After Singin’ in the Rain, Jean Hagen was so close to superstardom that she could almost touch it. Instead, she tumbled into addiction, divorce, obscurity, and disease.
1. She Almost Had It All
There are downfalls, and then there's the tragedy of Jean Hagen. She clawed her way to the top–only to realize Hollywood just wasn't that into her. Just as soon as the industry created its next star, it tossed her aside. Her peak was legendary but momentary. Hagen's questionable choices didn’t help. Showbiz is many things, but it’s never fair.
2. She Had Modest Beginnings
Jean Hagen came far from Hollywood, but she had what it took to get there. She was born in 1923 to a Dutch immigrant engineer and an American housewife. They weren’t wealthy, but still gave their five kids the happiest childhood in Indiana. Young Jean spent her days creating and performing plays in their basement. But child’s play turned into something more.
3. She Followed Her Dreams
After high school plays, Hagen hit a dead end in her hometown. Because of this, her sister encouraged her to take her big dreams out of their small town. She listened. Hagen studied drama at Northwestern and grabbed every opportunity. But once again, her talents and dreams outgrew her circumstances. She had no choice but to take an even bigger leap of faith.
4. She Was Too Honest
In the Big Apple, Jean struggled to make her big dreams a reality. To stay afloat, she took on odd jobs, such as working as a Broadway usher. On one unforgettable occasion, she was asked about her thoughts on one of the productions. Without a second thought, Jean roasted it to ashes: "It stinks!"
Turns out that the man making the inquiry was none other than Ben Hecht—one of the writers. Oops.
5. She Made a Big Impression
Hecht's reaction shocked Hagen: He didn’t fire her or even argue with her. He offered her another job. This time, it was on stage. Hagen wasn’t a nepo baby with wealth or connections, but her sharp tongue gave her some standout edge. Things were looking up—but sadly, before she could even step on stage, misfortune struck.
6. She Had Horrible Timing
Jean Hagen didn’t just catch a minor Broadway role, she also caught a major case of appendicitis. The 24-year-old worried that she’d leave the hospital with no appendix and no job. But the production honored their offer. It was a long time coming when Hagen made her official stage debut. It wasn’t a big role, but it was all she needed.
7. She Became A Broadway Star
Once Hagen started, she didn’t stop. Her first Broadway role led to her second, third, and fourth. It didn’t take long for people to notice her talent—but they fell short of giving her lead roles. She continued to stand out on Broadway, even with just minor and supporting gigs. During this time, Hagen landed her two biggest roles yet: wife and mother.
8. She Got Married
New York City was the city that kept on giving. Tom Seidel wasn’t just an actor who was six years Hagen's senior. He was her future husband. In 1947, the 24-year-old and 30-year-old tied the knot. It looked like happily ever after for the driven and strong-willed performers. Then, Hagen’s career took off, leaving her beau's in the dust.
9. She Was Ambitious
When 27-year-old Hagen finally nabbed a leading role, she became a fully fledged Broadway star. But once again, the budding actress wasn’t content. Her ambitions had become too big for even the Big Apple. It was time to conquer the big screens.
Hagen and Seidel’s son later confessed, “When they came to California from New York, they knew exactly what they wanted. In retrospect, it reminds me of the old saying, "Watch out what you wish for”.
10. She Overshadowed Her Husband
Jean Hagen was a rising star in Broadway and Hollywood…but her husband? Not so much. Aside from a supporting role in Gone With the Wind, Tom Seidel only nabbed small or uncredited roles in low budget B-films. He’d eventually quit acting to become an agent. Of course, his roster included Jean Hagen. But they say not to mix your work and personal life for a reason.
11. She Made It To Hollywood
Jean Hagen found herself the new girl in town and had to climb her way to the top for the second time. In 1949, she debuted in Adam’s Rib. Spencer Tracey and Katharine Hepburn, established stars, starred in the film. Meanwhile, Hagen found herself in another supporting role. Her part may have been small, but it was significant. Once again, that was all she needed.
12. She Recognized Talent
Legends recognize legends. A year later, Hagen received a role in The Asphalt Jungle and a chance to sit in on auditions. Just minutes into an unknown actress’ audition, she and director John Huston turned to each other. “Her?” asked Huston. “Yep," Hagen replied. The Asphalt Jungle was one of Jean Hagen's and Marilyn Monroe's earliest Hollywood films.
