Jeanine Ann Roose, who played young Violet in It’s a Wonderful Life, died Friday at age 84 after battling an infection in her abdomen, according to TMZ. She was 84.
The 1946 classic was Roose’s only film credit. In the movie, she plays a young Violet, who has a crush on young George. She interacts with Mary and George at the drugstore where George works.
In the scene, she tells Mary, “I like him,” to which Mary replies, “You like every boy.” Responds Violet, “What’s wrong with that?” (Watch the scene below.)
As a child actor, Roose also appeared in some radio and TV programs, including as “Little” Alice Harris on The Jack Benny Program at age 8.
She went on to attend UCLA, becoming a psychologist and later a Jungian analyst, according to TMZ, which quoted her as once having made a comparison between her life and the movie’s story line.
“It’s a Wonderful Life was the only movie that I was in and it been an amazing lifetime experience to have been in such a collectively meaningful picture. … It became clear that my desire was specifically to help others who were struggling with finding meaning in their life — not unlike Clarence in the movie who helps George see the meaning of his life,” she said.
Roose married Eugene Richard Auger in 1964; they had a son, Joe, who was with her when she died, TMZ reported.
Source: Hollywood
