Isabel Jewell
Encyclopedia
Isabel Jewell was an American actress most active in the 1930s and early 1940s.
, Fremont County, Wyoming
, Jewell was a Broadway
actress who achieved immediate success and glowing critical reviews in two productions, Up Pops the Devil (1930) and Blessed Event (1932).
She was brought to Hollywood by Warner Brothers for the film version of the latter. Jewell appeared in a variety of supporting roles during the early 1930s. She played stereotypical gangster's women in such films as Manhattan Melodrama
(1934) and Marked Woman
(1937). She was well received playing against type, as an innocent seamstress sentenced to death on the guillotine
, in A Tale of Two Cities
(1935).
Her most significant role was as the prostitute
Gloria Stone in Lost Horizon (1937). In the mid to late 1930s, Jewell was seen at nightclub
s with William Hopper
(who appeared on Perry Mason
and was the son of gossip columnist
Hedda Hopper
and stage star DeWolf Hopper
).
Jewell's films included Gone with the Wind
(1939) (in the role of "that white trash, Emmy Slattery"), Northwest Passage (1940), High Sierra (1941), and the low-budget The Leopard Man
(1943). By the end of the 1940s, her roles had reduced in significance to the degree that her performances were often uncredited, e.g. Men in White
(1934 – scenes deleted).
She also performed in radio dramas in the 1950s, including This is Your FBI.
In 1972, she appeared opposite Edie Sedgwick
in the film Ciao! Manhattan
. Her final film was the B movie
Sweet Kill
(1973), the directorial debut of future Academy Award winner Curtis Hanson
.
, aged 64, from undisclosed causes.
Isabel Jewell was recognized with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
for her contribution to motion pictures.
Early life and career
Born in ShoshoniShoshoni, Wyoming
Shoshoni is a town in Fremont County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 635 at the 2000 census. The town is named for the Shoshone tribe of Native Americans, most of whom live on the nearby Wind River Indian Reservation...
, Fremont County, Wyoming
Wyoming
Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
, Jewell was a Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
actress who achieved immediate success and glowing critical reviews in two productions, Up Pops the Devil (1930) and Blessed Event (1932).
She was brought to Hollywood by Warner Brothers for the film version of the latter. Jewell appeared in a variety of supporting roles during the early 1930s. She played stereotypical gangster's women in such films as Manhattan Melodrama
Manhattan Melodrama
Manhattan Melodrama is a 1934 crime melodrama film, produced by MGM, directed by W. S. Van Dyke, and starring Clark Gable, William Powell, and Myrna Loy...
(1934) and Marked Woman
Marked Woman
Marked Woman is a crime melodrama film released by Warner Bros. in 1937. It was directed by Lloyd Bacon, and stars Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart, with featured performances by Lola Lane, Isabel Jewell, Rosalind Marquis, Mayo Methot, Jane Bryan, Eduardo Ciannelli and Allen Jenkins...
(1937). She was well received playing against type, as an innocent seamstress sentenced to death on the guillotine
Guillotine
The guillotine is a device used for carrying out :executions by decapitation. It consists of a tall upright frame from which an angled blade is suspended. This blade is raised with a rope and then allowed to drop, severing the head from the body...
, in A Tale of Two Cities
A Tale of Two Cities (1935 film)
A Tale of Two Cities is a 1935 film based upon Charles Dickens' 1859 historical novel, A Tale of Two Cities. The film stars Ronald Colman as Sydney Carton, Donald Woods and Elizabeth Allan. The supporting players include Basil Rathbone, Blanche Yurka, and Edna Mae Oliver. It was directed by Jack...
(1935).
Her most significant role was as the prostitute
Prostitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
Gloria Stone in Lost Horizon (1937). In the mid to late 1930s, Jewell was seen at nightclub
Nightclub
A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...
s with William Hopper
William Hopper
William Hopper, born DeWolf Hopper, Jr. was an American actor. He is best-remembered for playing Paul Drake on television's Perry Mason.-Early life:...
