
Jane Adams
Born
August 7, 1918
Died
May 21, 2014 (95 years old)
Known For
Acting
Place of Birth
San Antonio, Texas, USA
Betty Jane Bierce, better known by her stage name Jane "Poni" Adams was an American actress in radio, film, and television in the 1940s and 1950s. Adams was born in San Antonio, Texas, but her family moved to California when she was two. During her high school years, she studied violin and drama, and she was selected to be a concert mistress of the all-city high school orchestra of Los Angeles. She received a full scholarship to Juilliard, which she turned down to spend years studying at the Pasadena Playhouse.
After the Playhouse, she got her start on Lux Radio Theatre, and then with the Harry Conover Modeling Agency, where she was given her nickname "Poni". This was supposedly due to her love of horses, but in reality it was to provide her with a more memorable stage name.(In the book Westerns Women: Interviews with 50 Leading Ladies of Movie and Television Westerns from the 1930s to the 1960s, Adams said: "I was given that name at the Harry Conover Modeling Agency. Why, I don't know!" She returned to using her real name in 1945.
Military personnel played a role in her change of names from Poni Adams to Jane Adams. A photograph printed in newspapers in 1946 carried the caption: "GI JANE — Jane Adams — formerly Poni Adams — holds some of 32,851 letters her press agent said came from GIs after she appealed for aid in choosing a new name."
Adams' first screen appearance was in So You Want to Give Up Smoking, a short film in 1942. She may be best known for her role as Nina in House of Dracula, but she also has the distinction of acting in early adaptations of both major DC Comics franchises: Batman, where she played Vicki Vale in the second Batman serial, Batman and Robin, and also a character in the first Superman television series.
On May 21, 2014, Adams died in Bellingham, Washington, at the age of 95. She was buried (as Betty J. Turnage) beside her husband in Arlington National Cemetery.
Known For

Monster Madness: The Golden Age of the Horror Film
Self (archive footage)
2014

Batmania: From Comics to Screen
Self / Vicki Vale (archive footage)
1989

Secret of Outlaw Flats
Peggy
1953

Adventures of Superman
Babette DuLoque · (1 episode)
1952
Street Bandits
Jane Phillips, Secretary
1951

Outlaw Gold
Kathy Martin
1950

Law of the Panhandle
Margie Kendal
1950

The Girl from San Lorenzo
Nora Malloy
1950

Master Minds
Nancy Marlowe
1949

Western Renegades
Judy Gordon
1949

Batman and Robin
Vicki Vale
1949

Gun Law Justice
Jane Darnton
1949

He Walked by Night
Nurse Scanion (uncredited)
1949

The Brute Man
Helen Paige
1946

Lawless Breed
Marjorie 'Maggie' Bradley
1946

Rustler's Round-up
Josephine Fremont
1946

Gunman's Code
Laura Burton
1946

Night in Paradise
Lotus
1946

Lost City of the Jungle
Marjorie Elmore
1946

Smooth as Silk
Susan Marlowe
1946

House of Dracula
Nina
1945

Lady on a Train
Circus Club Photographer
1945

Code of the Lawless
Julie Randall (as Poni Adams)
1945

Trail to Vengeance
Dorothy Jackson (as Poni Adams)
1945

Salome, Where She Danced
Salome Girl
1945