Jean Erdman was an American actor best known for her work in Medusa (1949), Camera Three (1955), and The Hero’s Journey: The World of Joseph Campbell (1987).
Personal and Family Life
Jean Erdman was born on February 20, 1916, in Honolulu, Hawaii. She married renowned mythologist Joseph Campbell on May 5, 1938, and they lived together for almost fifty years until his passing in 1987. They had no children and spent much of their marriage in a two-room apartment in Greenwich Village, New York City, later acquiring an additional apartment in Honolulu.
Career
Erdman had a significant influence in the world of dance and theater. In 1960, she reorganized and renamed her dance company to explore the connections between movement, music, visual arts, and spoken text. Her travels around the world with her family in 1937 deeply inspired her dance exploration, as she studied various traditional dance forms, which she believed expressed each culture’s worldview.
Death and Legacy
Jean Erdman passed away on May 4, 2020, in Kailua, Hawaii, at the age of 104. Her contributions to modern dance and her collaboration with Joseph Campbell have left a lasting impact on the arts. The retrospective of her dance work at the Hunter Playhouse in 1985 showcased her influence in shaping the contemporary dance landscape.
Filmography
| Title | Year | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Medusa | 1949 | Actress |
| Camera Three | 1955 | Choreographer |
| The Hero’s Journey: The World of Joseph Campbell | 1987 | Self |