Susan Blanchard (socialite)

Susan Blanchard (born March 8, 1928)^[1] is an American socialite and former lyricist and theatrical producer. She was the third wife of actor Henry Fonda, with whom she adopted a daughter, Amy (born 1953), and the second wife of actor Richard Widmark.

Background

The younger child of Dorothy Kiaora Blanchard, a native of Australia, and Henry Jacobson, a New York businessman,^[2] Susan Jacobson took her mother's surname after her parents' divorce and was known as Susan Blanchard thereafter.

In 1929, her mother, a former actress turned interior decorator, married the lyricist and producer Oscar Hammerstein II. Susan Blanchard had four siblings: a brother, Henry Jacobson, Jr.; a half-brother, James Blanchard Hammerstein (1931–1999); and two step-siblings, William and Alice Hammerstein.

Susan Blanchard studied at The Shipley School in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.^[3] Her only sibling was an older brother, né Henry Samuel Jacobson (April 27, 1926 - January 28, 1997).

Personal life

Blanchard has been married four times, the first three marriages ending in divorce. Her first marriage was to actor Henry Fonda on December 27, 1950, and lasted until their divorce in May 1956. While married they adopted a daughter, Amy (born and adopted 1953). Her second marriage was to another actor, Michael Wager, in 1962. She later married Charles Douglas Ades in 1971. Her fourth marriage was in 1999 to actor and producer Richard Widmark, to whom she remained married until his death on March 24, 2008.

References

External links

• Wedding photo of Blanchard and Henry Fonda, 1950