---
name: "Jan Miner"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/jan-miner"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "15 October 1917"
died: "15 February 2004"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
average_as: "actor"
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-09-20T05:46:51.680992+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Jan Miner

Actor. Born 15 October 1917 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Died 15 February 2004.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 15 October 1917, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
- **Died:** 15 February 2004
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Miner, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q533647, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0591149/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/162287

## Streaming the US now

- **Apple TV:** [*Lenny*](https://film.one/film/lenny.md) (67)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## 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.

*Sources: imdb.com, en.wikipedia.org, nytimes.com.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *Lenny* (1974), Fi1m 67, as Sally Marr — [page](https://film.one/film/lenny.md)

## Complete filmography (21)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Remember WENN* (1996), series, as Aunt Agatha
- *Mermaids* (1990), as Mother Superior
- *Stood Up!* (1990), as Mrs. Abbott
- *Law & Order* (1990), series, as Edna Hodge — Fi1m 72, [page](https://film.one/tv/law-and-order.md)
- *Used Innocence* (1989), as Laurie Bembenek
- *Gertrude Stein and a Companion!* (1987), as Gertrude Stein
- *Cagney & Lacey* (1982), series, as Stella Wall — Fi1m 81, [page](https://film.one/tv/cagney-and-lacey.md)
- *Endless Love* (1981), as Mrs. Switzer
- *Willie & Phil* (1980), as Maria Kaufman
- *F.D.R.: The Last Year* (1980), as Cousin Daisy
- *Out of Our Fathers' House* (1978), Actor
- *Lenny* (1974), as Sally Marr — Fi1m 67, [page](https://film.one/film/lenny.md)
- *Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers* (1974), series, Actor
- *Great Performances* (1971), series, Actor
- *The Swimmer* (1968), as Lillian Hunsacker
- *One Step Beyond* (1959), series, as Grace Harkness
- *Naked City* (1958), series, as Elsie Knauf, Lia Wallace, Rosie Wilkin, Superintendent
- *Schlitz Playhouse of Stars* (1951), series, Actor
- *Casey, Crime Photographer* (1951), series, as Ann Williams
- *Robert Montgomery Presents* (1950), series, as Lesley, Julia, Janet Ballard, Jennie Ward, Irene, Melinda Phillips, Enid Garroway
- *Studio One* (1948), series, as Mother

## Gallery

- ![Jan Miner](https://film.one/media/person/1244842/gallery-29b1d0ae1854.jpg) Jan Miner — Macfadden Publications, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f1/Jan_Miner_1957.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Jan Miner as Julie Paterno in Hilltop House, 1953](https://film.one/media/person/1244842/gallery-08b70a20da33.jpg) Jan Miner as Julie Paterno in Hilltop House, 1953 — Photographer not credited, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d1/Jan_Miner_as_Julie_Paterno%2C_1953.jpg/1280px-Jan_Miner_as_Julie_Paterno%2C_1953.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Jan Miner, Radio-TV Mirror, January 1953](https://film.one/media/person/1244842/gallery-6e1426ea68b3.jpg) Jan Miner, Radio-TV Mirror, January 1953 — Photographer not credited, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/32/Jan_Miner%2C_Radio-TV_Mirror%2C_January_1953.jpg/1280px-Jan_Miner%2C_Radio-TV_Mirror%2C_January_1953.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/jan-miner