13. She Became A Hollywood Star
The Asphalt Jungle changed everything. Hagen's star had never been higher. She earned a lot of attention and praise. She deserved every bit of it. But was it enough? Unsurprisingly, Hagen's casting call came back to bite her. After the release, a shadow loomed over Jean’s success—a blonde, curvaceous, and Marilyn Monroe-sized specter.
14. She Was Underrated
Hollywood is many things, but a meritocracy isn’t one of them. Hagen was the more experienced and established actress, yet Monroe received most of the publicity. This was despite Hagen's arguably superior performance. Many people, including Jean, knew exactly why. It was largely thanks to a depressing—but predictable—reason.
15. She Looked Different
Pretty privilege is real—and Jean Hagen learned the hard way. Conventionally beautiful actresses were a dime-a-dozen in Hollywood, but Hagen wasn’t one of them. She was described as “...an experienced actress with an offbeat beauty and an intriguing off-center smile, not the typical run of starlet the studios usually presented”.
It didn’t help that Hagen developed the habit of showing up to work in shabby clothes and jeans. She had big feelings about this injustice.
16. She Was Bitter
It already stung enough that Marilyn Monroe magnetized every eye in the room. To add salt to the wound, some people even forgot who Jean Hagen played in the movie altogether. The success of her breakthrough role was tainted by these slights. Hagen couldn’t resist retorting, “there were only two girl roles, and I obviously wasn’t Marilyn Monroe”.
17. She Nailed It
Hagen didn’t have the conventional looks of mainstream actresses, but she had more than enough acting and singing chops to make up for it. She nailed her Singin’ in the Rain audition. It earned her another supporting, but significant movie role. At the time, Hagen had no idea what it would lead to. Singin’ in the Rain ultimately defined not only her career, but Hollywood as a whole.
18. She Was Unrecognizable
Jean Hagen was a woman people loved to hate. Well, her character was. Lina Lamont wasn’t just a silent film star struggling to adapt to talkies. Her character in Singin' in the Rain is vain, selfish, and talentless. Ironically, Hagen's most iconic role is her polar opposite. But this only highlighted the actress's mastery of her comedic timing and voice. Critics noticed.
19. She Peaked
Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor, and Debbie Reynolds may have been the leading stars, but Jean Hagen held her own. At the time, Singin’ in the Rain was a decent commercial and critical success. Hagen in particular earned rave reviews. The film industry put their money where their mouths were: She received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. But she lost to Gloria Grahame.
Little did she know, she’d already peaked.
20. She Was Too Good
Turns out, Jean might’ve been too good at her job. Lina Lamont was, by far, her most iconic role—but she failed to become a household name. Some think it’s because Hagen played the idiotic and talentless starlet too convincingly. As a result, most moviegoers who saw Singin’ in the Rain failed to recognize her as the Jean Hagen they saw in future movies. It gets worse.
21. She Was Sidelined
You couldn’t manufacture or buy the hype that Singin’ in the Rain provided Jean Hagen; MGM should’ve pounced on it. Instead, the studio didn’t even bother promoting Hagen or giving her decent roles. Her multi-year contract led to nothing but forgettable and minor roles. What a waste of her talents. It’d be a classic case of studio mismanagement—except it was more sinister.
22. She Was Punished
Jean Hagen was trapped with nowhere to go. She was stuck in a long contract with a nightmare boss. MGM head Louis B Mayer didn’t just get mad, he got even. Whenever she got on his bad side, he struck back. He punished Hagen by putting her in undesirable movies. This period of her career was a write off and forgettable. Literally.
23. She Forgot Her Movies
Hagen's roles were so forgettable that the actress literally forgot them. When she was shown a list of these films, she confessed, “I’d almost forgotten some of these. I guess on purpose”. Even though she’d acted alongside legends like Jimmy Stewart and Red Skelton, she was no closer to getting on their level. Then she received a lifeline.
24. She Conquered Television
Television was Hagens’s next adventure. In 1953, she joined the family sitcom Make Room for Daddy (later known as The Danny Thomas Show) as Danny Thomas’s wife. Once again, her talents outshone her supporting role. Hagen earned three Emmy nominations—one for every season she appeared on.
While the show ran for eleven seasons, endless drama cut her time short. Poor JHagen couldn’t catch a break.