(who appeared on Perry Mason
Perry Mason (TV series)
Perry Mason is an American legal drama produced by Paisano Productions that ran from September 1957 to May 1966 on CBS. The title character, portrayed by Raymond Burr, is a fictional Los Angeles defense attorney who originally appeared in detective fiction by Erle Stanley Gardner...
and was the son of gossip columnist
Gossip columnist
A gossip columnist is someone who writes a gossip column in a newspaper or magazine, especially a gossip magazine. Gossip columns are material written in a light, informal style, which relates the gossip columnist's opinions about the personal lives or conduct of celebrities from show business ,...
Hedda Hopper
Hedda Hopper
Hedda Hopper was an American actress and gossip columnist, whose long-running feud with friend turned arch-rival Louella Parsons became at least as notorious as many of Hopper's columns.-Early life:...
and stage star DeWolf Hopper
DeWolf Hopper
William DeWolf Hopper was an American actor, singer, comedian, and theatrical producer. Although a star of the musical stage, he was best-known for performing the popular baseball poem Casey at the Bat. -Biography:...
).
Jewell's films included Gone with the Wind
Gone with the Wind (film)
Gone with the Wind is a 1939 American historical epic film adapted from Margaret Mitchell's Pulitzer-winning 1936 novel of the same name. It was produced by David O. Selznick and directed by Victor Fleming from a screenplay by Sidney Howard...
(1939) (in the role of "that white trash, Emmy Slattery"), Northwest Passage (1940), High Sierra (1941), and the low-budget The Leopard Man
The Leopard Man
The Leopard Man is a horror movie directed by Jacques Tourneur based on the book Black Alibi by Cornell Woolrich. It is one of the first American films to attempt an even remotely realistic portrayal of a serial killer .-Plot summary:The story, set in New Mexico, begins as Jerry Manning hires a...
(1943). By the end of the 1940s, her roles had reduced in significance to the degree that her performances were often uncredited, e.g. Men in White
Men in White (1934 film)
Men in White is a Pre-Code film starring Clark Gable and Myrna Loy, and directed by Ryszard Bolesławski. Because of the suggested illicit romance and the suggested abortion in the movie, it was frequently cut...
(1934 – scenes deleted).
She also performed in radio dramas in the 1950s, including This is Your FBI.
In 1972, she appeared opposite Edie Sedgwick
Edie Sedgwick
Edith Minturn "Edie" Sedgwick was an American actress, socialite, model and heiress. She is best known for being one of Andy Warhol's superstars. Sedgwick became known as "The Girl of the Year" in 1965 after starring in several of Warhol's short films in the 1960s...
in the film Ciao! Manhattan
Ciao! Manhattan
Ciao! Manhattan is a 1972 American avant garde film starring Edie Sedgwick, one of Andy Warhol's Superstars. Although not a documentary, the film centers around a character very closely based on Sedgwick, and deals with the pain of addiction and the lure of fame.-Film overview:Written and directed...
. Her final film was the B movie
B movie
A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....
Sweet Kill
Sweet Kill
Sweet Kill is a 1973 B-movie written and directed by future Academy Award winner Curtis Hanson. The film was Hanson's directorial debut and was produced by Roger Corman...
(1973), the directorial debut of future Academy Award winner Curtis Hanson
Curtis Hanson
Curtis Lee Hanson is an American film director, film producer and screenwriter. His directing work includes The Hand That Rocks the Cradle , L.A...
.
Death
Jewell died in Los Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, aged 64, from undisclosed causes.
Isabel Jewell was recognized with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...
for her contribution to motion pictures.
