--- name: "Jean Hagen" canonical: "https://film.one/person/jean-hagen" fi1m_id: "jean-hagen" imdb_id: "nm0353405" tmdb_id: 13296 wikidata_id: "Q235744" roles: ["Actor"] born: "3 August 1923" died: "29 August 1977" reviewed_on_fi1m: 3 average_fi1m_score: 88 average_as: "actor" average_over: 3 updated: "2026-09-25T04:42:04.354739+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 Hagen ## Identity Jean Hagen - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/jean-hagen - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** jean-hagen - **IMDb ID:** nm0353405 - **TMDB ID:** 13296 - **Wikidata ID:** Q235744 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Hagen, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q235744, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0353405/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/13296 Actor. Born 3 August 1923 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. Died 29 August 1977. ## Details - **Work:** Actor - **Born:** 3 August 1923, Chicago, Illinois, USA - **Died:** 29 August 1977 - **Active:** 1949–1952 - **Also known as:** Jean Shirley Verhagen, Jean Verhagen - **Academy Awards:** 1 Oscar nomination - **Average Fi1m score:** 88, as actor, over 3 titles - **Fi1m score by decade:** 1940s 82 (1), 1950s 90 (2) - **Score spread:** 3 at 80+, 0 at 60–79, 0 under 60 - **Lead roles:** 0 of 3 acting credits billed first or second - **Genres:** Comedy 2, Romance 2, Crime 1, Drama 1 - **Screen time:** 5 hours of reviewed films - **Box office:** $19m across 3 films with figures - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Hagen, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q235744, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0353405/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/13296 ## Streaming the US now - **HBO Max:** [*Singin' in the Rain*](https://film.one/film/singin-in-the-rain.md) (93) - **Tubi:** [*Adam's Rib*](https://film.one/film/adams-rib.md) (82) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Jean Hagen > Jean Hagen could make a performer's incompetence look painfully convincing without losing control of the joke. We value the timing, but also the conviction: Lina Lamont is funny because Hagen takes her indignation seriously. Lina Lamont cannot manage a microphone, and Jean Hagen treats the difficulty as a personal affront. In *Singin' in the Rain* (1952), her mangled diction is only part of the joke. The pleasure is in the certainty with which she objects to the business of recording her voice. We laughed aloud because Hagen makes the indignation so convincing without asking us to despise the woman. Her film debut, as Beryl Caighn in George Cukor's *Adam's Rib* (1949), placed her in a comedy with plenty of sharp dialogue and marital sparring. The comical femme fatale was one use for her particular assurance. John Huston's *The Asphalt Jungle* (1950) gave her Doll Conovan, a loyal girlfriend played with a wistful, down-to-earth manner. That quieter work is worth keeping in mind when Lina threatens to become the whole account of what Hagen could do. Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly give her comic precision room to work in *Singin' in the Rain*. Playing someone who acts badly requires Hagen to remain technically exact, however shrill the voice becomes. Harold Rosson's photography leaves space for the dancers, and Adrienne Fazan's editing gives the comic performers time for their objections. The pauses around Hagen's complaints matter: rushing to the next number would lose the pleasure of watching Lina insist on being taken seriously. The romance is slight, but her scenes need no song to keep them moving. The recurring difficulty is the narrowness of the roles. After those early successes, Hagen was typecast in ditzy and femme-fatale parts. Television gave her the long-suffering wife and mother Margaret Williams in *Make Room for Daddy* (1953–56), opposite Danny Thomas. Three seasons as a sitcom wife offered a narrower prospect than the move from Huston's crime drama to Donen and Kelly's musical. Start with Lina, then try *The Asphalt Jungle* before deciding Hagen was only a comic actress. ## Biography Jean Hagen (born Jean Shirley Verhagen) was an American actress. She trained at Northwestern University and began her career in radio and on the stage before making her film debut in *Adam's Rib* (1949). Hagen is best known for her performance as Lina Lamont in *Singin' in the Rain* (1952), for which she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She also appeared in *The Asphalt Jungle* (1950) and played Margaret Williams in the television series *Make Room for Daddy* (1953–56), earning three Primetime Emmy Award nominations. Her other credits include *Dead Ringer* (1964), *The Shaggy Dog* (1959) and guest roles in series such as *Starsky & Hutch* (1975) and *The Streets of San Francisco* (1972). Hagen died in 1977. