Jan Sterling was a talented and captivating actress who left a lasting impact on the film industry. Born Jane Sterling Adriance in Manhattan in 1921, she was the daughter of a prominent advertising executive who divorced her mother when Jan was just eight years old. Her mother remarried an oilman, and the family relocated abroad, where Jan was educated by private tutors in Brazil, London, and Paris.
Despite her parents' disapproval, Jan pursued her passion for acting, enrolling in Fay Compton's dramatic school in London. She eventually returned to Manhattan to conquer Broadway, where she dominated the stage as a proper British lady, billing herself as "Jane Adrian."
Jan's breakthrough role came in 1942, working with the legendary Ruth Gordon in Gordon's first play, "Over 21." She later starred in the Chicago company of "Born Yesterday," earning critical acclaim and seeming poised to take on the 1950 film version. However, she lost out to Judy Holliday.
Jan's film career took off with her supporting role in Johnny Belinda (1948),opposite Oscar-winning Jane Wyman. She then left behind her ladylike image to take on a range of complex and memorable characters, including cheap floozies, hard-bitten dames, and lethal schemers in films such as Caged (1950),Ace in the Hole (1951),Flesh and Fury (1952),The Human Jungle (1954),and Female on the Beach (1955).
Between her "bad girl" roles, Jan occasionally made a nicer impression in films like Sky Full of Moon (1952) and The High and the Mighty (1954),earning an Oscar nomination for the latter.
Jan married and divorced actor John Merivale in the 1940s, before marrying gruff film star Paul Douglas in 1950. The couple moved away from the Hollywood scene to Burlington, Vermont, and appeared together on occasional TV shows and in a stage tour of "Born Yesterday."
After Paul's sudden death in 1959, Jan's career slowed down, but she refocused on stage and TV, occasionally taking on film roles. She also became involved in humanitarian causes and entered into a long-term relationship with actor Sam Wanamaker in the 1970s.
Jan made a rare appearance at the Cinecon Film Festival in Los Angeles in 2001, still charming audiences at the age of 80. She passed away on March 26, 2004, at the Motion Picture and Television Hospital in Woodland Hills, California, at the age of 82.
