Jean Sullivan

American actress

Tom Poston

(m. 1955; div. 1961)

Children1

Jean Sullivan (May 26, 1923 – February 27, 2003) was an American actress and dancer. She acted in film, television and stage productions, and danced both flamenco and ballet, the latter with the American Ballet Theatre.

Biography

Sullivan was born on May 26, 1923, in Logan, Utah,^[1] the daughter of Army Colonel Alexander Sullivan and Claire Cardon Sullivan.^[2] She had two younger sisters and a younger brother.^[3] As she grew up, she lived in Fort Sam Houston, Texas; Columbus, Ohio; and upstate New York before she reached Hollywood. She went to UCLA to study English literature major but changed her major to drama.^[1]

She was discovered by a scout from Warner Brothers, who saw her acting in the play Our Town at UCLA,^[1] and was signed immediately.^[4] (In 1943, Sullivan said that the scout urged her to sign but, "I told him I'd never thought of motion pictures and definitely wasn't ready for that sort of thing anyway. But he kept coming back. After six months I finally said yes."^[2]) Before she signed, she had planned to seek a career in modern ballet.^[2]

Sullivan moved to New York and turned her focus to ballet, both studying it and performing as a professional dancer, eventually joining the American Ballet Theatre.^[5]

She was co-artistic director with Michael Fischetti of the South Street Theatre Company,^{[citation needed]} and played Spanish guitar, cello, and piano.^[5]

Sullivan died of cardiac arrest in Woodland Hills, California at the age of 79.^[6] She had a daughter, the actress Francesca Poston, by actor Tom Poston, whom she married in 1955. She and Poston separated in 1959 and divorced two years later.^[7]^[8]

Filmography

Features

Uncertain Glory (1944)
Escape in the Desert (1945)
Roughly Speaking (1945)
Squirm (1976)

Television

One Day at a Time
Somerset
The Doctors
Search for Tomorrow
NBC Family Hour
Colgate Family Hour
Lamp Unto Thy Feet

Theatre roles

The Seagull – Arkadina – Sybil Burton's New Theatre
Macbeth – Lady Macbeth – Royal Shakespeare Company at JASTA
Much Ado About Nothing – Hero – Royal Shakespeare Company for the Theatre Guild
Phedre – Phedre – La Comedie Francaise (replaced Beatrice Straight) – Off-Broadway and touring
Luv – Ruth
The Bald Soprano – Mrs. Smith
The Dark Lady of the Sonnets – Queen Elizabeth I
Spoon River Anthology
The Stronger – South Street Theatre (NYC)
Before Breakfast – Vienna English Theatre (Vienna, Austria)

Awards

Sullivan was selected as an Honored Member in the "US Executives" Category for 1989's "Who's Who in America".^{[citation needed]}

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "Once This Girl Was Only an Off-Stage Scream". The Kansas City Star. June 11, 1944. p. D 1. Retrieved April 10, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Jean Sullivan Became an Actress After Six Months of Persuasion". The Gazette. Canada, Montreal. April 25, 1945. p. 3. Retrieved April 10, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
^ Wright, Norma Jean (February 21, 1944). "Logan Girl Gets Part In Errol Flynn Film". Deseret News. p. 7. Retrieved April 10, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Jean Sullivan, 79; Varied Talents Included Acting, Flamenco, Ballet". Los Angeles Times. March 11, 2003. Archived from the original on March 7, 2016.
^ ^a ^b "Jean Sullivan". The Manhattan Mercury. March 11, 2003. p. 13. Retrieved April 10, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Jean Sullivan, 79, Film Actress, Dancer and Museum Executive". The New York Times. March 12, 2003.
^ "Actor Tom Poston, Wife Are Separated". The Miami News. August 28, 1959.
^ "Ask TV Scout". Fort Lauderdale News. May 18, 1962.