Shirley Deane

Shirley Deane (born Shirley Deane Blattenberger; March 16, 1913 – April 26, 1983) was an American film actress.

Early years
Born in Fresno, California, to Jesse H. Blattenberger and his wife Zola (née Redden), she was raised by her maternal grandmother.

Career
Deane was best known as an actress for playing "Bonnie Jones" in 20th Century Fox's Jones Family series of films. She was under contract with 20th Century Fox, and she acted in Prairie Moon (1936), the Flash Gordon serial, and some of the Charlie Chan films. She was the original choice for the title role in the Blondie film series, a role that went to Penny Singleton after Deane was considered to be "too harsh when she nagged Dagwood", while Singleton came across as softer and sweeter.

Deane also toured in revues, singing "some stirring patriotic and soft sentimental numbers". She was the headline attraction in Star Dust Revue, a stage show that toured the southern United States in 1942, and she performed in U. S. military camps.

Personal life and death
On December 20, 1941, Dean married theatrical agent Thomas Kettering Jr. in Reno, Nevada. Deane left the film business in the 1940s, when she began her family. She died of cancer in Glendale Memorial Hospital in Glendale, California, on April 26, 1983, aged 70.