Jean Howard

Who was Jean Howard?

Jean Howard was an American actress and photographer.

A former Ziegfeld girl and a Goldwyn Girl, Howard studied photography at the Los Angeles Art Center. Howard appeared on Broadway in three productions: ‘The Age of Innocence’ with Franchot Tone, ‘Ziegfeld Follies of 1931’ with Iris Adrian, Gladys Glad, Grace Moore and Harry Richman, and ‘Evensong.’

She often used her camera capturing moments from Hollywood during the 1940s 50's. She photographed parties, gatherings, sports tournaments, etc., shooting everyone from Tyrone Power, Gene Tierney, Richard Burton to Cole Porter, Judy Garland, Grace Kelly, Hedy Lamarr, Jennifer Jones and Laurence Olivier and wife Vivien Leigh. In 1989, a book of her photography was published, ‘Jean Howard's Hollywood,’ a tribute to the golden days of Hollywood. Divorced from Hollywood talent agent Charles K. Feldman in 1948, the couple continued to live together until his death in 1968. Inheriting a fortune in jewels from Linda and Cole Porter, Jean lived on the island of Capri where she married Tony Santoro, an Italian musician. Howard appeared in nine films. She is interred in the Abbey of the Psalms Mausoleum in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Hollywood, CA.