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, themoviedb.org.* ## On Fi1m (3) - *Singin' in the Rain* (1952), Fi1m 93, as Lina Lamont — [page](https://film.one/film/singin-in-the-rain.md) - *The Asphalt Jungle* (1950), Fi1m 88, as Doll Conovan — [page](https://film.one/film/the-asphalt-jungle.md) - *Adam's Rib* (1949), Fi1m 82, as Beryl Caighn — [page](https://film.one/film/adams-rib.md) ## Complete filmography (39) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *Becoming Marilyn* (2022), as (archive footage) - *Alexander: The Other Side of Dawn* (1977), as Landlady - *Starsky & Hutch* (1975), series, as Belle Kates - *The Streets of San Francisco* (1972), series, as Ms. Unger - *Make Room for Granddaddy* (1970), series, Actor - *Dead Ringer* (1964), as Dede Marshall - *Panic in Year Zero!* (1962), as Ann Baldwin - *Ben Casey* (1961), series, Actor - *Dr. Kildare* (1961), series, as Nurse Mary Ogilvy - *Stagecoach West* (1960), series, as Lilly de Milo - *The Andy Griffith Show* (1960), series, as Elizabeth Crowley - *Sunrise at Campobello* (1960), as Missy Le Hand - *The Snows of Kilimanjaro* (1960), as Rhoda - *The Detectives* (1959), series, as Alice Streger - *The DuPont Show with June Allyson* (1959), series, as Elizabeth - *The Shaggy Dog* (1959), as Freeda Daniels - *Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse* (1958), series, Actor - *Wagon Train* (1957), series, as Maidie Brant, Sarah Proctor - *Spring Reunion* (1957), as Barna Forrest - *Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre* (1956), series, as Anne Madden - *The Big Knife* (1955), as Connie Bliss - *Alfred Hitchcock Presents* (1955), series, as Madge Griffin - *Climax!* (1954), series, as Eleanor Gehrig - *The Danny Thomas Show* (1953), series, as Margaret Williams - *Latin Lovers* (1953), as Anne Kellwood - *Arena* (1953), as Meg Hutchins - *Half a Hero* (1953), as Martha Dobson - *General Electric Theater* (1953), series, as Paula Farrel - *The Ford Television Theatre* (1952), series, as Nona Carson - *Shadow in the Sky* (1952), as Stella Murphy - *Carbine Williams* (1952), as Maggie Williams - *Singin' in the Rain* (1952), as Lina Lamont — Fi1m 93, [page](https://film.one/film/singin-in-the-rain.md) - *No Questions Asked* (1951), as Joan Brenson - *Night Into Morning* (1951), as Girl Next Door - *A Life of Her Own* (1950), as Maggie Collins - *The Asphalt Jungle* (1950), as Doll Conovan — Fi1m 88, [page](https://film.one/film/the-asphalt-jungle.md) - *Side Street* (1950), as Harriette Sinton - *Ambush* (1950), as Martha Conovan - *Adam's Rib* (1949), as Beryl Caighn — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/film/adams-rib.md) ## Gallery - ![Jean Hagen and Gene Kelly costumes from "Singin' in the Rain" at the Debbie Reynolds Auction Breaks Up Historic Hollywood Collection (The Paley Center for Media (2011)](https://film.one/media/person/59277/gallery-3fb3fa879512.jpg) Jean Hagen and Gene Kelly costumes from "Singin' in the Rain" at the Debbie Reynolds Auction Breaks Up Historic Hollywood Collection (The Paley Center for Media (2011) — Doug Kline from Los Angeles, CA, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3c/Debbie_Reynolds_Auction_-_Jean_Hagen_and_Gene_Kelly_costumes_from_%22Singin%27_in_the_Rain%22.jpg/1280px-Debbie_Reynolds_Auction_-_Jean_Hagen_and_Gene_Kelly_costumes_from_%22Singin%27_in_the_Rain%22.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Theatrical release poster for the 1955 film The Big Knife. (2026)](https://film.one/media/person/59277/gallery-d3c366695a08.png) Theatrical release poster for the 1955 film The Big Knife. (2026) — United Artists, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6a/The_Big_Knife_%281955_film_poster%29.png/1280px-The_Big_Knife_%281955_film_poster%29.png?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Jean Hagen](https://film.one/media/person/59277/gallery-bb5d7454fdea.jpg) Jean Hagen — Image via TMDB - ![Jean Hagen](https://film.one/media/person/59277/gallery-2eca292b530c.jpg) Jean Hagen — Image via TMDB ## Awards ### Academy Awards — 0 won, 1 nominated - 1953: Best Supporting Actress (nominated), for *Singin' in the Rain* *From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.* --- © 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-hagen