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Jeff Chandler

Jeff Chandler

Tony Curtis was a pallbearer at Chandler's funeral.

A liberal Democrat, he was part of the Hollywood contingent that worked for the election of John F. Kennedy as President in 1960.

Both daughters, Jamie (1947-2003) and Dana (1948-2002) died of cancer, as did his mother, maternal aunt, uncle and grandfather.

Childhood friend and neighbor of actress Susan Hayward

Daughter Dana born 1948.



Daughter Jamie born 1947.

Daughter Jamie was a teacher.

Daughter, Dana Chandler Grossel (Grossel was her father's real last name), gave him two grandsons. His other daughter, Jamie Tucker, gave him granddaughter Jana Fourtune.

Died of blood poisoning following spinal surgery in CA.

Following his Oscar nominated performance as Cochise in Broken Arrow (1950), Chandler carved a solid niche for himself playing Native American Indians, although his movies seldom rose above co-feature level.

Gerald Mohr was a pallbearer at his funeral.

Had concurrent success as a recording artist, wrote music, played violin, and own Chandler Music, a publishing company.

He stood 6' 4" by the time he was fifteen, and started to gray when he was eighteen.

He was mentioned as the possible lead for the television police drama "The Asphalt Jungle" when that show was in development in 1960.

He was the one who encouraged character actor Jimmy Murphy to go to Hollywood.

He was very proud of his Jewish heritage.

His death from blood poisoning following surgery was deemed malpractice and resulted in a large lawsuit and settlement for his children.

His former lover Esther Williams, in her tell-all 1999 biography, put Chandler back in the headlines after asserting that he was a cross-dresser. She told him, "Jeff, you're too big for polka dots." Esther later admitted privately that this had no basis in fact, and was made up simply to bolster interest in the book.

Portrayed Philip Boynton on CBS Radio's "Our Miss Brooks" (1948-1957).

Possessed of a fine singing voice, at the height of his film fame, he recorded several successful albums for Liberty Records.

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