Jeanette Loff

Jeanette Loff (born Janette Clarinda Lov; October 9, 1906 – August 4, 1942) was an American actress, musician, and singer who came to prominence for her appearances in several Pathé Exchange and Universal Pictures films in the 1920s.

Born in Idaho, Loff was raised throughout the Pacific Northwest, and began singing professionally as a lyric soprano and performing as an organist while a teenager in Portland, Oregon. She studied music at the Ellison-White Conservatory of Music. After moving to Los Angeles, California, Loff was signed to a film contract by producer Cecil B. DeMille, with Pathé Exchange in 1927. She subsequently signed a contract with Universal Pictures. She appeared in over twenty films during the course of her seven-year career, with lead parts in such films as Hold 'Em Yale (1928) and the controversial crime film Party Girl (1930). She also appeared in the musical King of Jazz (1930) as a vocalist.

Loff formally retired from acting in 1934, with her last screen credit in Joseph Santley's Million Dollar Baby (1934). She died on August 4, 1942, from ammonia poisoning in Los Angeles at the age of 35. Though law enforcement was unable to determine whether her death was an accident or a suicide, Loff's family maintained that she had been murdered.

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