Jane Withers, one of Hollywood’s most famed child stars, has died at the age of 95.
The voice actress, who hailed from Atlanta, died in Burbank, California on Saturday evening surrounded by her loved ones, Deadline reports.
Withers’ daughter, Kendall Errair, confirmed the news in a statement and paid tribute to the famous star.
‘My mother was such a special lady. She lit up a room with her laughter, but she especially radiated joy and thankfulness when talking about the career she so loved and how lucky she was,’ Kendall said.
A cause of death was not given.
Withers rose to fame in 1934’s Bright Eyes starring alongside Shirley Temple in a supporting role. The actress dazzled in her performance so much that it landed her a long-term contract with Fox.
In 1935, Withers bagged her own lead role in the movie Ginger which earned her praise from President Franklin D Roosevelt at the time.
The Hollywood starlet went on to appear in The Farmer Takes a Wife opposite Henry Fonda, and filmed around three to five movies per year throughout the 1930s such as Little Miss Nobody, The Holy Terror, Rascals, and Always in Trouble.
Withers attempted to retire at the age of 21 to focus on her family – she was married twice and had five children.
However, she was enticed back to Hollywood with a role in the film Giant before going on to make appearances in TV series such as Murder, She Wrote, The Love Boat, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour and General Electric Theater.
Withers enjoyed a momentous year in 1960 as she landed one of her most popular roles, playing Josephine the Plumber in TV commercials for Comet cleanser. She received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame that year.
Recalling how her fame blew up when she started appearing in TV adverts, Withers said in a 1978 interview: ‘When I started doing my commercials, I asked them in the beginning if they would help me with my fan mail, they said, “This is a commercial — you don’t get much mail”.
‘I said, “I guarantee you, you’re gonna be hearing from folks”. Well, they got so many letters in the first two weeks — telegrams, phone calls — they could not believe what happened, and I know personally, I had four people helping me answer mail just from Josephine alone.’
Withers is survived by four of her five children.
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