Sadly, 1940s actress and dancer Jean Spangler is probably best remembered for her mysterious unsolved disappearance than for her short-lived Hollywood career. The young, divorced mother, who was mired in a contentious custody battle with her ex-husband, was just beginning her movie career when she went missing. Here is the mysterious case of the missing Hollywood starlet.
A native of Seattle, Jean Spangler moved to Los Angeles as a teen. She married a businessman, Dexter Benner, in 1942 and the couple had one daughter, Christine, in 1944. It was not a happy marriage, however. Spangler and Benner divorced in 1946, but that marked the beginning of a lengthy custody battle over Christine. Spangler was awarded custody in 1948 and raised her daughter while living with her mother, brother, and her brother’s wife.
Jean Spangler launched her movie career as an actress and dancer in 1948. She appeared as an uncredited dancer or film extra in several movies, including When My Baby Smiles at Me in 1948, Chicken Every Sunday in 1949, and Young Man with a Horn, which was released after her disappearance.
On October 7, 1949, the 27-year-old Jean Spangler told her sister-in-law she was going to meet her ex-husband to discuss their daughter then going to the studio to work on a film. Shortly after she left, she telephoned home to say that the studio needed her to work a full eight hours so she would be home late. The next morning, she still was not home. Spangler’s mother was out of town, so the concerned sister-in-law called the police to report her missing. The police quickly determined that Spangler had had no plan to meet her ex-husband and that he was not in the area. They also learned that Spangler was not scheduled to work at the studio and there was no record of her being there. A worker at a nearby market had seen Spangler at 6 p.m. and stated that she seemed to be waiting for someone.
Two days after she disappeared, Jean Spangler’s purse was found in a LA park about five miles from her home. In the purse was a handwritten note that said, “Kirk: Can’t wait any longer, Going to see Dr. Scott. It will work best this way while mother is away.” Since Spangler had just wrapped up filming Young Man with a Horn which starred Kirk Douglas, it was assumed that he was the “Kirk” mentioned in the note. Douglas called the police directly to explain that he had “talked and kidded” with Spangler on the set, but he never saw her outside of work. He even released a press release proclaiming his innocence and noting that the police did not consider him a suspect.
The police could not locate a “Dr. Scott” in the area who may have treated Spangler. Some of Jean Spangler’s friends believed that she was about three months pregnant at the time of her disappearance. That led to the theory that Spangler’s “Dr. Scott” was not a real doctor but an illegal abortion doctor. The theory continued that perhaps Spangler had died during a botched abortion.
Other theories were floated to explain Jean Spangler’s strange disappearance. As a dancer, Spangler had once worked at the Florentine Gardens, a nightclub owned by known mobsters. There were also reports that Spangler had been seen in public with Davy Ogul, a mob associate, who disappeared on October 9, 1949, two days after Spangler went missing. Perhaps Spangler ran off with Ogul or perhaps both Spangler and Ogul were both victims of a mob hit.
Jean Spangler’s Hollywood career lasted a little over a year and was cut short by her mysterious disappearance. Since 1949, no sign of Jean Spangler had ever been found. Her body was never discovered and today, more than seventy years later, Spangler remains missing, and her case remains open.