Jane Withers

JANE WITHERS d2021. American actress best known for being one of the most popular child film stars of the 1930s and early 1940s, as well as for her portrayal of "Josephine the Plumber" in a series of TV commercials for Comet Cleanser in the 1960s and early 1970s. Her big break came when she landed a supporting role in the 1934 Shirley Temple film Bright Eyes. Her character Joy Smythe was spoiled and obnoxious, a perfect foil to Temple's sweet personality. Through the remainder of the 1930s she starred in several movies every year. She kept working in the 1940s, making made 16 films for Fox, but in 1947 retired for several years from acting after marrying a wealthy Texas oil man. In 1955 she earned a supporting role in the film classic "Giant" and developed a friendship with James Dean. In the DVD special features, she tells the story that Dean had a favorite pink cowboy shirt he wore all the time. He never let it go the laundry for fear it would be lost like the other shirts he had. She convinced him to let her wash it for him. She did this often and when he left to go to the race, he gave her his shirt to wash and have ready for him when he came back. James Dean died that day in the fateful fatal car wreck in California. She still keeps his shirt and the fond memories of him. By the mid-1960s, she gained fame again as "Josephine the Plumber" a character in a long-running and popular series of TV commercials for Comet cleanser. This veteran TV-ad pitchwoman's beloved character lasted into the 1980s