Jan Sterling

Ash-blonde American stage, film and television actress Jan Sterling (1921-2004) was most active in films during the 1950s. She received a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in The High and the Mighty (1954) and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the same performance. Her best performance is probably the sluttish, opportunistic wife of Kirk Douglas in Billy Wilder's Ace in the Hole (1951). Although her career declined during the 1960s, she continued to play occasional television and theatre roles.


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. D 38. Photo: Paramount.


German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. FK 308. Photo: Paramount. Publicity still for Pony Express (Jerry Hopper, 1953).

Dominating Broadway as a proper British lady

Jan Sterling was born Jane Sterling Adriance in Manhattan, New York, in 1921 to a well-to-do family. She had a younger sister, Ann 'Mimi' Adriance, a model and businesswoman. Her father, William Allen Adriance Jr., was a prominent advertising executive who divorced her mother when Jan was only eight. Her mother, Eleanor Ward (née Deans), remarried an oilman when Jan was still a young girl, and the family relocated abroad.

Jan was schooled by private tutors in Brazil and later in London and Paris. Although both sets of parents disapproved, Jan set her sights on acting. Eventually, she was enrolled in Fay Compton's dramatic school in London. She became a strong-minded young woman with a heartfelt passion for the arts.

She returned to Manhattan to conquer Broadway and by the age of 17 had her first ingénue role in 'Bachelor Born' (1938). Over the next 11 years, Jan dominated Broadway as a proper British lady while billing herself as Jane Adrian.

Gary Brumburgh at IMDb: "One of her highlights was working with the legendary Ruth Gordon in 1942 in Gordon's first play, 'Over 21'. In 1941, she married actor John Merivale. The couple divorced in 1947. In 1947, she made her film debut in the romantic drama Tycoon (Richard Wallace, 1947), billed as Jane Darian. As Billie Dawn, she appeared in the Chicago company of 'Born Yesterday'. Columbia brought Jan out to the West Coast to test for the film version, Born Yesterday (George Cukor, 1950). At one point, she was announced to play the part, but the role ultimately went to the character's original player on Broadway, Judy Holliday, who went on to win the Oscar. However, the ash-blonde broke quickly into films, supporting Oscar-winning Jane Wyman in Johnny Belinda (Jean Negulesco, 1948) in a key, emotional role."

Years earlier, in 1941, Jan took over actress Virginia Field's part in the Broadway musical 'Panama Hattie' when Field left the show to marry gruff actor Paul Douglas. By 1950, the marriage between Douglas and Field had ended in divorce, and Paul married Jan.


French or Belgian postcard. Jan Sterling and Tony Curtis in Flesh and Fury (Joseph Pevney, 1952). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

Digging her nails into a florid array of cheap floozies, hard-bitten dames, and lethal schemers

To her absolute delight, Jan Sterling left the docile, ladylike image behind her in Hollywood. She was allowed to dig her nails into a florid array of cheap floozies, hard-bitten dames, and lethal schemers and stood out well with 'bad girl' parts in the films Caged (John Cromwell, 1950) starring Eleonor Parker, the Film Noir Ace in the Hole (Billy Wilder, 1951) opposite Kirk Douglas, Flesh and Fury (Joseph Pevney, 1952) with Tony Curtis, The Human Jungle (Joseph M. Newman, 1954), and Female on the Beach (Joseph Pevney, 1955), starring Joan Crawford and Jeff Chandler.

In between, she occasionally made a nicer, more sympathetic impression in the Western Sky Full of Moon (Norman Foster, 1952) and the adventure film The High and the Mighty (William A. Wellman, 1954) starring John Wayne. The latter earned her an Oscar nomination. In 1955, she gave birth to her only child at age 34, a son, Adams Douglas.

Jan and her husband, Paul Douglas, moved away from the Hollywood scene to Burlington, Vermont. They appeared together professionally on occasional TV shows. Douglas revived his Harry Brock role from 'Born Yesterday' with a stage tour starring Jan in the Billie Dawn part. They were a solid hit. After the sudden death of her 52-year-old husband in 1959, Jan's career slowed down considerably. Douglas suffered a massive heart attack at their Hollywood home.

She refocused on stage and TV but at a slower step. She made incidental films on occasion, including support roles in the romantic comedy Love in a Goldfish Bowl (Jack Sher, 1961) starring Tommy Sands and Fabian and the crime drama The Incident (Larry Peerce, 1967). In 1962, she made her singing debut in a tour of the musical 'Silk Stockings'. She was also involved in humanitarian causes.

In the late 1960s, she moved to London, and in the 1970s, she entered into a relationship with actor Sam Wanamaker. They never married but stayed together until he died in 1993. She played a small part in First Monday in October (Ronald Neame, 1981) starring Walter Matthau. Inactive for nearly two decades, Jan made an appearance at the Cinecon Film Festival in Los Angeles in the fall of 2001. She was still charming audiences at the age of 80. In 2004, she passed away at the Motion Picture and Television Hospital in Woodland Hills, California. Jan Sterling was 82. Her son, Adams Douglas, died of heart failure in December 2003, just three months before she died.


Belgian postcard. Photo: Paramount.


Vintage postcard. Photo: Paramount.

Source: Gary Brumburgh (IMDb), Wikipedia and IMDb.