Heroine of the Month: Julie Thayer
The daughter of a ballerina, Jean Carmen began her film career in the early thirties as a bit player for Hal Roach in Midshipman Jack (1933) and Hips, Hips, Hooray! (1934). Carmen was then crowned WAMPAS Baby Star of 1934 ( a now defunct pageant for finding new talent), and was billed as such in Kiss and Make Up (1934) and Young and Beautiful (1934).
Then for some inexplicable reason she was suddenly billed as Julie Thayer for a few years, making Wolves of the Sea (1936) and Gunsmoke Ranch (1937). Her only serial was as Julie Thayer, Republic’s The Painted Stallion (1937), playing a mysterious rider who helps a wagon train targeted by renegades.
Then just as inexplicably she she went back to being billed as Jean Carmen for the rest of the thirties, making mostly westerns like Smoky Trails (1939) and In Old Montana (1939). Carmen then went on to appear in two successful stage productions, Stage Door and The Man Who Came to Dinner, before retiring from acting to get married.
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