Wayne, Jane Ellen 1936–

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WAYNE, Jane Ellen 1936–

PERSONAL: Born April 6, 1936, in Philadelphia, PA; daughter of Jesse Allen and Eleanor Mae (Brundle) Stump; married Ronald Wayne, May 26, 1957 (divorced, May 26, 1967); children: Elizabeth Jo. Education: Attended Grove City College, 1955–57, American Academy of Dramatic Arts, 1957, and New York University, 1957. Politics: Republican. Religion: Protestant. Hobbies and other interests: Travel; Wayne has been all over the world, and found Egypt "the most fascinating."

ADDRESSES: Home—17-85 215 St., Apt. 14M, Bayside, NY 11360. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Carroll and Graf Publishers, Inc., 161 William St., New York, NY 10038.

CAREER: National Broadcasting Company, Inc. (NBC), New York, NY, member of promotional staff, 1957–65; New York World's Fair, Prestige Club, New York, manager, 1965–66; Abbott & Abbott Corp. (wood manufacturers), Long Island City, NY, vice president, 1974–. Freelance writer. Creator of beauty and poise private classes for businesswomen, 1963–66.

MEMBER: Sigma Delta Phi.

WRITINGS:

The Life of Robert Taylor, Warner Paperback (New York, NY), 1973.

Kings of Tragedy, Manor, 1976.

Stanwyck, Arbor House (New York, NY), 1985.

Robert Taylor, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1987.

Gable's Women, Prentice Hall (New York, NY), 1987.

Cooper's Women, Prentice Hall (New York, NY) 1988.

Crawford's Men, Prentice Hall (New York, NY) 1988.

Ava's Men: The Private Life of Ava Gardner, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1990.

Grace Kelly's Men, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1991.

Marilyn's Men: The Private Life of Marilyn Monroe, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1992.

Clark Gable: Portrait of a Misfit, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1993.

Lana: The Life and Loves of Lana Turner, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1995.

The Golden Girls of MGM: Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, Lana Turner, Judy Garland, Ava Gardner, Grace Kelly, and Others, Robson (London, England), 2002, Carroll and Graf (New York, NY), 2003.

The Golden Guys of MGM, Robson (London, England), 2004, published as The Leading Men of MGM, Carroll and Graf (New York, NY), 2005.

Also author of Tiffany Belle, Lividia, and The Love Gap, all 1978.

SIDELIGHTS: Jane Ellen Wayne is the author of many biographies of Hollywood celebrities. Her Marilyn's Men: The Private Life of Marilyn Monroe was called "the most titillating Marilyn Monroe biography to date" by a Publishers Weekly contributor, who added that much of the book consists of "unsubstantiated gossip." Similarly, a Publishers Weekly writer commented that in Clark Gable: Portrait of a Misfit, Wayne used unsubstantiated facts that are "apparently intended to refute Joan Crawford and other interviewees who praise the actor's professionalism and remember him with devotion." Library Journal contributor Gordon Blackwell acknowledged that Gable was a womanizer who drank to excess and commented that Wayne offers up a little-known period in his life during which he tried to make it in the theater.

Booklist reviewer Mike Tribby noted that in Lana: The Life and Loves of Lana Turner, Wayne not only provides the details of the murder of Turner's boyfriend, the reputed mobster Johnny Stompanato, by her daughter, Cheryl Crane, but also "affords quite a look at the life of one of the last studio-created American movie stars."

Wayne's The Golden Girls of MGM: Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, Lana Turner, Judy Garland, Ava Gardner, Grace Kelly, and Others contains fifteen chapters about fifteen stars, many of whom have had their own Wayne-authored biographies. Those who are unique to this volume include Jeanette McDonald, Judy Garland, Elizabeth Taylor, and Norma Shearer. "The love affairs, divorces, abortions, fights, and drug and alcohol binges are all relived, and the author obviously has favorites," wrote Michelle Kaske in Booklist, who called the chapters on Garbo and Crawford positive, as well as honest, but noted that Wayne criticizes Garland for being selfish. Wayne writes of McDonald's torrid affair with costar Nelson Eddy and the substance abuse of both Judy Garland and Elizabeth Taylor. She provides little known information including the fact that Katharine Hepburn took up to eight showers a day.

The two men who figure prominently in the book are Louis B. Mayer and Irving Thalberg, the two men who developed Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer into the powerful studio it became. Wayne says that many of the stars had been abused, abandoned or treated badly by their own fathers, and many had mothers who exploited them for profit. Consequently, female movie stars were often looking for a father figure. Wayne writes that these include Turner, Gardner, Kelly, Taylor, and Crawford. Library Journal reviewer Rosellen Brewer felt that for younger movie buffs who are unaware of these stars, "this fun, gossipy book makes a good (if sensational) entrée to their careers and milieus."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, March 1, 1995, Mike Tribby, review of Lana: The Life and Loves of Lana Turner, p. 1173; December 15, 2002, Michelle Kaske, review of The Golden Girls of MGM: Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, Lana Turner, Judy Garland, Ava Gardner, Grace Kelly, and Others, p. 719; March 1, 2005, Mike Tribby, review of The Leading Men of MGM, p. 1128.

Kirkus Reviews, November 15, 2002, review of The Golden Girls of MGM, p. 1684; January 1, 2005, review of The Leading Men of MGM, p. 45.

Library Journal, August, 1997, Gordon Blackwell, review of Clark Gable: Portrait of a Misfit, p. 155; December, 2002, Rosellen Brewer, review of The Golden Girls of MGM, p. 132; January 1, 2005, Rosellen Brewer, review of The Leading Men of MGM, p. 116.

Publishers Weekly, June 8, 1992, review of Marilyn's Men: The Private Life of Marilyn Monroe, p. 47; May 10, 1993, review of Clark Gable, p. 63.