---
name: "Jean Adair"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/jean-adair"
fi1m_id: "jean-adair"
imdb_id: "nm0010443"
tmdb_id: 2668
wikidata_id: "Q446182"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "12 June 1873"
died: "11 May 1953"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
average_as: "actor"
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-10-07T09:58:40.695533+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."
---

# Jean Adair

## Identity

Jean Adair

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/jean-adair
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** jean-adair
- **IMDb ID:** nm0010443
- **TMDB ID:** 2668
- **Wikidata ID:** Q446182
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Adair, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q446182, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0010443/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/2668

Actor. Born 12 June 1873 in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Died 11 May 1953.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 12 June 1873, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
- **Died:** 11 May 1953
- **Also known as:** Violet McNaughton, Jennet Adair
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Adair, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q446182, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0010443/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/2668

## Biography

Jean Adair was a Canadian actress. Born Violet McNaughton in Hamilton, Ontario, she appeared under the names Jennet Adair and Jean Adair. She worked primarily on stage from the 1920s, with a New York debut in the 1922 Broadway production of It's a Boy!, and also performed in vaudeville.

Adair originated the role of Martha Brewster in the long-running Broadway production of Arsenic and Old Lace (1941–1944) and reprised it in the 1944 film adaptation directed by Frank Capra. Her other film appearances include uncredited roles in Advice to the Lovelorn (1933) and The Naked City (1948), as well as parts in Living in a Big Way (1947) and Something in the Wind (1947). Her final stage role was as Rebecca Nurse in the original Broadway production of The Crucible (1953). She died in New York City in 1953.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, catalog.afi.com.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *Arsenic and Old Lace* (1944), Fi1m 82, as Aunt Martha Brewster — [page](https://film.one/film/arsenic-and-old-lace.md)

## Complete filmography (5)

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

- *The Naked City* (1948), as Little Old Lady (Uncredited)
- *Something in the Wind* (1947), as Aunt Mary Collins
- *Living in a Big Way* (1947), as Abigail Morgan
- *Arsenic and Old Lace* (1944), as Aunt Martha Brewster — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/film/arsenic-and-old-lace.md)
- *Advice to the Lovelorn* (1933), Actor

## Gallery

- ![Jean Adair](https://film.one/media/person/6771540/gallery-f455f0a4b403.jpg) Jean Adair — unknown (Billy Rose Theatre Collection), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/Jean_Adair.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![L. to R.: Jean Adair, Phyllis Thaxter & Spring Byington in Living in a big way - publicity still (cropped) (1947)](https://film.one/media/person/6771540/gallery-297eebf66fa6.jpg) L. to R.: Jean Adair, Phyllis Thaxter & Spring Byington in Living in a big way - publicity still (cropped) (1947) — unknown (MGM), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5f/Arsenic_and_Old_Lace_%28film%29_still_4.jpg/1280px-Arsenic_and_Old_Lace_%28film%29_still_4.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/jean-adair