Actress, Screenwriter, Author. The daughter of writer Aurania Rouverol, who was best known for creating the character 'Andy Hardy" of which became a movie series starring Mickey Rooney. Jean made her professional debut on the Broadway stage in the play "Growing Pains" (1933), prior to her relocation to Hollywood. In 1934, she marked her motion picture debut in the film "It's a Gift", for which starred W.C. Fields. She followed this with the picture "Private Worlds" (1935), for which starred Claudette Colbert and Charles Boyer and had further credits with "Mississippi" (1935), "Fatal Lady" (1936) and "Annabel Takes a Tour" (1937). She advanced to lead actress in the film "Western Jamboree" (1938), opposite Gene Autry. After marrying screenwriter Hugo Butler (he received an Academy Award nomination for "Edison, the Man", 1940) in 1940 (she remained with him until his death in 1968), she retired from films to begin her family, however she maintained a career on radio for various programs. By the end of the 1940s, she turned to writing and penned her first screenplay titled "So Young So Bad" (1950), for which starred Paul Henreid. She also wrote story lines for the TV soap opera "Search for Tomorrow" during this period. Along with her husband, her career suffered as a result of the House Committee on Un-American Activities investigation into Communism in Hollywood. Both her and Hugo were once members of the American-Communist Party. This led to them living in Mexico for a decade. She continued to pen screenplays which included "Autumn Leaves" (1956), but was often not given credit. After returning to the United States, she began to write books; her first being "Harriet Beecher Stowe: Woman" (1968). During the 1970s, she resumed screenwriting for soap operas including "Guiding Light" and "As the World Turns". Her autobiography "Refugees from Hollywood: A journal of the Blacklisted Years" was published in 2000.