Filmography
Year | Film | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1932 | Blessed Event Blessed Event Blessed Event is a 1932 comedy-drama film starring Lee Tracy as a newspaper gossip columnist who becomes entangled with a gangster.-Cast:*Lee Tracy as Alvin Roberts*Mary Brian as Gladys Price*Allen Jenkins as Frankie Wells... |
Dorothy Lane | Uncredited |
1933 | The Crime of the Century The Crime of the Century (1933 film) The Crime of the Century is a thriller film directed by William Beaudine and featuring a star-studded cast including Jean Hersholt, Wynne Gibson, Stuart Erwin, Frances Dee, and David Landau.-Plot:... |
Bridge Player | Uncredited |
Bondage Bondage Bondage may refer to:*Debt bondage, a modern form of slavery in which people are bound by debt, rather than legal ownership*Bondage , the practice of tying people up for pleasure*Self-bondage, the practice of tying oneself up for pleasure... |
Beulah | ||
Beauty for Sale Beauty for Sale Beauty for Sale is a 1933 film about the romantic entanglements of three beauty salon employees. It stars Madge Evans, Alice Brady, and Otto Kruger. It was based on the novel Beauty by Faith Baldwin.-Cast:*Madge Evans as Letty Lawson... |
Hortense | Credited as Isobel Jewell | |
Bombshell Bombshell (film) Bombshell is a Pre-Code film directed by Victor Fleming and starring Jean Harlow, Lee Tracy, Frank Morgan, C. Aubrey Smith, Mary Forbes and Franchot Tone.-Plot:... |
Lily, Junior's Girl Friend | Credited as Isobel Jewell | |
Day of Reckoning | Kate Lovett | ||
Advice to the Lovelorn | Rose | ||
The Women in His Life The Women in His Life -Cast:* Otto Kruger as Kent 'Barry' Barringer* Una Merkel as Miss 'Simmy' Simmons* Ben Lyon as Roger McKane* Isabel Jewell as Catherine 'Cathy' Watson* Roscoe Karns as Lester* Irene Hervey as Doris Worthing* C. Henry Gordon as Tony Perez... |
Catherine 'Cathy' Watson | ||
Counsellor at Law Counsellor at Law Counsellor at Law is a 1933 American drama film directed by William Wyler. The screenplay by Elmer Rice is based on his 1931 play of the same title.-Plot:... |
Bessie Green | ||
Design for Living Design for Living (film) Design for Living is a 1933 American comedy film produced and directed by Ernst Lubitsch. The screenplay by Ben Hecht is based on the 1933 play of the same name by Noël Coward. It concerns a trio of artistic Americans in Paris and their complicated three-way relationship.The film stars Fredric... |
Plunkett's Stenographer | ||
1934 | Men in White Men in White (1934 film) Men in White is a Pre-Code film starring Clark Gable and Myrna Loy, and directed by Ryszard Bolesławski. Because of the suggested illicit romance and the suggested abortion in the movie, it was frequently cut... |
Scenes deleted | |
Let's Be Ritzy | Betty | ||
Manhattan Melodrama Manhattan Melodrama Manhattan Melodrama is a 1934 crime melodrama film, produced by MGM, directed by W. S. Van Dyke, and starring Clark Gable, William Powell, and Myrna Loy... |
Annabelle | ||
Here Comes the Groom | Angy | ||
She Had to Choose | Sally Bates | ||
Evelyn Prentice Evelyn Prentice Evelyn Prentice is a 1934 film teaming William Powell and Myrna Loy, with Rosalind Russell in her film debut. The movie was based on the 1933 novel of the same name.... |
Judith Wilson | ||
I've Been Around | Sally Van Loan | ||
1935 | Shadow of Doubt | Inez 'Johnny' Johnson - singer | |
Times Square Lady | 'Babe' Sweeney | ||
The Casino Murder Case The Casino Murder Case The Casino Murder Case is a 1934 novel written by S. S. Van Dine in the series about fictional detective Philo Vance. In this outing, a murder investigation is connected with a private casino on New York's upper west side, and the wealthy and unorthodox family that operates it... |
