Jean Hathaway


Jean Hathaway was a Hungarian-born Belgian and American stage and silent film actress, singer, and claimed to be a Belgian Marquise though marriage. Her career began on the vaudeville circuit; and by 1908 she was an early star of Allan Dwan's American Film Manufacturing Company. After her marriage in 1894, she also went by the names Marquise Lillie de Fiennes and Jane Hathaway.

Early life and family

She was born as Lillie Bishop on June 15, 1876, in Budapest during the Austro-Hungarian Empire. She immigrated to the United States around 1882.
She was married to San Francisco actor Rhody Hathaway in 1894 and they had four children, including film director Henry Hathaway.

Career

Hathaway's career began on the vaudeville circuit and in theaters in Sacramento, California and in the San Francisco Bay Area. She was known for his contralto singing.
By 1909 she was an early star of Allan Dwan's American Film Manufacturing Company, starring as a heroine in films often alongside her husband Rhody and sometimes with their young son Henry Hathaway. From 1911 until 1914, the Hathaway family worked for Thomas Ince's Inceville Studios. At the age of 35 in 1911, she appeared in the short comedy film, ', produced by the American Film Manufacturing Company, directed by Alan Dwan, and starring J. Warren Kerrigan.
She wrote the screenplay for the short film ', directed by Alfred Ernest Christie. In the 1920s, Rhody abandoned his family, leaving Jean as a single parent.

Death

Hathaway died on August 23, 1938 in the Queen of Angels Hospital in Los Angeles, at the age of 62 after experiencing a brain hemorrhage. She is buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.

Filmography