Actress. A veteran of numerous radio, film, and television productions, she is probably best remembered as Nina, the hunchbacked nurse from the 1945 horror classic "House of Dracula". Born Betty Jean Bierce, she was raised in Los Angeles from around age two and was sufficiently proficient on the violin to be offered a full scholarship to Juilliard. Choosing instead to study acting at the Pasadena Playhouse, she broke into radio, appearing in several "Whistler" episodes of the "Lux Playhouse". With the Harry Conover Modeling Agency, she was given the name Poni Adams and became a familiar face in ads, then when signed by Universal she took "Jane Adams" as her moniker. Jane made her silver screen bow in the 1941 short "So You Want to Give Up Smoking" and had parts in a number of features including "Salome Where She Danced" and "Lady on a Train" (both 1945) before her role in "House of Dracula". Seen in 1946's "Lost City of the Jungle", "The Brute Man", and "Lawless Breed" and as Vicki Vale in the 1949 "Batman and Robin", she gave up the screen when she married Army officer Thomas Turnage. Returning to television while her husband was in Korea, she appeared in "The Adventures of Kit Carson", "Dangerous Assignment", and "The Cisco Kid" before earning her final credit with a 1953 episode of "The Adventures of Superman". Over the next decades she lived the nomadic life of an Army wife while Turnage rose to Major General, then moved to Washington when he was V.A. Secretary under President Reagan. Jane lived out her days in Southern California and died of the effects of advanced age; some sources give her year of birth as 1921.
Actress. A veteran of numerous radio, film, and television productions, she is probably best remembered as Nina, the hunchbacked nurse from the 1945 horror classic "House of Dracula". Born Betty Jean Bierce, she was raised in Los Angeles from around age two and was sufficiently proficient on the violin to be offered a full scholarship to Juilliard. Choosing instead to study acting at the Pasadena Playhouse, she broke into radio, appearing in several "Whistler" episodes of the "Lux Playhouse". With the Harry Conover Modeling Agency, she was given the name Poni Adams and became a familiar face in ads, then when signed by Universal she took "Jane Adams" as her moniker. Jane made her silver screen bow in the 1941 short "So You Want to Give Up Smoking" and had parts in a number of features including "Salome Where She Danced" and "Lady on a Train" (both 1945) before her role in "House of Dracula". Seen in 1946's "Lost City of the Jungle", "The Brute Man", and "Lawless Breed" and as Vicki Vale in the 1949 "Batman and Robin", she gave up the screen when she married Army officer Thomas Turnage. Returning to television while her husband was in Korea, she appeared in "The Adventures of Kit Carson", "Dangerous Assignment", and "The Cisco Kid" before earning her final credit with a 1953 episode of "The Adventures of Superman". Over the next decades she lived the nomadic life of an Army wife while Turnage rose to Major General, then moved to Washington when he was V.A. Secretary under President Reagan. Jane lived out her days in Southern California and died of the effects of advanced age; some sources give her year of birth as 1921.
Bio by: Bob Hufford
Inscription
OUR PRECIOUS
MIMI IN OUR
HEARTS FOREVER
Family Members
Siblings
Advertisement
See more Adams memorials in:
Records on Ancestry
Advertisement