Amelia Llewellyn | ||
Mad Love Mad Love (1935 film) Mad Love is a 1935 American horror film adaptation of Maurice Renard's story The Hands of Orlac. Directed by German-émigré film maker Karl Freund, the film stars Peter Lorre as Dr. Gogol, Frances Drake as Yvonne Orlac and Colin Clive as Stephen Orlac. The plot revolves around Doctor Gogol's... |
Marianne | Scenes deleted | |
A Tale of Two Cities A Tale of Two Cities (1935 film) A Tale of Two Cities is a 1935 film based upon Charles Dickens' 1859 historical novel, A Tale of Two Cities. The film stars Ronald Colman as Sydney Carton, Donald Woods and Elizabeth Allan. The supporting players include Basil Rathbone, Blanche Yurka, and Edna Mae Oliver. It was directed by Jack... |
Seamstress | ||
1936 | Ceiling Zero Ceiling Zero Ceiling Zero is a 1936 adventure/drama film directed by Howard Hawks. It stars James Cagney as daredevil womanizing pilot "Dizzy" Davis and Pat O'Brien as Jake Lee, his war veteran buddy and the operations manager of an airline company. Based on a stage play of the same name, the film blends drama... |
Lou Clarke | |
Dancing Feet | Mabel Henry | ||
The Leathernecks Have Landed | Brooklyn | ||
Big Brown Eyes Big Brown Eyes Big Brown Eyes is a 1936 crime/detective film. In the film, police officer Danny Barr is chasing jewel robbers. His girlfriend Eve Fallon is initially working as a manicurist, but quickly takes a job as a reporter assisting in the effort against the jewel thieves... |
Bessie Blair | ||
Small Town Girl Small Town Girl (1936 film) Small Town Girl is a film starring Janet Gaynor, Robert Taylor, and James Stewart. The romantic comedy was directed by William A. Wellman.Based on a novel by Ben Ames Williams, the film went through many changes before it reached the screen... |
Emily 'Em' Brannan | ||
36 Hours to Kill | Jeanie Benson | ||
The Man Who Lived Twice | Peggy Russell | ||
Valiant Is the Word for Carrie Valiant Is the Word for Carrie Valiant is the word for Carrie is a 1936 film starring Gladys George, Arline Judge, John Howard, Dudley Digges, Harry Carey, Isabel Jewell, and Hattie McDaniel. The movie was adapted by Claude Binyon from the novel of the same name by Barry Benefield... |
Lilli Eipper | ||
Go West, Young Man Go West, Young Man Go West, Young Man is a 1936 Paramount Pictures comedy film directed by Henry Hathaway starring Mae West. The supporting cast includes Warren William, Alice Brady, Elizabeth Patterson, and Lyle Talbot... |
Gladys | ||
Career Woman | Gracie Clay | ||
1937 | Lost Horizon | Gloria | |
Marked Woman Marked Woman Marked Woman is a crime melodrama film released by Warner Bros. in 1937. It was directed by Lloyd Bacon, and stars Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart, with featured performances by Lola Lane, Isabel Jewell, Rosalind Marquis, Mayo Methot, Jane Bryan, Eduardo Ciannelli and Allen Jenkins... |
Emmy Lou Eagan | ||
Love on Toast | Belle Huntley | ||
1938 | Swing It, Sailor! Swing It, Sailor! - Cast :*Wallace Ford as Pete Kelly*Ray Mayer as Husky Stone*Isabel Jewell as Myrtle Montrose*Mary Treen as Gertie Burns*Max Hoffman Jr. as Bos'n Hardy*Cully Richards as Shamus O'Shay*George Humbert as Pet Shop Proprietor*Tom Kennedy as Policeman... |
Myrtle Montrose | |
The Crowd Roars The Crowd Roars (1938 film) The Crowd Roars is a 1938 film starring Robert Taylor as a boxer who gets entangled in the seamier side of the sport. It was remade in 1947 as Killer McCoy, featuring Mickey Rooney in the title role.-Cast:*Robert Taylor as Tommy "Killer" McCoy... |
Mrs. Martin | ||
1939 | They Asked for It | Molly Herkimer | |
Missing Daughters | Peggy | ||
