Jane Marken's Real Name: Jeanne Berthe Adolphine Crabbe

Quick answer: Jane Marken's real name was Jeanne Berthe Adolphine Crabbe. She was born on January 13, 1895, in Paris, France, and worked under the stage name Jane Marken (sometimes credited Jeanne Marken).

Birth name and training

Jeanne Berthe Adolphine Crabbe was born in Paris's 10th arrondissement. She entered the Conservatoire de musique et de déclamation and graduated in 1915 with a first prize in comedy, then joined the Théâtre de l'Odéon as a pensionnaire playing ingénue roles such as Suzanne in Beaumarchais's Le Mariage de Figaro (French Wikipedia / civil records cited in secondary bios; IMDb biography; Library of Congress name authority).

The stage name Jane Marken (and Jeanne Marken) is the name under which she appeared in French cinema and theatre for decades; Library of Congress authorities list her as Marken, Jane, 1895–1976.

Film career highlights

Marken began films under Abel Gance in 1915. She became a familiar supporting presence for major directors: Marcel Carné (Hôtel du Nord, 1938, as Louise Lecouvreur the hotelier; Les Enfants du paradis / Children of Paradise, 1945, as Madame Hermine; Les Portes de la nuit, 1946), Jean Renoir (Partie de campagne / A Day in the Country, 1936), Yves Allégret (Une si jolie petite plage, 1949; Manèges, 1950, opposite Simone Signoret), and Roger Vadim (Et Dieu… créa la femme / And God Created Woman, 1956) (English Wikipedia summary of credits; IMDb).

She often played formidable mothers, landladies, or worldly older women—comic or menacing—rather than romantic leads later in life. Stage work continued alongside film, including productions such as Arsenic and Old Lace and Tennessee Williams plays in Paris theatres (Les Archives du spectacle).

Personal life and death

She was linked for years with actor Jules Berry, whom she later left; on April 25, 1934, she married André Marie Désiré Berthellemy in Paris (IMDb; French biographical summaries). Her final screen appearance was in Édouard Luntz's L'Humeur vagabonde (early 1970s).

Jane Marken died of a heart attack on December 1, 1976, at the Hôtel-Dieu in Paris, aged 81 (IMDb; LOC dates).

Children of Paradise (Les Enfants du paradis) Criterion or Blu-ray/DVD Hôtel du Nord DVD/Blu-ray book on Marcel Carné or French poetic realism cinema