Jeanne Baird

Jeanne Doris Baird was born in Meadville, Pennsylvania on March 28, 1927,{{cite web |title=Jeanne Doris Baird |url=https://www.forevermissed.com/jeanne-doris-baird/about |website=Forever Missed |access-date=7 August 2023}} and raised and educated in Santa Barbara, California. She attended the University of California.{{cite news |last1=Johnson |first1=Erskine |title=TV Returns Prove Profitable To 'Pitch Gal' Jeanne Baird |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/26965508/the_town_talk/ |accessdate=January 7, 2019 |work=The Town Talk |date=July 8, 1960 |location=Louisiana, Alexandria |page=19 |via=Newspapers.com}} As a teenager, Baird won the Miss Junior America beauty contest, after which she worked briefly as a model. She also painted scenery at the Lobero Theatre in Santa Barbara before she became an actress.

Baird gained early television experience as the "bat girl" on Batter Up! on KTTV in Los Angeles. The program was a quiz show that used a baseball format with scores based on correct answers to questions by members of two teams.{{cite news |last1=Porter |first1=Tom |title=TV Previews |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109397382/the-los-angeles-times/ |access-date=September 12, 2022 |work=Los Angeles Times |date=April 3, 1951 |page=22 |via=Newspapers.com}} She also worked at KEYT-TV in Santa Barbara in the early 1950s. Her activities there included hosting Jeanne Baird Presents, a daily afternoon program.{{cite news |last1=Merrill |first1=King |title=Memo Pad |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109395196/jeanne-baird/ |access-date=September 12, 2022 |work=Santa Ynez Valley News |date=November 13, 1953 |location=California, Solvang |page=2 |via=Newspapers.com}} In 1955 she went to Hollywood with plans to become an actress. She considered changing her name but decided not do so after she consulted numerologists and nomenclaturologists.{{cite news |title=Right Name Important For Hollywood Career |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109295431/jeanne-baird/ |access-date=September 10, 2022 |work=Valley Times |date=June 20, 1960 |location=California, North Hollywood |page=6 |via=Newspapers.com}}

Initially Baird found herself in "character ingenue" roles, but she wondered, "How many parts are there for a character ingenue?" Eventually she moved into tragic roles, which did not suit her happier personality. Moving to New York and work on television provided opportunities for her to do "light, fun roles" and to appear on panel shows, giving people the chance to know her apart from characters that she portrayed.

While Baird was living in California, a 3000-mile trip to New York for a planned one-day filming of a commercial led to more work than she anticipated. When she finished making the commercial, she was hired to be the "Girl of the Week" for the Today show, a stint that was intended to be for one week but lasted four months. Her role on Today, in turn, led to her being selected for the cast of the NBC soap opera Ben Jerrod,{{cite news |title=Playing Hunches Pays For Pretty Jeanne Baird |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109305006/jeanne-baird/ |access-date=September 10, 2022 |work=Hartford Courant |date=May 26, 1963 |page=TV Week 7 |via=Newspapers.com}} playing Agnes Abbott.{{cite book |last1=McNeil |first1=Alex |title=Total Television |date=1996 |publisher=Penguin Books USA, Inc. |location=New York, New York |isbn=0-14-02-4916-8 |page=85 |edition=4th}} Other TV shows on which she appeared included Ironside, Rescue 8, {{cite web |title=Jeanne Baird |url=https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/jeanne-baird/credits/3030058737/ |website=TV Guide |access-date=September 13, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220913161557/https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/jeanne-baird/credits/3030058737/ |archive-date=September 13, 2022 |url-status=live}} Pantomime Quiz, Ben Casey, Bonanza, Four Star Playhouse, and Perry Mason.{{cite news |last1=Zylstra |first1=Freida |title=Jeanne Baird Has Family of Cooks |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109306699/jeanne-baird/ |access-date=September 10, 2022 |work=Chicago Tribune |date=July 1, 1965 |page=50 |via=Newspapers.com}}

Films in which Baird appeared included Get Outta Town, The Gay Deceivers, Black Spurs,{{cite news |title=Jeanne Baird Learned The Ropes |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109478304/jeanne-baird/ |access-date=September 13, 2022 |work=The Pittsburgh Press |date=December 24, 1964 |page=6 |via=Newspapers.com}} and Andy Hardy Comes Home.{{cite news |title=Draws Big Role |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109473004/jeanne-baird/ |access-date=September 13, 2022 |work=Valley Times |date=May 10, 1958 |location=California, North Hollywood |page=11 |via=Newspapers.com}} She also acted in TV commercials for "everything from dog food to lavender hair rinse", and for two years she was a commentator on the NBC-TV broadcast of the Tournament of Roses Parade.{{cite news |last1=Freeman |first1=Donald |title=Aries and E.S.P. make actress moving star |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109477466/jeanne-baird/ |access-date=September 13, 2022 |work=Fort Worth Star-Telegram |date=July 15, 1963 |page=17 |via=Newspapers.com}}

After Baird moved to Hollywood, she lived on $127.50 per month, saving the other half of each paycheck. Her apartment (a converted porch) was "the size of a streetcar".{{cite news |last1=Mosby |first1=Aline |title=Actress Says She Lives on $127 a Month |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109472328/jeanne-baird/ |access-date=September 13, 2022 |work=The Hanford Sentinel |agency=United Press |date=March 5, 1957 |page=2 |via=Newspapers.com}}

In October 1957, Baird married lemon rancher{{cite news |title=Actress Weds |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109472635/jeanne-baird/ |access-date=September 13, 2022 |work=Valley Times |date=November 4, 1957 |location=California, North Hollywood |page=19 |via=Newspapers.com}} and restaurant builder William Meyerink. They separated in 1962.{{cite news |last1=Carroll |first1=Harrison |title=Hollywood |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109479229/the-times-leader/ |access-date=September 13, 2022 |work=The Times Leader |agency=King Features Syndicate, Inc. |date=July 13, 1964 |location=Pennsylvania, Wilkes-Barre |page=7 |via=Newspapers.com}} Their daughter is Victoria Meyerink, who was a child actress.{{cite news |title=Tiny TV Star's OK With Danny |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/270514252/?terms=%22Jeanne%20Baird%22%20actress&match=1 |access-date=September 10, 2022 |work=Honolulu Star-Bulletin |date=February 21, 1965 |page=98 |via=Newspapers.com}} Mother and daughter appeared together in 1964 in "The Good Provider", an episode of The Littlest Hobo on Canada's CTV Television Network.{{cite news |title=Children are no problem to 'Littlest Hobo' producer |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109479502/the-ottawa-citizen/ |access-date=September 13, 2022 |work=The Ottawa Citizen |date=December 26, 1964 |page=TV Weekly - 5 |via=Newspapers.com}}

Jeanne Baird died in Los Angeles on August 31, 2020, at the age of 93. She was predeceased by her former husband, William, and survived by her daughter, Victoria.

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Category:1927 births

Category:2020 deaths

Category:20th-century American actresses

Category:Actresses from Pennsylvania

Category:American film actresses

Category:American soap opera actresses

Category:American television actresses