Gone with the Wind Gone with the Wind (film) Gone with the Wind is a 1939 American historical epic film adapted from Margaret Mitchell's Pulitzer-winning 1936 novel of the same name. It was produced by David O. Selznick and directed by Victor Fleming from a screenplay by Sidney Howard... |
Emmy Slattery | ||
1940 | Oh Johnny, How You Can Love | Gertie | |
Northwest Passage' (Book I -- Rogers' Rangers) | Jennie Coit | ||
Irene | Jane McGee | ||
Babies for Sale | Edith Drake | ||
Scatterbrain | Esther Harrington | ||
Marked Men Marked Men (1940 film) Marked Men is a 1940 American film directed by Sam Newfield.The film is also known as Desert Escape in the USA .- Cast :*Warren Hull as Bill Carver*Isabel Jewell as Linda Harkness*John Dilson as Dr. James Prentiss Harkness... |
Linda Harkness | ||
Little Men | Stella | ||
1941 | High Sierra | Blonde | |
For Beauty's Sake | Amy Devore | ||
1943 | The Leopard Man The Leopard Man The Leopard Man is a horror movie directed by Jacques Tourneur based on the book Black Alibi by Cornell Woolrich. It is one of the first American films to attempt an even remotely realistic portrayal of a serial killer .-Plot summary:The story, set in New Mexico, begins as Jerry Manning hires a... |
Maria - Fortune Teller | |
The Seventh Victim The Seventh Victim The Seventh Victim is a 1943 horror and film noir starring Tom Conway, Jean Brooks, Isabel Jewell, Kim Hunter , and Hugh Beaumont, directed by Mark Robson, and produced by Val Lewton for RKO Radio Pictures... |
Frances Fallon | ||
Danger! Women at Work | Marie | ||
The Falcon and the Co-eds | Mary Phoebus | ||
1944 | The Merry Monahans | Rose Monahan | |
1945 | Steppin' in Society | Jenny the Juke | |
Sensation Hunters Sensation Hunters (1945 film) Sensation Hunters is a 1945 American film directed by Christy Cabanne.The film is also known as Club Paradise .- Cast :*Robert Lowery as Danny Burke*Doris Merrick as Julie Rogers*Eddie Quillan as Ray Lawson... |
Mae | ||
1946 | Badman's Territory | Belle Starr | |
1947 | Born to Kill Born to Kill (1947 film) Born to Kill is a 1947 film noir starring Lawrence Tierney and directed by Robert Wise. It was the first film noir to be directed by Wise, who later directed The Set-Up , The Captive City , and Odds Against Tomorrow... |
Laury Palmer | |
The Bishop's Wife The Bishop's Wife The Bishop's Wife is a 1947 Samuel Goldwyn romantic comedy feature film starring Cary Grant, Loretta Young, and David Niven in a story about an angel who helps a bishop with his problems. It was released by RKO. The film was adapted by Leonardo Bercovici and Robert E... |
Hysterical mother | ||
1948 | Michael O'Halloran | Mrs. Laura Nelson | |
The Snake Pit The Snake Pit The Snake Pit is a 1948 American drama film directed by Anatole Litvak. The film tells the story of a woman who finds herself in an insane asylum and cannot remember how she got there, and stars Olivia de Havilland, Mark Stevens, Leo Genn, Celeste Holm, Beulah Bondi, and Lee Patrick.The film was... |
Ward 33 Inmate | Uncredited | |
Unfaithfully Yours Unfaithfully Yours Unfaithfully Yours is a 1948 American screwball comedy film written and directed by Preston Sturges and starring Rex Harrison, Linda Darnell, Rudy Vallee and Barbara Lawrence. The film is a black comedy about a man's failed attempt to murder his wife, who he believes has been unfaithful to him... |
First Telephone Operator | Uncredited | |
Belle Starr's Daughter | Belle Starr | ||
1949 | The Story of Molly X | Mrs. Mack—Prison Laundry Matron | Uncredited |
1952 | The Adventures of Kit Carson The Adventures of Kit Carson The Adventures of Kit Carson is an American Western series that aired in syndication from August 1951 to November 1955, originally sponsored by Coca-Cola. It stars Bill Williams in the title role as frontier scout Christopher "Kit" Carson... |
