10715. Onnie Greer
Onnie Greer, 79, was remembered at funeral services held May 6 at Ashelawn Memorial Chapel in Jefferson. Rev. Earl Woods and Rev. Johnny Calhoun officiated. Burial followed in Ashelawn Memorial Gardens. Mr. Greer was born in Ashe County to Roy and Vinia Calhoun Geer. He was retired from Phenix Chair. He is survived by his wife, Tressie Taylor Greer; three sons, Darrell Greer, Lansing, Harold Greer, Creston, and Ernie Greer, Jefferson; one daughter, Betty Carpenter, Lansing; four brothers, Clay Greer and Howard Greer, both of Lansing, Wayne Greer, Jefferson, and Worth Greer, Avondale, Pa.; two sisters, Minnie Belle McCoy, Lansing, and Lula Belle Horne, Thomasville; and 11 grandchildren, 18 great-grandchildren; and several nieces and nephews. Ashelawn Memorial Chapel was in charge of the arrangements.
10848. Jane Greer
As a baby, she was winning beauty contests; as a teenager, with good looks and an attractive contralto voice, she was singing with big bands (most notably Enric Madriguera's orchestra in Latin Club Del Rio in Washington, D.C.. She met Rudy Vallee, her first husband, on the radio where she also enjoyed a brief stint as a singer. At age 15, an attack of palsy left her face partially paralyzed. She claimed that it was through facial exercises to overcome the paralysis that she learned the efficacy of facial expression in conveying human emotion, a skill she was renowned for using in her acting.
Actress
1996 Perfect Mate - Mom
1990 Twin Peaks (TV Series) - Vivian Smythe Niles
1989 Immediate Family - Michael's Mother
1989 Heartbeat - Valerie
1988 Murder, She Wrote (TV Series) - Bonnie Phelps
1987 Saturday Night Live (TV Series) - Kathy
1987 The Law and Harry McGraw (TV Series) - Augusta Stillman
1986 Just Between Friends - Ruth Chadwick
1984-1985 Falcon Crest (TV Series) - Charlotte Pershing
1984 Against All Odds - Mrs. Wyler
1982 The Shadow Riders (TV Movie) - Ma Traven
1979 A Christmas for Boomer (TV Movie)
1979 Quincy M.E. (TV Series) - Dorrie Larkin
1975 Columbo (TV Series) - Sylvia Danziger
1973 The Outfit - Alma Macklin
1965 Billie - Agnes Carol
1964 Where Love Has Gone - Marian Spicer
1964 Burke's Law (TV Series) - Lonnie Smith
1961 Thriller (TV Series) - Ann Moffat
1960 Stagecoach West (TV Series) - Kathleen Kane
1957-1960 Zane Grey Theater (TV Series) - Julie / Ellie Matson / Ellen Morrow
1959 Bonanza (TV Series) - Julia Bulette
1959 Alfred Hitchcock Presents (TV Series) - Mrs. Cannon-Hughes
1958 Playhouse 90 (TV Series) - Karen
1958 Suspicion (TV Series) - Clare Stengler
1957 Man of a Thousand Faces - Hazel Bennet Chaney
1953-1957 The Ford Television Theatre (TV Series) - Joyce Whitman / Mona Patton
1956 Run for the Sun - Katherine 'Katie' Connors
1955 Celebrity Playhouse (TV Series) - Nina
1953 The Revlon Mirror Theater (TV Series)
1953 Down Among the Sheltering Palms - Diana Forrester
1953 The Clown - Paula Henderson
1952 Desperate Search - Julie Heldon
1952 The Prisoner of Zenda - Antoinette de Mauban
1952 You for Me - Katie McDermad
1951 You're in the Navy Now - Ellie C. Harkness
1951 The Company She Keeps - Diane
1949 The Big Steal - Joan Graham
1948 Station West - Charlene aka 'Charlie'
1947 Out of the Past - Kathie
1947 They Won't Believe Me - Janice
1947 Sinbad, the Sailor - Pirouze
1946 The Bamboo Blonde - Eileen Sawyer
1946 Sunset Pass - Lolita Baxter
1946 The Falcon's Alibi - Lola Carpenter
1945 Dick Tracy - Judith Owens
1945 George White's Scandals - Billie Randall (as Bettejane Greer)
1945 Two O'Clock Courage - Helen Carter (as Bettejane Greer)
1945 Pan-Americana - Miss Downing (uncredited)Soundtrack
1953 Down Among the Sheltering Palms (performer: "WHO WILL IT BE WHEN THE TIME COMES?")
1948 Station West (performer: "Sometime Remind Me To Tell You")
1946 The Falcon's Alibi (performer: "How Do You Fall In Love", "Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are" - uncredited)Trivia
* Companion until his death of Frank London (1964 - 31 January 2001).
* Howard Hughes became attracted to Greer and brought her to Hollywood after he saw her in Life magazine, modeling army uniforms for women. Deciding that Bettejane was too "ingenuish", she shortened her name to Jane for her billing in the film, Dick Tracy (1945).
* Quickly married crooner Rudy Vallee after fleeing a possessed Howard Hughes, who kept her virtually a prisoner during her first few months. An enraged Hughes pressured her and ruined the marriage. She returned to Hughes and her contract.
* Was on the cover of Life magazine on June 8, 1942 and June 2, 1947. It was this 1942 issue of Life that caught the eye of Howard Hughes and started her Hollywood career.
* Lived (1947-64) in a mansion at 136 South Carmelina Avenue in Brentwood. William Powell and Marilyn Monroe also lived on the street.
* Jane Greer contracted a tropical virus during the location shooting of the film "Run for the Sun" (1956), which eventually required her to have a heart operation.
* She was a lifelong Democrat.
* Got the part of Charlie in Station West (1948) after Marlene Dietrich turned the part down.
* She studied dance with Marie Bryant.
* Was friends with Eleanor Parker, Marion Marshall, Howard Hawks, Joan Bennett, Constance Bennett, Van Heflin, and Frances Heflin.
* Although a Democrat, she did campaign for Ronald Reagan during the 1980 and 1984 presidential election due in part that she was strongly dissatisfied with the presidency of the Democratic Jimmy Carter. She voted for him in 1976 and found out quickly that he "wasn't up to the job" as she'd believed.Personal Quotes
* I'd always wanted to be an actress, and suddenly I knew that learning to control my facial muscles was one of the best assets I could have as a performer. Emotions often must be portrayed from an inner feeling, of course, but I had a double advantage because I was learning to direct my as-yet expressionless feelings, as well as gaining an ability to express emotion by a very conscious manipulation of my muscles.
* Howard Hughes was obsessed with me. But at first it seemed as if he were offering me a superb career opportunity.
* I love making movies, but I was ready to rationalize being only a mother if my career never got back on track.
He was a movie producer.
Producer
The Big Sky * 1952 (associate producer)
The Thing from Another World * 1951 (associate producer)
Reign of Terror * 1949 (associate producer)
Tulsa * 1949 (associate producer)