Jean Muir

Jean Muir (born Jean Muir Fullarton; February 13, 1911 – July 23, 1996) was an American stage and film actress. She was the first performer to be blacklisted after her name appeared in the anti-Communist pamphlet Red Channels, published in 1950. In her later years, she was a college drama teacher.

Early years An only child, Muir was born in Suffern, New York. Her father was a certified public accountant, and her mother was a substitute teacher. Jean attended the Dwight School in Englewood, New Jersey. After graduating, she visited France and briefly studied French at the Sorbonne University in Paris.

Career Muir went to New York City to become an actress. She landed a job as a model for the Walter Thornton Model Agency. At age 19, she made her Broadway debut in The Truth Game (1930). She was using the stage name "Jean Fullarton". She went on to act in other plays including Peter Ibbetson, Life Begins, and Saint Wench. The latter production folded after a week; however, a theatrical agent saw it and encouraged Muir to try her luck in Hollywood. She recorded a screen test, and the agent showed it to Warner Bros. which promptly signed her to a contract in 1933. She then worked steadily in supporting and co-starring roles, appearing in 14 films over the next three years. The studio executives were also unhappy with her political activism, "offering financial support to striking lettuce workers in California's Imperial Valley and signing on as an early member of the newly formed Screen Actors Guild (SAG).... Muir marched in the union's first Labor Day parade, held organizing meetings at her home, and made phone calls to secure picketers ahead of the union's first possible strike."

But perhaps what most annoyed Muir's employers was her tendency to ask too many questions, as her biographer Martha Fischer notes:

This new girl immediately made a nuisance of herself around the studio, strolling onto soundstages and interrogating everyone from electricians to lighting directors about their work. In Muir's own telling, she quickly earned the nickname "the studio pest," believing no one too important to be questioned, and never doubting her right to ask. And the questions never stopped. When she was cast in films, Muir questioned her directors, seeking explanations for their orders rather than simply doing as she was told.

She packed up her car and drove back to New York to work again in theater.

In the late 1930s and early '40s, Muir continued her political activism. She helped organize the American Guild of Variety Artists in 1939. She spoke out against racism in Hollywood. She appeared at public events around the country with figures such as Eleanor Roosevelt, Fiorello La Guardia, and Fredi Washington to advocate for political reform and civil rights. NBC claimed it had received over twenty phone calls protesting her presence on the show. The sponsor, General Foods, said it would not sponsor any programs in which "controversial persons" were featured. Despite receiving more than three thousand letters asking Muir to be reinstated, NBC did not reverse the decision. Muir had the dubious distinction of being the first performer deprived of employment because of a listing in Red Channels. The apparent reason for the listing was that she once held a six-month membership in the Congress of American Women, which federal authorities had labeled a subversive group. Although she chose to be fully cooperative with the committee, it was not enough to satisfy them. Martha Fischer writes:

Afterward, she instantly regretted her choice, not because there was no clearance forthcoming – though there wasn't – but rather because it made her feel like "a craven turncoat against all my principles." This betrayal of everything she believed and stood for was so traumatic that, looking over her testimony with an interviewer twenty years later, Muir was stunned to discover that she had named names. She had completely erased this detail from her memory. In 1960 she appeared opposite Ed Begley in a brief Broadway run of Semi-Detached, but by 1962 her acting career was over.

She then embarked on a second career as a drama teacher. She taught and directed plays at two New York community centers. In 1968 she moved to Missouri and became the Master Acting Teacher at Stephens College, and also directed multiple productions. She completed her own college degree at Stephens in 1977. Reaching the school's mandatory retirement age forced her to stop teaching there. In 1981 she had a one-year appointment as drama teacher at the University of Missouri–Kansas City.

Personal life On December 20, 1940, Muir married entertainment attorney, and later television producer, Henry Jaffe in New York. They had three children before getting divorced in 1960.

Recognition Jean Muir has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6280 Hollywood Blvd.

Filmography

Film Year Title Role Notes 1933 Bureau of Missing Persons Louise Kane Uncredited 1933 Female Miss Joyce Uncredited 1933 The World Changes Selma Peterson, her granddaughter Selma 1933 Son of a Sailor Helen Farnsworth 1934 Bedside Caroline Grant 1934 As the Earth Turns Jen Shaw 1934 A Modern Hero Joanna Ryan Croy 1934 Dr. Monica Mary Hathaway 1934 Desirable Lois Johnson 1934 Gentlemen are Born Trudy Talbot 1935 The White Cockatoo Sue Talley 1935 Oil for the Lamps of China Alice 1935 Orchids to You Camillia Rand 1935 A Midsummer Night's Dream Helena 1935 Stars Over Broadway Nora Wyman 1936 Faithful Marilyn Koster Warner Bros.-First National Teddington; lost film 1936 White Fang Sylvia Burgess 1936 Fugitive in the Sky Rita Moore 1937 Once a Doctor Paula Nordland 1937 Her Husband's Secretary Carol Blane Kingdon 1937 The Outcasts of Poker Flat Miss Helen Colby 1937 Draegerman Courage Ellen Haslett 1937 Dance Charlie Dance Mary Mathews 1937 White Bondage Betsy Ann Craig 1938 Jane Steps Out Beatrice Wilton 1940 And One Was Beautiful Helen Lattimer 1940 The Lone Wolf Meets a Lady Joan Bradley 1943 The Constant Nymph Kate Sanger

Television Year Title Episode(s) Role 1949 Starring Boris Karloff"False Face" 1949 Actors Studio"A Child Is Born" Clarissa 1949 The Aldrich Family"Episode #1" Mother Aldrich 1950 The Philco Television Playhouse"The Sudden Guest" 1958 Matinee Theater"The Story of Marcia Gordon" 1959 Naked City "Hey, Teach!" Mrs. Kling 1960 The Witness "Jack 'Legs' Diamond" Mrs. Clinton 1961 Route 66 "A Bridge Across Five Days" Beatrice Ware 1962 Naked City "The One Marked Hot Gives Cold" Mrs. Lund