Mary Barker | 1 episode |
Fireside Theatre | 1 episode | ||
The Unexpected The Unexpected The Unexpected was a DC Comics horror comic book, a continuation of Tales of the Unexpected. It ran 117 issues, #105-222, from 1968 to 1982.-Publication history:... |
Sister | 1 episode | |
Mr. & Mrs. North | 1 episode | ||
1953 | Man in the Attic Man in the Attic Man in the Attic is a 1953 mystery film directed by Hugo Fregonese. It was released in the United States on December 23 by Twentieth Century Fox... |
Katy | |
1954 | Drum Beat Drum Beat Drum Beat is a 1954 CinemaScope western film written and directed by Delmer Daves and co-produced by Daves and Alan Ladd in his first film for his Jaguar Productions company. It stars Alan Ladd , Audrey Dalton, Charles Bronson as Captain Jack, and Hayden Rorke as President Ulysses S... |
Lily White | |
1955 | Treasury Men in Action Treasury Men in Action Treasury Men in Action, a.k.a. Federal Men, is the title of a TV crime drama series broadcast live and which aired from 1950 through 1955 on ABC and starred Walter Greaza, Ross Martin, and Tom McKee. It was directed by William Beaudine, Leigh Jason, and Will Jason among others.The series centers on... |
1 episode | |
1956 | Dr. Christian Dr. Christian Dr. Christian was a long-running radio series with Jean Hersholt in the title role. It aired on CBS from 1937 to 1954.After Hersholt portrayed the character Dr. John Luke, based on Dr. Allan Roy Dafoe, the obstetrician who delivered and cared for the Dionne Quintuplets, in the 20th Century Fox... |
Mae | 1 episode |
1957 | Bernardine Bernardine (film) Bernardine is a 1957 film directed by Henry Levin and starring Pat Boone, Terry Moore, Dean Jagger, Dick Sargent, and Janet Gaynor. The 1952 play upon which the movie is based was written by Mary Coyle Chase, the Denver playwright who also wrote the smash hit Broadway play Harvey... |
Mrs. McDuff | |
Climax! | Actress | 1 episode | |
1961 | The Aquanauts | Miss Port | 1 episode |
Lock Up Lock-Up (TV series) Lock-Up is an American legal drama series that premiered in syndication in September 1959 and concluded in June 1961. The half-hour episodes had little time for character development or subplots and presented a compact story without embellishment.... |
1 episode | ||
1962 | The Untouchables The Untouchables (1959 TV series) The Untouchables is an American crime drama that ran from 1959 to 1963 on ABC. Based on the memoir of the same name by Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley, it fictionalized the experiences of Eliot Ness, a real-life Prohibition agent, as he fought crime in Chicago during the 1930s with the help of a... |
Sophie | 1 episode |
1964 | Kraft Suspense Theatre Kraft Suspense Theatre Kraft Suspense Theatre, an anthology series, was telecast from 1963 to 1965 on NBC. Sponsored by Kraft Foods, it was seen three weeks out of every four and was pre-empted for Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall specials once monthly... |
Mrs. Lyons | 1 episode |
1965 | Gunsmoke Gunsmoke Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West.... |
Mme. Ahr | 1 episode |
1972 | Ciao! Manhattan Ciao! Manhattan Ciao! Manhattan is a 1972 American avant garde film starring Edie Sedgwick, one of Andy Warhol's Superstars. Although not a documentary, the film centers around a character very closely based on Sedgwick, and deals with the pain of addiction and the lure of fame.-Film overview:Written and directed... |
Mummy | |
1973 | Sweet Kill Sweet Kill Sweet Kill is a 1973 B-movie written and directed by future Academy Award winner Curtis Hanson. The film was Hanson's directorial debut and was produced by Roger Corman... |
Mrs. Cole |