Former child star Jane Withers has died at age 95.
The Georgia-born actress passed away from undisclosed causes while surrounded by loved ones in Burbank on Saturday night.
‘My mother was such a special lady,’ one of Jane’s four surviving children – Emmy-winning costume designer Kendall Errair – said n a statement, according to Deadline.
‘She lit up a room with her laughter, but she especially radiated joy and thankfulness when talking about the career she so loved and how lucky she was.’
Withers had been the last major star from the Golden Age of Hollywood of the 1930s to pass away after two-time Oscar winner Olivia de Havilland in 2020.
RIP: Former child star Jane Withers died, age 95, from undisclosed causes while surrounded by loved ones in Burbank on Saturday night (pictured in 2013)
The Hollywood-raised actress got her big break portraying the bratty Joy Smythe opposite Shirley Temple’s angelic orphan in David Butler’s 1934 film Bright Eyes.
‘I had to play the meanest, creepiest little girl that God ever put on this planet,’ Withers recalled in 2000.
‘I ran over Shirley with a tricycle, and a baby buggy. And I thought, “Oh dear, everybody’s going to hate me forever because I was so creepy mean to Shirley Temple!'”
It didn’t turn out that way. Critics claimed that she stole the picture from Shirley. Children wrote fan letters admiring what she did to Shirley ‘because she’s so perfect.’
Jane’s (pictured in 2003) daughter Kendall Errair said in a statement: ‘My mother was such a special lady. She lit up a room with her laughter, but she especially radiated joy and thankfulness when talking about the career she so loved and how lucky she was’
Fox boss Darryl F. Zanuck figured there was room for another child actress at the studio, and she was signed to a contract.
She played the anti-Shirley, a bright, talky, mischief-prone girl with wide eyes, chubby cheeks and straight black hair that contrasted with Shirley´s blonde curly top.
For four years, Fox ground out three or four Withers films annually at budgets far lower than the Temple specials. Among the titles: Ginger, Paddy O’Day, Little Miss Nobody, Wild and Wooly and Arizona Wildcat.
Even though B pictures were aimed for the bottom half of double bills, a theater owners poll named Withers one of the top money-making stars in 1936 and 1937.
While the Temple films were made on Fox’s modern Westwood lot, Withers made hers at the old studio on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood.
End of an era: Withers (pictured in 1941) had been the last major star from the Golden Age of Hollywood of the 1930s to pass away after two-time Oscar winner Olivia de Havilland in 2020
‘I wasn’t allowed to shoot in Westwood until Shirley left the studio,’ she said.
Jane – whose early fans included President Franklin D. Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt – was the only child star to complete a seven-year contract at 20th Century-Fox Studios.
After starring in 38 films, Withers retired at age 21 in 1947 before George Stevens cast her as neighbor Vashti Snythe in his 1956 epic Giant alongside Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor.
‘Natural clown’: The Atlanta-born, Hollywood-raised actress (L) got her big break portraying the bratty Joy Smythe opposite Shirley Temple’s (R) angelic orphan in David Butler’s 1934 film Bright Eyes
The avid doll collector experienced another Hollywood comeback when she portrayed Josephine the Plumber in commercials for Comet cleanser between 1963-1974.
‘Oh, the money is nice, all right,’ she told the Los Angeles Times in 1963 of the commercials. ‘I got five figures for eight of those commercials, and I´m doing four more.”
The main advantage, she said, was that unlike the Broadway offers she was getting, the job didn´t interfere with her home life in Hollywood.
She said in a later Times interview that she felt the original Josephine character was ‘too smart-alecky, too brash,’ but she thought ‘any lady who was going to become a plumber’ would take pride in her work and care about her customers.
Jane – who suffered from bouts of lupus and vertigo – went on to guest star in episodes of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, The Love Boat, and Murder, She Wrote.
Withers’ final acting role was voicing Laverne the gargoyle in Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame in 1996 and its direct-to-video sequel The Hunchback of Notre Dame II in 2002.
Silver screen gem: Jane – whose early fans included President Franklin D. Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt – was the only child star to complete a seven-year contract at 20th Century-Fox Studios (pictured in 1936)
Comeback: After starring in 38 films, Withers (M) retired at age 21 in 1947 before George Stevens cast her as neighbor Vashti Snythe in his 1956 epic Giant alongside Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor
Squeaky clean: The avid doll collector experienced another Hollywood comeback when she portrayed Josephine the Plumber in commercials for Comet cleanser between 1963-1974
Fame started early for Jane Withers. Born April 12, 1926, in Atlanta, she had appeared as Dixie´s Dainty Dewdrop on local radio by the age of 3.
Her mother had greater ambitions, and she persuaded her husband to move the family to Hollywood.
Jane played bit roles in movies and supplied voices for the Willie Whopper and the Looney Tunes cartoons.
Her experience with W.C. Fields in It’s a Gift (1934) belies the legend – encouraged by Fields himself – that the comedian hated children.
Fields chose her for a scene in which she played hopscotch in front of his store, frustrating his exit. He coached her and afterward praised her professionalism.
When she won her first starring role, he sent her two large bouquets and a note saying, ‘I know you’re going to knock them dead in Ginger and you’re going to have a fantastic career.’
Her popularity led to Jane Withers dolls and other merchandise. At her peak, she was earning $2,500 a week and $50,000 a year in endorsements. Unlike other child stars, her earnings did not disappear.
She explained in 1974: ‘Fortunately, my dad had a great love of California land. He kind of dibble-dabbled in real estate in a marvelous way.’
During her childhood she started collecting dolls and teddy bears, and she continued throughout her lifetime. In 1988 she reported that she owned 12,000 dolls and 2,500 teddy bears which were boxed and crated in a 27,000-square-foot warehouse.
Withers’ film appearances as an adult were sporadic, partly because of three marriages and five children. Her most notable credits were Giant (1956) and Captain Newman, M.D. (1963).
Howdy! Jane – who suffered from bouts of lupus and vertigo – went on to guest star in episodes of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, The Love Boat, and Murder, She Wrote (pictured in 2007)
Swan song: Withers’ final acting role was voicing Laverne the gargoyle (R) in Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame in 1996 and its direct-to-video sequel The Hunchback of Notre Dame II in 2002
In 1947, Withers left Hollywood to live with her first husband, producer-oil man William Moss, in Midland, Texas. The marriage produced three children and ended after seven years.
She returned to Hollywood and was paralyzed with arthritis. She recovered after spending five months in a hospital.
She had two more children with second husband Kenneth Errair, one of the Four Freshmen singing group, who died in 1968. In 1985 she married Thomas Pierson, a travel agency executive.
An interviewer in 1974 asked Withers how she managed to escape the troubles that plagued many child stars in adulthood. A lifelong Presbyterian, she commented: ‘I always took my troubles to the good Lord, and I never failed to get an answer.’
The devout Christian and philanthropist had three children – Wendy; William II; and Walter – from her first marriage to Texas entrepreneur William Moss, which ended in 1955.
Jane had two children – Kenneth and Kendall – from her second marriage to The Four Freshmen singer Kenneth Errair, who died in a 1968 plane crash.
Withers’ third marriage to Thomas Spicer Pierson ended in 2013 when he passed away.
[The late AP Entertainment Writer Bob Thomas contributed biographical material to this story.]