Jane Adams

Born: 1918-08-07

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.


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Salome, Where She Danced

as Salome Girl
Released: 1945-04-17

During the Austrian-Prussian war, Anna Marie is a dancer who is forced to flee her country after...

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Batman and Robin

as Vicki Vale
Released: 1949-05-26

This 15-chapter serial pits Batman and Robin against The Wizard, who uses a device that allows...

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Lady on a Train

as Circus Club Photographer
Released: 1945-08-03

While watching from her train window, Nikki Collins witnesses a murder in a nearby building....

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He Walked by Night

as Nurse Scanion (uncredited)
Released: 1949-02-06

This film-noir piece, told in semi-documentary style, follows police on the hunt for a...

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House of Dracula

as Nina
Released: 1945-12-07

A scientist working on cures for rare afflictions, such as a bone softening agent made from...

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The Girl from San Lorenzo

as Nora Malloy
Released: 1950-02-24

Cisco and Pancho set out to clear their names in a series of stage robberies committed by two...

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The Brute Man

as Helen Paige
Released: 1946-10-01

A facially disfigured and mentally unhinged man wreaks his revenge on those he blames for his...

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Law of the Panhandle

as Margie Kendal
Released: 1950-09-17

Johnny Mack Brown follows his tried-and-true western formula in Law of the Panhandle. This time,...

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Code of the Lawless

as Julie Randall (as Poni Adams)
Released: 1945-07-01

In this western, the hero fights the bad guys by impersonating the son of a rancher. The outlaws...

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Lost City of the Jungle

as Marjorie Elmore
Released: 1946-04-23

A movie serial in 13 chapters, and Lionel Atwill's final film: Following the end of WWII,...

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Gun Law Justice

as Jane Darnton
Released: 1949-03-13

Jimmy Wakely befriends Hank Carrdigan, a former outlaw who has served his sentence and wants to...

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Smooth as Silk

as Susan Marlowe
Released: 1946-02-01

An attorney enraged over the prosecution of two innocent people goes on a killing spree.

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Secret of Outlaw Flats

as Peggy
Released: 1953-11-15

Two episodes from the "Wild Bill Hickok" TV series edited together and released as a feature.

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Western Renegades

as Judy Gordon
Released: 1949-10-08

Brown's principal antagonist this time is the town boss, an outlaw who has killed the...

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Monster Madness: The Golden Age of the Horror Film

as Self (archive footage)
Released: 2014-08-01

Join foremost experts discussing true Horror Classics - Frankenstein, Dracula, The Black Cat,...

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Trail to Vengeance

as Dorothy Jackson (as Poni Adams)
Released: 1945-06-01

A cowboy investigating his brother's murder finds himself going up against a banker who holds...

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Rustler's Round-up

as Josephine Fremont
Released: 1946-08-01

A cowboy sets out to break up a gang of rustlers.

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Gunman's Code

as Laura Burton
Released: 1946-08-01

Wells Fargo agents Jack Douglas (Kirby Grant) and Bosco O'Toole (Fuzzy Knight) are sent after a...

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Master Minds

as Nancy Marlowe
Released: 1949-11-27

When Sach eats too much sugar, he goes into a trance whereby he's able to predict the future....

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Batmania: From Comics to Screen

as Self / Vicki Vale (archive footage)
Released: 1989-01-01

This is the fully documented story of Batman, his genesis, his development, and his overall...

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Outlaw Gold

as Kathy Martin
Released: 1950-11-26

Johnny Mack Brown dodges bullets while he tries to figure out who stole the Mexican gold and who...

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Lawless Breed

as Marjorie 'Maggie' Bradley
Released: 1946-08-16

Government agents Ted Everett and Tumbleweed are sent to Spearville, Texas, where the law...

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Adventures of Superman

as Babette DuLoque
First aired: 1952-09-19

Announcer: "The Adventures of Superman. Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a...

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