Eilene Janssen

Mary Eilene Janssen (born May 25, 1938), is a retired American film and television actress.

Eilene Janssen
Eilene Janssen in Perry Mason 1962
Born	May 25, 1938 Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation	Film actress
Years active	1940-1968
Spouse(s)	Harry Ronald Rothschild ​ ​ (m. 1957; div. 1962)​ Thomas Alexander Orchard ​ ​ (m. 1963; div. 1966)​ George Ellis Moore ​ ​ (m. 1968; died 2000)​
Children	5

Early life

Eilene Janssen was born in Los Angeles, California on May 25, 1938, to Henry Janssen and Mary Ellen Thompson.[1]

Film career

She began her film career as a child actress in the early 1940s. With her father being a longtime worker for Universal Studios, Eilene Janssen made her first screen appearance in the 1940 film Sandy Gets Her Man. She continued to have bit parts in several movies such as Two Girls and a Sailor and It Happened Tomorrow. In 1944, she was awarded the title "Little Miss America".[2]

As she grew older, she gained more prominent roles such as Elise in Song of Love and Peggy in The Boy with Green Hair. As a young adult she had a good role as the female lead in the 1957 Western film Escape from Red Rock.

Apart from films, Eilene Janssen also acted in television series like The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, Father Knows Best, Mister Ed, The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, Tales of Wells Fargo, Make Room for Daddy, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, The Beverly Hillbillies and Perry Mason.

She retired from acting in 1968. As of 2004, she is residing in Pasadena, California.

Personal life

Janssen married Harry Ronald Rothschild on November 29, 1957. They had two children together before they divorced in 1962. She then married Thomas Alexander Orchard, in 1963. They had one child together before their 1966 divorce. Janssen married George Ellis Moore in 1968. They had two children together before he died in 2000.[3]

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1940	Sandy Gets Her Man	Child	Uncredited
1943	Where Are Your Children?	Child in day care nursery	Uncredited
1944	It Happened Tomorrow	Sylvia	Uncredited
	Two Girls and a Sailor	Patsy, age 4	Uncredited
	Since You Went Away	Sergeant's child	Uncredited
	The Seventh Cross	Girl in Orchard	Uncredited
	Till We Meet Again	Yvonne	Uncredited
	Army Wives	Young girl	Uncredited
1945	Man Alive	Angel	Uncredited
1946	The Green Years	Alison Keith as a child
	Rendezvous 24	Anchaka Schmidt
	Renegades	Janina Jackorski	Uncredited
1947	The Millerson Case	Myra Minnich	Uncredited
	Curley	Betty
	The Hal Roach Comedy Carnival	Betty
	Driftwood	Girl	Uncredited
	Song of Love	Elise Schumann
	Beyond Our Own	Shirley Rogers	Uncredited
1948	On Our Merry Way	Peggy Thorndyke
	The Bride Goes Wild	Mary	Uncredited
	Who Killed Doc Robbin	Betty
	Borrowed Trouble	Child
	The Boy With Green Hair	Peggy
	Words and Music	Linda, age 8	Uncredited
1951	Buckaroo Sheriff of Texas	Judy Dawson
	The Dakota Kid
	Arizona Manhunt
1952	Wild Horse Ambush
	Sally and Saint Anne	Young Jeanne	Uncredited
1954	About Mrs. Leslie	Pixie Croffman
1956	The Search for Bridey Murphy	Bridey Murphy at age 15
1957	Beginning of the End	Teenager in car
	Escape from Red Rock	Janie Acker
1958	The Space Children	Phyllis Manley
1963	Black Zoo	Bride
1968	Panic in the City	Information clerk	(final film role)

References

1. Growing Up on the Set: Interviews with 39 Former Child Actors of Classic Film and Television
2. "Interview with Eilene Janssen". Western Clippings. Retrieved 17 November 2013.
3. Magers, Boyd; Fitzgerald, Michael G. (July 2004). Westerns Women: Interviews with 50 Leading Ladies of Movie and Television Westerns from the 1930s to the 1960s. ISBN 9780786420285.

Bibliography

• Goldrup, Tom and Jim (2002). Growing Up on the Set: Interviews with 39 Former Child Actors of Film and Television. McFarland & Co. pp. 153–160. ISBN 1476613702.

External links

• Eilene Janssen at IMDb