Jane Adams
Betty Jane Bierce, better known by her stage name Jane "Poni" Adams was an American actress in radio, film, and television in the 1940s and 1950s. Adams was born in San Antonio, Texas, but her family moved to California when she was two. During her high school years, she studied violin and drama, and she was selected to be a concert mistress of the all-city high school orchestra of Los Angeles. She received a full scholarship to Juilliard, which she turned down to spend years studying at the Pasadena Playhouse. After the Playhouse, she got her start on Lux Radio Theatre, and then with the Harry Conover Modeling Agency, where she was given her nickname "Poni". This was supposedly due to her love of horses, but in reality it was to provide her with a more memorable stage name.(In the book Westerns Women: Interviews with 50 Leading Ladies of Movie and Television Westerns from the 1930s to the 1960s, Adams said: "I was given that name at the Harry Conover Modeling Agency. Why, I don't know!" She returned to using her real name in 1945. Military personnel played a role in her change of names from Poni Adams to Jane Adams. A photograph printed in newspapers in 1946 carried the caption: "GI JANE — Jane Adams — formerly Poni Adams — holds some of 32,851 letters her press agent said came from GIs after she appealed for aid in choosing a new name." Adams' first screen appearance was in So You Want to Give Up Smoking, a short film in 1942. She may be best known for her role as Nina in House of Dracula, but she also has the distinction of acting in early adaptations of both major DC Comics franchises: Batman, where she played Vicki Vale in the second Batman serial, Batman and Robin, and also a character in the first Superman television series. On May 21, 2014, Adams died in Bellingham, Washington, at the age of 95. She was buried (as Betty J. Turnage) beside her husband in Arlington National Cemetery.
House of Dracula
as NinaA scientist working on cures for rare afflictions, such as a bone softening agent made from...
Movie pageHe Walked by Night
as Nurse Scanion (uncredited)Roy Morgan aka Roy Morgan (Richard Basehart) is a burglar and former war-time Radio &...
Movie pageLady on a Train
as Circus Club PhotographerWhile watching from her train window, Nikki Collins witnesses a murder in a nearby building....
Movie pageBatman and Robin
as Vicki ValeThis 15-chapter serial pits Batman and Robin against The Wizard, who uses a device that allows...
Movie pageSalome, Where She Danced
as Salome GirlDuring the Austrian-Prussian war, Anna Marie is a dancer who is forced to flee her country after...
Movie pageWestern Renegades
as Judy GordonBrown's principal antagonist this time is the town boss, an outlaw who has killed the...
Movie pageMonster Madness: The Golden Age of the Horror Film
as Self (archive footage)Join foremost experts discussing true Horror Classics - Frankenstein, Dracula, The Black Cat,...
Movie pageThe Brute Man
as Helen PaigeA facially disfigured and mentally unhinged man wreaks his revenge on those he blames for his...
Movie pageNight in Paradise
as LotusAesop of fable fame poses as an old man and woos away a princess who wants a king for his gold.
Movie pageMaster Minds
as Nancy MarloweWhen Sach eats too much sugar, he goes into a trance whereby he's able to predict the future....
Movie pageLost City of the Jungle
as Marjorie ElmoreA movie serial in 13 chapters, and Lionel Atwill's final film: Following the end of WWII,...
Movie pageThe Girl from San Lorenzo
as Nora MalloyCisco and Pancho set out to clear their names in a series of stage robberies committed by two...
Movie pageLawless Breed
as Marjorie 'Maggie' BradleyGovernment agents Ted Everett and Tumbleweed are sent to Spearville, Texas, where the law...
Movie pageLaw of the Panhandle
as Margie KendalJohnny Mack Brown follows his tried-and-true western formula in Law of the Panhandle. This time,...
Movie pageSecret of Outlaw Flats
as PeggyTwo episodes from the "Wild Bill Hickok" TV series edited together and released as a feature.
Movie pageSmooth as Silk
as Susan MarloweAn attorney enraged over the prosecution of two innocent people goes on a killing spree.
Movie pageRustler's Round-up
as Josephine FremontA cowboy sets out to break up a gang of rustlers.
Movie pageCode of the Lawless
as Julie Randall (as Poni Adams)In this western, the hero fights the bad guys by impersonating the son of a rancher. The outlaws...
Movie pageGunman's Code
as Laura BurtonWells Fargo agents Jack Douglas (Kirby Grant) and Bosco O'Toole (Fuzzy Knight) are sent after a...
Movie pageBatmania: From Comics to Screen
as Self / Vicki Vale (archive footage)This is the fully documented story of Batman—his genesis, his development, and his overall...
Movie pageOutlaw Gold
as Kathy MartinJohnny Mack Brown dodges bullets while he tries to figure out who stole the Mexican gold and who...
Movie pageGun Law Justice
as Jane DarntonJimmy Wakely befriends Hank Carrdigan, a former outlaw who has served his sentence and wants to...
Movie pageTrail to Vengeance
as Dorothy Jackson (as Poni Adams)A cowboy investigating his brother's murder finds himself going up against a banker who holds...
Movie pageAdventures of Superman
as Babette DuLoqueAnnouncer: "The Adventures of Superman. Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a...
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