Jean Willes


Jean Donahue was an American film and television actress. She appeared in approximately 65 films in her 38-year career.

Early years

Born Jean Willes in Los Angeles to William Simmons Willes and Velma Harrington Duncan Willes, she spent part of her childhood in Seattle and part in Salt Lake City. After she and her parents returned to Los Angeles, she began acting with a little theater group there.

Career

Willes is familiar to modern viewers for her roles in several Three Stooges short subjects, such as Monkey Businessmen as well as A Snitch in Time, Don't Throw That Knife and Gypped in the Penthouse. She was a favorite of director Edward Bernds, who cast her in many shorts and features. She played roles ranging from an Air Force captain to prostitutes. She was one of the "four queens" pursuing Clark Gable in The King and Four Queens. Later that year she appeared as Nurse Sally Withers in the original movie version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
She made the transition to television, debuting in an episode of Boston Blackie. She appeared in dozens of series in varied roles and genres such as Westerns and anthology series; Crossroads; The Californians; Richard Diamond, Private Detective with David Janssen; several episodes of the Burns and Allen television series titled The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show; in the 1956 television show The Great Gildersleeve as the scheming girlfriend Eva Jane in the episode "One Too Many Secretaries"; The Twilight Zone ; four episodes of Bonanza between 1959 and 1968; Hazel; Trackdown ; The Munsters; Perry Mason; The Alfred Hitchcock Hour; Bat Masterson with Gene Barry; The Beverly Hillbillies with Buddy Ebsen; McHale's Navy with Ernest Borgnine; Tombstone Territory; Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre; Walt Disney's Zorro with Guy Williams; and Kojak with Telly Savalas.
In 1958, in the episode "Queen of the Cimarron" of the syndicated western television series Frontier Doctor, starring Rex Allen, Willes portrayed Fancy Varden, the owner of the Golden Slipper Saloon who attempts to establish her own cattle empire with animals infected with anthrax.
Willes portrayed Belle Starr in a 1959 episode of the ABC/Warner Brothers Western series Maverick entitled "Full House," in which Joel Grey played Billy the Kid and James Garner performed a bravura pistol-twirling exhibition woven into the plot. In the same year for Warners she played Anna Sage in The FBI Story. Willes played the character Ruth in the Wanted: Dead or Alive episode, "The Eager Man", Manila Jones in "The Montana Kid", and Meghan Francis in "The Kovack Affair".
Willes played Amelia Monk in the 1967 episode, "Siege at Amelia's Kitchen", on the syndicated anthology series, Death Valley Days hosted by Robert Taylor.

Personal life

Willes's second husband was NFL football player Gerard Cowhig. The couple had one son, Gerry.
File:Jean Willes-Gene Barry-Adele Mara in Bat Masterson.JPG|right|thumb|With Gene Barry and Adele Mara

Death

Willes died of liver cancer in Van Nuys, California on January 3, 1989. She was 65 years of age. She is buried in San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Mission Hills, California.

Selected filmography

  • So Proudly We Hail! as Lieutenant Carol Johnson
  • Here Come the Waves as Johnny Cabot Fan
  • Salty O'Rourke as The Other Girl
  • You Came Along as Showgirl
  • Incendiary Blonde as Nightclub Patron
  • Monkey Businessmen as Nurse Shapely
  • Sing While You Dance as Miss Flint
  • Blondie Knows Best as Dr. Titus's Nurse / Receptionist
  • Cigarette Girl as D.A.'s Secretary
  • Down to Earth as Betty
  • Blondie in the Dough as Miss Marsh, Thorpe's Secretary
  • The Mating of Millie as Party Girl
  • The Winner's Circle as Jean Trent
  • Chinatown at Midnight as Alice
  • A Woman of Distinction as Pearl – Switchboard Operator
  • Kill the Umpire as Pretty Girl
  • David Harding, Counterspy as Nurse
  • The Petty Girl as Fleeing Chorine
  • The Fuller Brush Girl as Mary
  • Emergency Wedding as Guest
  • A Snitch in Time as Miss Gladys Scudder
  • Revenue Agent as Marge King
  • Don't Throw That Knife as Lucy Wyckoff
  • Never Trust a Gambler as The Brunette at Police Station
  • The Family Secret as Cigarette Girl
  • Hula-La-La as Luana
  • The First Time as Fawn Wallace
  • Jungle Jim in the Forbidden Land as Denise
  • The Sniper as Woman on Street
  • A Yank in Indo-China as Cleo
  • Gobs and Gals as Mrs. Riley – Gerrens' Secretary
  • Son of Paleface as Penelope
  • Torpedo Alley as Peggy Moran
  • All Ashore as Rose
  • Abbott and Costello Go to Mars as Captain Olivia
  • Run for the Hills as Frances Veach
  • From Here to Eternity as Annette, club receptionist
  • The Glass Web as Sonia
  • A Star Is Born as Fan at benefit show
  • Masterson of Kansas as Dallas Corey – aka Mrs. Bennett
  • Bowery to Bagdad as Claire Culpepper
  • 5 Against the House as Virginia
  • Gypped in the Penthouse as Jane
  • Count Three and Pray as Selma
  • Bobby Ware Is Missing as Janet Ware
  • The Lieutenant Wore Skirts as Joan Sweeney
  • Invasion of the Body Snatchers as Nurse Sally Withers
  • The Revolt of Mamie Stover as Gladys
  • Toward the Unknown as Carmen
  • The King and Four Queens as Ruby McDade
  • The Man Who Turned to Stone as Tracy
  • Hell on Devil's Island as Suzanne
  • The Tijuana Story as Liz March
  • Hear Me Good as Rita Hall
  • Perry Mason - Anita Bonsal
  • Decision "The Tall Man" as Laura Dawson
  • Desire Under the Elms as Florence Cabot
  • Trackdown "The Bounty Hunter" as Jannette York
  • No Time for Sergeants as WAF Captain
  • Official Detective as Pat Dengue
  • Lawman as Kate Wilson
  • These Thousand Hills as Jen
  • Bat Masterson as Grace Williams
  • The FBI Story as Anna Sage
  • Yancy Derringer as Jessie Belle
  • Elmer Gantry as Prostitute
  • Ocean's 11 as Gracie Bergdof
  • The Crowded Sky as Gloria Panawek
  • By Love Possessed as Junie McCarthy
  • The Twilight Zone "Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?" as Ethel McConnell, the dancer
  • Gun Street as Joan Brady
  • Gypsy as Betty Cratchitt
  • The Alfred Hitchcock Hour as Eva
  • The Beverly Hillbillies as Countess Maria
  • The Munsters as Mrs. Cartwright
  • McHale's Navy as Margot Monet
  • The Beverly Hillbillies as Countess Maria
  • Bonanza as Mrs. O'Brien
  • The Cheyenne Social Club as Alice
  • Bite the Bullet as Rosie