Biography
Gloria Jean (born Gloria Jean Schoonover) was an American actress and singer. She appeared in 26 feature films between 1939 and 1959, along with radio, television, stage and nightclub work. Her final credited film role was as Gloria in the 1961 comedy The Ladies Man.
She began singing on radio as a child in Scranton, Pennsylvania, billed as Baby Skylark, and trained as a coloratura soprano. At 12 she joined a New York opera company. In 1938 she was signed by Universal Pictures after an audition with producer Joe Pasternak and made her screen debut the following year in The Under-Pup. She is best known for her co-starring role with W. C. Fields in Never Give a Sucker an Even Break (1941).
Jean was born on 14 April 1926 in Buffalo, New York, and died on 31 August 2018 in Mountain View, Hawaii.
