memorial Hospital in Glendale, California, on April 26, 1983, aged 70.[1]
