Jane Greer (September 9, 1924 – August 24, 2001) was a film actress who is perhaps best known for her role as femme fatale Kathie Moffat in OUT OF THE PAST 1947.
The five-foot five Greer began life as Bettejane Greer in Washington, D.C. A beauty-contest winner and professional model from her teens, Greer began her show business career as a big band singer. Howard Hughes spotted Greer modeling on the cover of Life magazine on June 8, 1942 and sent her to Hollywood to become an actress. She married Rudy Vallee in 1943, her senior by 22 years, but they divorced the following year. She remarried in 1947, to Edward Lasker, a Los Angeles lawyer and businessman with whom she had three children.
Hughes lent out the actress to RKO to star in many films including DICK TRACY 1945, THE FALCON'S ALIBI 1946, OUT OF THE PAST 1947, THEY WON'T BELIEVE ME 1947, and the comedy/suspense film THE BIG STEAL 1949, alongside OUT OF THE PAST co-star Robert Mitchum. Hughes refused to let her work for a time; when she finally began film acting again, she appeared in YOU'RE IN THE NAVY NOW 1951, THE PRISONER OF ZENDA 1952, THE CLOWN 1953, RUN FOR THE SUN 1956, MAN OF A THOUSAND FACES 1957, WHERE LOVE HAS GONE 1964 and THE OUTFIL 1973. In 1984 she was cast in AGAINST ALL ODDS, a remake of OUT OF THE PAST, playing Rachel Ward's mother. She also participated in an OUT OF THE PAST parody on TV's SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE with her original costar Robert Mitchum.
Greer died of cancer at the age of 76 in 2001 and was interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.
