Jeanne Crain, 78; was Hollywood star
LOS ANGELES -- Jeanne Crain credited her mother for bringing her up in a household free of prejudice. As a Hollywood star, she won an Oscar nomination for a role that addressed a racial taboo of the day -- a black girl passing for white.
The winsome beauty who specialized in frothy comedies in the 1940s and whose career was capped by her starring role in the controversial Elia Kazan classic "Pinky," died Dec. 14. She was 78.
Ms. Crain died of a heart attack at her Santa Barbara home, according to her son, Paul Brinkman Jr. She appeared in 64 films and many television shows during her long career, playing opposite such stars as Frank Sinatra, Kirk Douglas, and William Holden.
"Pinky" brought Ms. Crain's only Academy Award recognition, a nomination for best actress in 1949. It was a daring film at a time when Hollywood avoided racial controversy, about a girl who passes for white in the North but faces the bitter hatred of whites after returning to her grandmother's home in the Deep South. Lena Horne and other black actresses sought the role, but Fox boss Darryl F. Zanuck decided on a white star with box-office appeal. Ms. Crain became a leading star in the wartime and postwar years.
In 1945, Ms. Crain married Paul Brinkman, an actor who later became a successful businessman. They had seven children. By the 1960s, her Hollywood career had dimmed. She made three films in Europe, then retired.
