Janet Waldo

Jeanette Marie Waldo was born in Yakima, Washington on February 4, 1919. Other birthdates were also cited, including 1918 or 1920. Her mother, Jane Althea Blodgett, was a singer trained at the Boston Conservatory of Music, and her father, Benjamin Franklin Waldo, was, according to Waldo family lore, a distant cousin of Ralph Waldo Emerson. She had three older siblings, one of whom, Elisabeth Waldo, is an authority on pre-Columbian music and an award-winning composer-violinist who appeared in the film Song of Mexico (1945). Janet attended the University of Washington, where her performance in a student theatrical garnered her an award and brought her to the attention of Bing Crosby. A Paramount Pictures talent scout, who was with Crosby at the time, signed Waldo for a screen test, which led to a contract with the studio.
Waldo appeared in several films in uncredited bit parts and small ro…