Biography for
Janice Rule More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

15 August 1931, Norwood, Ohio, USA

Date of Death

17 October 2003, New York City, New York, USA (cerebral hemorrhage)

Birth Name

Mary Janice Rule

Height

5' 6" (1.68 m)

Mini Biography

One of the most versatile actresses, Janice Rule was born in Norwood, Ohio, on August 15, 1931. Janice made her screen debut in the star-studded movie Goodbye, My Fancy (1951). She played the rival for James Stewart's affections, and was driven away by witch Kim Novak, in Bell Book and Candle (1958), a pre-"Bewitched" (1964) comedy. Janice appeared in the first season of the ground-breaking science fiction series "The Twilight Zone" (1959) playing "Helen Foley" (named after Rod Serling's favorite teacher). In 1961, Janice married Ben Gazzara and they had one daughter, Elizabeth Gazzara (they divorced in 1979). After marrying, Janice took off a few years from movie acting, then returned to the silver screen and gave her best performances. In a change of pace role, she was the party girl in The Chase (1966); and Janice showed a real flair for comedy as "Matt Helm"'s partner in The Ambushers (1967) with Dean Martin. She did a wonderful job realistically portraying a frontier woman in Welcome to Hard Times (1967), and received acclaim for her performance as a disturbed artist in 3 Women (1977). The last movie Janice appeared in was American Flyers (1985), and her last TV appearance was in the science fiction genre, "The Ray Bradbury Theater" (1985) in 1992. From science fiction, to comedy, to portraying loose women, to playing strong women - Janice Rule covered the whole spectrum of human emotion and life.

IMDb Mini Biography By: kdhaisch@aol.com

Spouse

Ben Gazzara	(25 November 1961 - 28 January 1982) (divorced) 1 child
Robert Thom	(1960 - 1961) (divorced) 1 child
N. Richard Nash	(1956 - 1956) (divorced)

Trivia

Born at 5:15am-EDT

Starred in the original Broadway production of "Picnic".

Became a successful psychotherapist in Manhattan after giving up acting.

Once briefly engaged to actor Farley Granger.

She turned down the lead femme role opposite Marlon Brando in the film On the Waterfront (1954) because she preferred the dramatic stage to the Hollywood studio system where she was unhappily being promoted as a sex symbol. At the time she was earning acclaim in "Picnic" on Broadway. Eva Marie Saint was assigned the movie role and subsequently won an Oscar. Janice eventually lost her Warner Bros. contract due to this "misbehavior".

Started off her career as a nightclub dancer at the age of 15, joining the chorus line at Chicago's Chez Paree. She made her Broadway debut three years later as a chorine in the musical "Miss Liberty."

Lost a studio contract because she was careless about the way she dressed. At the time, actresses under contract were expected to appear in public only after the studio wardrobe and makeup artists had outfitted them as if they were appearing in a movie.

Studied psychoanalysis and earned a doctorate in 1983 from the Southern California Psychoanalytic Institute. She had a private practice in New York City.

Mother of Elizabeth Gazzara.

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