Broadway legend Jane Morgan passed away in hospice care on August 4, following an incredibly prolific career in the spotlight.
The 101-year-old’s family announced the sad news in a statement, sharing: “Our beloved Jane passed away peacefully in her sleep.”
Rising to the top
© Portland Press Herald via GettyJane rose to fame in France and the UK in the 1940s and ’50s before making it big in the US with her smash-hit track “Fascination”. The 1957 song was used in the Audrey Hepburn film Love in the Afternoon, bringing even more attention to Jane’s soaring vocal ability.
She earned another Top 40 hit a year later with “The Day the Rains Came”, which she performed in both English and French. Jane could speak and sing in five languages, making her an incredible talent that Hollywood embraced.
She had attended Juilliard as a young woman and paid her tuition fees by performing in New York nightclubs.
An incredible legacy
© Disney General Entertainment ConJane then pivoted to set her sights on Broadway, and went on to star in countless productions like Mame, Kiss Me Kate, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, The King and I, and Ziegfeld Follies.
“Being on Broadway was one of the most exciting things in my life because I had always dreamed of it,” she shared in an interview.
During her career, Jane sang for a slew of important figures, including President Charles de Gaulle of France, and US presidents John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and George W. Bush.
© Kevin WinterShe also appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show 50 times, making her one of the show’s most frequent performers.
The singer performed twice at the Oscars; once in 1961 with “The Second Time Around”, a tune from High Time, and the second time with “I Will Wait for You (Je ne Pourrai Jamais Vivre sans Toi)” from The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, alongside Michel Legrand.
Close connection
© Ron Galella Collection via GettyJane married famed Hollywood agent and producer Jerry Weintraub in 1965, and the pair adopted their daughters Julie, Jamie and Jody.
Jerry had served as a talent agent to stars like Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Dolly Parton, the Beach Boys, Bob Dylan and John Denver.
The “Fascination” singer was also a proud stepmother to Jerry’s son Michael, whom he had welcomed with his first wife, Janice Greenberg.
© Getty ImagesTogether, Jane and Jerry became grandparents of six, and great-grandparents of eight. The vocalist also worked with her husband on set and became a production assistant on his 2001 remake of Ocean’s Eleven with George Clooney. Despite this, they had been separated since the ’80s, yet never divorced each other.
She retired from the music industry and began to make fewer appearances apart from the occasional awards ceremony, or for her Hollywood Walk of Fame moment in 2011, where she delighted the audience with a rendition of “Fascination” in lieu of a speech.
Jerry was there to pay tribute to his wife, as were their children. The producer passed away in 2015 due to cardiac arrest.
