Jean Colin was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 actress. She began her career on stage in pantomime

Pantomime

Pantomime — not to be confused with a mime artist, a theatrical performer of mime—is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, South Africa, India, Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta, and is mostly performed during the...

, musical theatre

Musical theatre

Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...

 and operettas. Colin appeared in several films beginning the thirties. Colin was born in Brighton

Brighton

Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...

 and died in London. In her later years, she lived in an apartment near Marble Arch in central London.

Career

Her stage debut was in 1923 in Brighton when Mary Lynn, niece of Ralph Lynn

Ralph Lynn

Ralph Lynn was a British stage and screen actor.Lynn was born in Manchester and began his acting career in Wigan in 1900 in King of Terrors. After years spent touring regional theatres and a spell in America he made his West End debut in 1915 at the Empire theatre in By Jingo...

 persuaded her to work up a dancing act with her. Her big chance came when she was given the part originally meant for June in The Five O'Clock Girl

The Five O'Clock Girl

The Five O'Clock Girl is a musical with a book by Guy Bolton and Fred Thompson, music by Harry Ruby, and lyrics by Bert Kalmar. It focuses on wealthy Beekman Place playboy Gerald Brooks and impoverished shopgirl Patricia Brown, who become acquainted with each other via a series of anonymous 5...

. The Hate Ship was her first film.

Selected filmography

• The Hate Ship (1930)
• Compromising Daphne
  Compromising Daphne
  Compromising Daphne is a 1930 British comedy film directed by Thomas Bentley and starring Jean Colin, Phyllis Konstam, C.M. Hallard and Viola Compton. It was also released as Compromised! and was based on a play by Edith Fitzgerald.-Cast:...
  
  (1930)
• Lord Babs
  Lord Babs
  Lord Babs is a 1932 British comedy film directed by Walter Forde and starring Bobby Howes, Jean Colin and Pat Paterson. It was based on a play by Keble Howard...
  
  (1932)
• Charing Cross Road
  Charing Cross Road (film)
  Charing Cross Road is a 1935 British drama film directed by Albert de Courville and starring John Mills, June Clyde, Derek Oldham and Belle Baker...
  
  (1935)
• The Mikado
  The Mikado
  The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, their ninth of fourteen operatic collaborations...
  
  (1939)
• Laugh It Off
  Laugh It Off (1940 film)
  Laugh It Off is a 1940 British musical comedy film directed by John Baxter and Wallace Orton and starring Tommy Trinder, Jean Colin, Anthony Hulme and Marjorie Browne.-Cast:* Tommy Trinder - Tommy Towers* Jean Colin - Sally* Anthony Hulme - Somers...
  
  (1940)
• Bob's Your Uncle
  Bob's Your Uncle (film)
  Bob's Your Uncle is a 1942 British comedy film directed by Oswald Mitchell and starring Albert Modley, Jean Colin, George Bolton, Wally Patch and H.F. Maltby. It depicts the enthusiastic members of a Home Guard unit.-Cast:* Albert Modley - Albert Smith...
  
  (1941)
• Last Holiday
  Last Holiday (1950 film)
  Last Holiday is a 1950 British film featuring Alec Guinness in his sixth starring role. The low-key, dark comedy was written by J. B. Priestley and directed by Henry Cass, featuring irony and wit often associated with Priestley....
  
  (1950)
• Laxdale Hall
  Laxdale Hall
  Laxdale Hall is a 1953 British comedy film directed by John Elridge and starring Ronald Squire, Kathleen Ryan, Raymond Huntley, Prunella Scales, Fulton Mackay, and Jean Colin....
  
  (1953)