Jane Withers, "Josephine the Plumber", has died at age 95

[Demovictory9]

Jane Withers, the former child actor who bedeviled Shirley Temple on the screen and went on to star in a series of B movies that made her a box-office champion, has died, her daughter said. She was 95.

Withers, also known as “Josephine the Plumber” from TV commercials in the 1960s and ’70s, died Saturday, her daughter Kendall Errair said. Withers was one of the last remaining stars from the 1930s and 1940s, the height of Hollywood studio dominance.

After a series of minor roles as a child actress, Withers was cast by Twentieth Century-Fox in the 1934 “Bright Eyes,” as the nemesis of lovable Temple, then Hollywood’s most popular star.

“I had to play the meanest, creepiest little girl that God ever put on this planet,” Withers recalled in 2000. “I ran over Shirley with a tricycle, and a baby buggy. And I thought, ‘Oh dear, everybody’s going to hate me forever because I was so creepy mean to Shirley Temple!‘ ”

https://www.latimes.com/obituaries/story/2021-08-08/jane-withers-child-actor-turned-commercial-star-dies-at-95

[Walleye]

1. My mom said she liked her a lot better than Shirley Temple when she was a girl

[Ilsa]

2. I remember her. May she rest in peace. And

I wonder who the boy is. His eyes look familiar.
Answer: Robbie Benson.

[PCIntern]

7. Wow!

I’m very impressed that you picked that up. And you’re right, he is familiar in a visceral sense and it is amazing how these kids, a few of them, went on to become major stars and were identified as having star quality as little children. I’m thinking of Jodie Foster Who made a toothpaste Ed but she was very young. The interesting part is that she is referred to as Jodie in the commercial.

Here:

[Ilsa]

14. It took a few minutes on the google machine.

I think a youtube video of the ad answered my question about Mr. Adorable Boyfriend from Ice Castles.

[Demovictory9]

10. Great catch 👍👍

He looked familar
I couldnt place him

[John1956PA]

3. Ms. Withers was impressive, both in her career and in her personal life.

She handled childhood acting success well. Her parents taught her the merits of saving income. They also instilled in her the virtue of assisting those less fortunate. She overcame tragic events and career hiatuses.

[Norbert]

4. I had no idea she was still alive.

May she rest in peace.

[oasis]

5. Jane was a standout character in her childhood roles.

May she rest in peace.

[Harker]

6. That's Robbie Benson as the kid. n/t

[Demovictory9]

11. good catch

[Harker]

12. He was ubiquitous for a while there.

Film has a way of stopping time.

Benson is 65, a couple years older than I, yet he's ever youthful to me.

[PCIntern]

8. Also the last major character from the film "Giant"

One of my favorite movies.

One of the few things that depresses me sometimes is when I watch a film of what I consider contemporary origin and realize that no one in the film is still alive. Almost all the films I remember fondly as an adolescent have no stars remaining alive. Jane Fonda who was so very young in Barbarella is in her 80s now and the entire group of major actors and actresses are gone with the wind.

Sorry, I’m ruminating…

[Harker]

9. I also think on that from time to time.

Crowd scenes from old film can be quite poignant, too, when it comes to mind that the baby so blithely gurgling in her stroller has likely come and gone.

[BumRushDaShow]

13. I remember that ad

and grew up with parents who used Comet and I have cans of it all over the house!

Heard this early this morning and big R.I.P. to her. I found this adorable vignette of her as a puppetmaster when she was 10 (in 1936) -