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Jan Miner

Jan Miner

Janice Miner (October 15, 1917 – February 15, 2004) was an American actress best known as the character Madge the manicurist in Palmolive dish-washing detergent television commercials from the 1960s to the 1990s. Janice Miner was the daughter of a dentist and a painter, and had three brothers, Sheldon, Donald and Lyndsey. She studied at the Vesper George School of Art in her native Boston, then studied acting under Lee Strasberg and others. She made her stage debut in 1945 in a Boston production of Elmer Rice's Street Scene. Miner then became established on radio, and worked through the 1950s in several series simultaneously. Among other roles, she was one of three actresses who played secretary Della Street on Perry Mason and one of five to play girlfriend Ann Williams on Casey, Crime Photographer. She also appeared as Mary Wesley on Boston Blackie. Miner played featured roles in the anthology series Radio City Playhouse, in "Soundless", "Portrait of Lenore" and other episodes. Her appearance in the premiere broadcast of the series "created a minor sensation in the play Long Distance"; the episode proved so popular that she repeated her performance later in the season. From circa 1948 through some time before the series ended in 1957, Miner starred as Julie Erickson, head of the titular orphanage in the soap opera Hilltop House, during most of the show's revival beginning in 1948. The series was sponsored by the Colgate-Palmolive Company, for which she later appeared in a famous, long-running series of television commercials.

Personal information

Birthday

1917-10-15

Birth Place

Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Movies and TV shows :

poster

Cagney & Lacey

1982

6.9

TV
poster

Crime Photographer

1951

0.0

TV
Endless Love

Endless Love

1981

5.7

Movie
F.D.R.: The Last Year

F.D.R.: The Last Year

1980

7.5

Movie
Gertrude Stein and a Companion!

Gertrude Stein and a Companion!

1987

0.0

Movie
poster

Great Performances

1971

5.2

TV
poster

Law & Order

1990

7.4

TV
Lenny

Lenny

1974

7.2

Movie
poster

Lights Out

1949

5.3

TV
Mermaids

Mermaids

1990

6.7

Movie
poster

Naked City

1958

5.3

TV
poster

One Step Beyond

1959

5.6

TV
Out of Our Fathers' House

Out of Our Fathers' House

1978

0.0

Movie
poster

Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers

1974

5.0

TV
poster

Robert Montgomery Presents

1950

5.2

TV
poster

Schlitz Playhouse of Stars

1951

7.0

TV
Stood Up!

Stood Up!

1990

0.0

Movie
poster

Studio One

1948

4.7

TV
The Swimmer

The Swimmer

1968

7.4

Movie
Used Innocence

Used Innocence

1989

5.8

Movie
Willie and Phil

Willie and Phil

1980

4.4

Movie