Jean Hagen

The Hollywood Golden Age musical "Singin' in the Rain" is consistently voted by critics as one of the top American movies of all time, with good reason. Featuring Jean Hagen as a silent-film star trying to make the transition to talkies, the 1952 MGM production is perfect in every way, and certainly ranks as the most famous credit on her resume. But Hagen did manage to grace a number of other instantly recognizable movie titles during her 30-year run. She started out in the 1949 Tracy-Hepburn comedy "Adam's Rib," segued to John Huston's 1950 noir "The Asphalt Jungle," and worked alongside the Oscar-nominated Greer Garson in the FDR drama "Sunrise at Campobello." Hagen made a nice transition to TV with the long-running role of Margaret Williams on "The Danny Thomas Show," appearing in 89 episodes from 1953 to 1956. She did a little bit more TV work here and there before retiring in 1964, re-appearing briefly in the mid-'70s for episodes of "Starsky & Hutch" and "The Streets of San Francisco."