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Jean Dorothy Seberg (November 13, 1938 – August 30, 1979) was an American actress. She starred in 37 films in Hollywood and in France, including Breathless (1960), the musical Paint Your Wagon (1969) and the disaster film Airport (1970). Jean Seberg was born in Marshalltown, Iowa, the daughter of Dorothy Arline (née Benson), a substitute teacher, and Edward Waldemar Seberg, a druggist. Her family was Lutheran and of Swedish, English, and German ancestry. Seberg studied at the University of Iowa. Seberg made her film debut in 1957 in the title role of Saint Joan, from the Shaw play,... MORE

Jean Dorothy Seberg (November 13, 1938 – August 30, 1979) was an American actress. She starred in 37 films in Hollywood and in France, including Breathless (1960), the musical Paint Your Wagon (1969) and the disaster film Airport (1970). Jean Seberg was born in Marshalltown, Iowa, the daughter of Dorothy Arline (née Benson), a substitute teacher, and Edward Waldemar Seberg, a druggist. Her family was Lutheran and of Swedish, English, and German ancestry. Seberg studied at the University of Iowa. Seberg made her film debut in 1957 in the title role of Saint Joan, from the Shaw play, after being chosen from 18,000 hopefuls by director Otto Preminger in a $150,000 talent search. Her name was entered by a neighbor. By the time she was cast, on October 21, 1956, her only acting experience had been a single season of summer stock performances. The film was paired with a great deal of publicity about which Seberg commented that she was "embarrassed by all the attention". Despite a big build-up, called in the press a "Pygmalion experiment", both the film and Seberg received poor notices. On the failure, she later told the press: Preminger, though, had promised her a second chance, and he LESS