Isabel Jewell, a petite, platinum-haired actress, was the daughter of a doctor and medical researcher. She was often typecast in the 1930s, playing tough-talking broads, including gangster's molls, dumb blondes, prostitutes, and poor white trash.
Despite this, she also played ordinary, nice next-door girl types, as seen in Marked Men. Although stardom eluded her, she remained a busy supporting actress with an impressive array of A-budget films to her credit.
As an MGM contract player, Isabel reportedly earned up to $3,000 a week, a small fortune at the time. She was educated at St. Mary's Academy in Minnesota and Hamilton College in Kentucky.
Isabel's early career began in stock companies, including an 87-week stint in Lincoln, Nebraska. She then hit the big time after landing a part on Broadway in "Up Pops the Devil" (1930),delivering a performance to great critical acclaim.
She reprised her role as a fast-talking telephone operator in the screen version of "Blessed Event" (1932),effectively launching her movie career. While her parts were often small, they could also be memorable, as seen in Ceiling Zero (1936) and Marked Woman (1937).
Other notable performances include her role as a consumptive prostitute finding salvation in Lost Horizon (1937),and her poignant against-type performance as an ill-fated seamstress on her way to the guillotine in A Tale of Two Cities (1935).
In the 1940s and '50s, her roles diminished, and she fell on hard times, getting into trouble with the law in Las Vegas for passing bad checks and spending five days in jail for drunk driving.
Isabel Jewell passed away in her home in April 1972, at the age of 64. One of her two former husbands was writer-producer-director Owen Crump (1903-1998). A lasting memory of Isabel Jewell is her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Vine Street.
