Ethel Virah Smith

Jane Kent Armstrong, aka Jeanne Kent Armstrong

Birth: Jan. 12, 1903, Watertown, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, USA Death: Jun. 15, 1950, Duarte, Los Angeles County, California, USA

Jane Kent Armstrong, better known as Jeanne Kent Armstrong, was an actress born Ethel Virah Smith on January 12, 1903 in Watertown, MA. She was the daughter of Emory G. Smith and his wife, the former Berenice Ethel Fortin. She had one known sibling, an older sister, Berenice Rita Smith, later Mrs. Mack Mitchell Croen.

Jeanne Kent Smith used two stage names in her profession as an actress, singer and dancer. She was known on the London stage as Ethel Kent, and to audiences in the United States by both that name and by the name of Jeanne Kent.

In the mid nineteen twenties, while working in London, England, she saw American actor Robert Armstrong ("King Kong", 1933) performing on stage in the hit production, "Is Zat So?" which co-starred his good friend and acting colleague, James Gleason. Jeanne was so impressed with Robert's acting that she wrote him a letter complimenting him. Her letter led to a meeting with him. The two fell in love and later married in London in June, 1926, with Jeanne using her birth name for the marriage ceremony.