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Jeanne Crain was an American actress. Born in Barstow, California, she moved to Los Angeles as a young child. While still in high school, she was asked to make a screen test opposite Orson Welles. She did not get the part, but at the age of 18, she appeared in a bit part in the movie The Gang's All Here.

In 1943 she starred in Home in Indiana, and in 1944 in In the Meantime, Darling. Her acting was critically panned, but she rebounded in the hit Winged Victory. In 1945 she starred in State Fair, and in 1949 in three films, A Letter to Three Wives, The Fan and Pinky, for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Pinky was a controversial movie, since it told the story of a girl who passes for white in the northern United States. Although Lena Horne and other black actresses were considered for the role, Darryl F. Zanuck chose to cast a white actress for box-office reasons.

Against her mother's wishes, Crain married former RKO Studios contract player Paul Brinkman on December 31, 1946; the first of their 7 children was born the following April. The marriage was rocky for some years. Crain obtained an interlocutory divorce decree, each spouse claiming the other had been unfaithful (she also claims Brinkman has been abusive), but the couple reconciled on the eve of their 11th wedding anniversary, and remained married until her death.

Roles became fewer in the 1950s as Crain went into semi-retirement. Her last role was in Skyjacked in 1972.