Among her many performances, Janis Paige joined Bob Hope in entertaining troops overseas.
NEW YORK — Janis Paige, a popular actor in Hollywood and in Broadway musicals and comedies who danced with Fred Astaire, toured with Bob Hope and continued to perform into her 90s, has died. She was 101.
FILE - Bob Hope and Janis Paige hug during the annual Christmas show in Saigon, Vietnam, Dec. 25, 1964. Her other films included a Hope comedy, “Bachelor in Paradise,” the Doris Day comedy “Please Don’t Eat the Daisies” and “Follow the Boys.” Paige’s big break came in wartime when she sang an operatic aria for servicemen at the Hollywood Canteen. MGM hired her a day later for a brief role in “Bathing Beauty” — she spoke two lines in the film, which starred Esther Williams and Red Skelton — then dropped her.
Meanwhile, she had changed her name from Donna May Tjaden, adopting her grandfather’s name of Paige. She took her first name from Elsie Janis, famed for entertaining troops in World War I. MGM producer Arthur Freed caught her nightclub act at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles and offered her a part opposite Astaire in “Silk Stockings,” also co-starring Cyd Charisse. The film is famous for her and Astaire spoofing the newfangled movie gimmicks in the Cole Porter number “Stereophonic Sound,” including swinging from a chandelier.
Paige grew up in Tacoma, Washington. Her father deserted the family when she was 4, and her mother eked out a living at the Bank of Tacoma.
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Janis Paige, star of Hollywood and Broadway, dies at 101Janis Paige, a popular actor in Hollywood and in Broadway musicals and comedies, has died. She was 101.
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Janis Paige, star of Hollywood and Broadway, dies at 101Janis Paige, a popular actor in Hollywood and in Broadway musicals and comedies who danced with Fred Astaire, toured with Bob Hope and continued to perform into her 80s, has died
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