25. She Intimidated Him
Danny Thomas and Jean Hagen dropped the lovey-dovey act once the cameras stopped rolling. They may have played husband and wife on screen, but barely tolerated each other off it. Once again, Hagen may have been too good at her craft. At this point, the 30-year-old had conquered Broadway, Hollywood, and now television.
Thomas found her resume intimidating. He didn’t take it well.
26. She Was Called Out
Thomas found Hagen intimidating, distant, and worst of all, badly dressed. On one occasion, his patience ran out before a network executive’s visit: “for God’s sake, put on high heels, put on a little lipstick”. However, the same executive declared that Hagen was the show’s central character. Not Thomas. Ouch. Of course, Hagen’s real husband was no prince charming either.
27. She Clashed With Her Husband
Jean Hagen was the real star—but Tom Seidel sure didn’t act like it. He acted more like Hagen's boss than her husband and pushed her to take on jobs she wasn’t interested in. To make matters worse, he started nasty fights with the producers. There was tension everywhere Hagen looked, from her husbands to her producers.
28. She Got Bored
Maybe the drama would’ve been worth it if Hagen found her role interesting. But she didn’t. Make Room For Daddy was successful and stable work, but it wasn’t enough. In Hagen's eyes, it was another uninspiring project. She already had plenty of those under her belt. And unlike movies, the show had no end date in sight. The actress's dilemma got even trickier.
29. She Missed Her Kids
Jean Hagen found no peace at home either: She felt like her children, Christine and Aric, were growing up without her. And for what? As the years passed, she wondered about this more and more. She found her role unfulfilling. She clashed with Danny, Tom, and her producers. And on top of that, she just missed her kids. Hagen knew what she had to do—even if no one liked it.
30. She Burned Bridges
After three years—and just as many Emmy nominations—Jean Hagen left the hit show, Make Room For Daddy. She abandoned her TV family to spend time with her real one. You’d think Danny Thomas would be delighted because he no longer had to work with her. Except he wasn’t. Reportedly, Thomas took offense to Hagen leaving his show on her own terms—and he took it out on Hagen's character.
31. She Made Television History
Danny Thomas could’ve just re-cast Jean Hagen's character. At the time, that was the normal thing to do. Instead, her character was killed off. This made history because Margaret Williams became the first character to be killed off in a family sitcom. The show was also coincidentally renamed The Danny Thomas Show for its remaining seasons.
Not that any of this mattered to Hagen. She was starting a new life, after all.
32. She Started A New Life
Jean Hagen got what she wanted, but it wasn’t what she imagined. She found herself alone all day once her kids started school. Until now, Jean hadn’t done anything but work. As a result, she had no hobbies or social life. Bored was an understatement: She was trapped. Again. Hagen tried restarting her career, but didn’t like what she found.
33. She Was Rejected
In dreams, Hagen revived her movie career. In reality, she settled for guest appearances on various television shows. This time, it wasn’t due to a lack of desire or lack of trying. But her kids were none the wiser, and her son insisted, “Her family was her passion. If she was upset about not getting work, I never knew it”. Her daughter knew better.
34. She Married A Big Drinker
Jean Hagen and Tom Seidel’s differences may have been unraveling their marriage, but they still shared a passion for drinking. Their daughter later said, "She'd worked all her life, and now all of a sudden she's got nothing to do. That's when she started drinking."
Hagen's best friend and fellow actress Patricia Neal also lamented, “It’s terrible how much they drank”. But Hagen and Seidel were different types of drinkers. Seidel could stop. Hagen couldn’t. It was about to get really ugly.
35. She Had An Unhealthy Coping Mechanism
As Hagen's career spiraled, her personal life followed. Kids? Away at school. Career? Struggling. Marriage? Crumbling. The actress drank to cope. Then she drank some more. Once Hagen started drinking, she couldn’t stop. She managed to hide all these struggles from her kids at first. She was still an amazing actress, after all. But it didn’t last.
36. She Was Exposed
An unfortunate discovery changed her daughter forever. One day, Christine found Jean’s secret bottle stash—hidden in a bedroom drawer. When Christine confronted her about it, Hagen gave up the act. But she still couldn’t give up the habit. She had 99 problems…and drinking was nearly all of them. Since nothing worked, Seidel went nuclear.
37. She Got An Ultimatum
Everyone has their limits, and Seidel finally reached his. Their marriage had already struggled for many years, so Hagen's worsening addiction was the nail in the coffin. When the couple divorced in 1965, Hagen didn’t just lose her husband of 18 years—she also lost custody of the kids and home. But all of this might’ve been worth it if she stopped drinking.
