Author Topic: Former child star Jane Withers dead at 95 after roles in Bright Eyes, Giant,....  (Read 2185 times)

Lost Soul

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https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-9875013/Former-child-star-Jane-Withers-dead-95-roles-Bright-Eyes-Giant-more.html

Former child star Jane Withers dead at 95 after roles in Bright Eyes, Giant, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame

By Cassie Carpenter For Dailymail.Com

Published: 00:45, 9 August 2021 | Updated: 00:48, 9 August 2021

Former child star Jane Withers died, age 95, from undisclosed causes while surrounded by loved ones in Burbank on Saturday night.  'My mother was such a special lady,' one of Jane's four surviving children Emmy-winning costume designer Kendall Errair said in a statement.  'She lit up a room with her laughter, but she especially radiated joy and thankfulness when talking about the career she so loved and how lucky she was.' 

Withers had been the last major star from the Golden Age of Hollywood of the 1930s to pass away after two-time Oscar winner Olivia de Havilland in 2020.   The Atlanta-born, Hollywood-raised actress got her big break portraying the bratty Joy Smythe opposite Shirley Temple's angelic orphan in David Butler's 1934 film Bright Eyes.  Jane whose early fans included President Franklin D. Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt was the only child star to complete a seven-year contract at 20th Century-Fox Studios.  After starring in 38 films, Withers retired at age 21 in 1947 before George Stevens cast her as neighbor Vashti Snythe in his 1956 epic Giant alongside Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor.  The avid doll collector experienced another Hollywood comeback when she portrayed Josephine the Plumber in commercials for Comet cleanser between 1963-1974.  Jane who suffered from bouts of lupus and vertigo went on to guest star in episodes of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, The Love Boat, and Murder, She Wrote.  Withers' final acting role was voicing Laverne the gargoyle in Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame in 1996 and its direct-to-video sequel The Hunchback of Notre Dame II in 2002.  The devout Christian and philanthropist had three children Wendy; William II; and Walter from her first marriage to Texas entrepreneur William Moss, which ended in 1955.  Jane had two children Kenneth and Kendall from her second marriage to The Four Freshmen singer Kenneth Errair, who died in a 1968 plane crash.  Withers' third marriage to Thomas Spicer Pierson ended in 2013 when he passed away.  The devout Christian and philanthropist had three children Wendy; William II; and Walter from her first marriage to Texas entrepreneur William Moss, which ended in 1955.  Jane had two children Kenneth and Kendall from her second marriage to The Four Freshmen singer Kenneth Errair, who died in a 1968 plane crash.  Withers' third marriage to Thomas Spicer Pierson ended in 2013 when he passed away.

Cocopops

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Another memorable child actress