Biography
Jan Miner (15 October 1917 – 15 February 2004) was an American actress. She became widely known as Madge the manicurist in a long-running series of Palmolive dishwashing detergent television commercials, which she appeared in from the 1960s into the 1990s.
Miner was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and studied at the Vesper George School of Art before training as an actor under Lee Strasberg. She made her stage debut in a 1945 Boston production of Street Scene and worked extensively in radio during the 1940s and 1950s, including roles on Boston Blackie and Perry Mason. She appeared in numerous Broadway productions and spent six seasons with the American Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Connecticut.
Her film roles include Lillian Hunsacker in The Swimmer (1968), Sally Marr in Lenny (1974), Mrs Switzer in Endless Love (1981) and the Mother Superior in Mermaids (1990). On television she appeared in episodes of Law & Order and other series.