38. She Couldn’t Stop Drinking
Spoiler: This ultimatum failed. People already thought Jean Hagen drank too much to cope with losing her career. No one was prepared for her losing her family. Seidel's plan backfired: It only made her addiction worse. Hagen's family and friends could only watch as she spiraled out of control even more. One day, their worst fears came true.
39. She Drank Too Much
If people thought Hagen had already hit rock bottom, she proved them wrong. One day, her friend found her passed out in her apartment. They rushed her to the hospital, but she still ended up in a coma. Doctors told Hagen's family she’d be gone in a few weeks. Everyone prepared to say goodbye.
After years of drinking and failed rehab stints, it looked like this was it.
40. She Had A Wake Up Call
Then Jean Hagen woke up. She opened her eyes, sat up, and demanded, “What day is it? Where’s a newspaper?” This coma did what no rehab, intervention, ultimatum, or divorce could. It got her to stop drinking. For good. She never drank again from that moment onward. Hagen had a new lease on life, but it didn’t last long.
41. She Got Bad News
Poor Hagen couldn’t catch a break. She felt like a brand new person after her coma and epiphany. It was supposed to be a fresh start. But something still felt really, really wrong. When Hagen went to the doctors, they had nothing but bad news. It was even worse than she thought: throat cancer. A really, really bad case of it.
42. She Knew It Wasn’t Fair
Jean Hagen was tough as nails, but even those break. After yet another surgery, she told a friend, “Well, into every life some rain must fall, but I swear, too much is falling on me! One always feels that cancer somehow happens to other people, not yourself. But despite having to be fed through a tube I really feel quite good”. She wasn’t ready to call it quits and proved it.
43. She Was A Fighter
Hagen threw everything but the kitchen sink at her throat cancer. This included multiple grueling surgeries and treatments in California. When those failed, she made her way to Germany. Hagen had experimental (and controversial) treatments in mind. Despite—or even because of—her illness, Hagen lived her life to the fullest... until she couldn't any longer.
44. She Had One Last Hurrah
Hagen retired in the mid-1960s—but not by choice. Whenever she felt better, she jumped back into acting. But Alexander: The Other Side of Dawn became her final appearance in 1977. Hagen ended her career as she began it: in a supporting role. She was frail and could barely speak, but she refused to let cancer have the final word.
45. She Had One Last Wish
Hagen ended up back in the Motion Picture Hospital in 1977, where her health began to severely nosedive. On one memorable day, she begged her sister, “Please don’t come back. I want you to remember me the best you can”. At that moment, they realized what Hagen already knew: Her life was coming to a close.
46. She Went Too Soon
Friends, including Gene Kelly, threw Jean Hagen an early 54th birthday party. No one knew how much longer she had. A month later, she succumbed to cancer. Christine mourned, “She had a pretty miserable middle-age and it was such a sad end, but she always had a really incredible attitude. She was such a great lady”. Jean Hagen left behind kids—and an ex-husband who still had complicated feelings about her.
47. She Had A Regretful Ex
Many people had strong feelings about Hagen's life, but none were as complicated as Tom Seidel's. Her ex-husband insisted he meant well—that divorcing Jean, taking the kids, and setting her up in a tiny apartment was for her own good. They were good intentions that had unintended consequences, but Seidel was still wracked with guilt.
48. She Was Loved
After divorcing Hagen, Seidel married and divorced twice. He outlived his ex-wife by 15 years. During his last two years, Seidel stumbled across an old photo of Hagen. He framed it and kept it on his desk. Aric revealed, “Although he never said so, it was obvious he realized Mom was the only one he was ever truly in love with”. But it was too late.
49. She Missed Out
In its day, Singin’ in the Rain was a decent commercial and critical success. But the best was yet to come. It took years for the film to earn the respect i deserved. Today? Critics almost universally agree that it’s the greatest musical ever made. Most can even agree Singin’ in the Rain is one of the greatest movies in general. Hindsight is 20/20.
50. She Was Underrated
Kathleen Freeman, one of her Singing’ in the Rain co-stars, mourned, “Jean Hagen was never appreciated for her capabilities. If you see her in this and you see her in The Asphalt Jungle, most people didn’t know it was the same person. That’s pretty good work. She was extraordinary, and a good friend. And beautiful—good Lord almighty, she was a pretty thing”.