Jan Moriarty was a promising starlet who tragically committed suicide in 1964
She was born Joanne E. Moriarty on May 5, 1939 in Chicago, Illinois. Her father, Thomas Moriarty, was a machinist and her mother, Mary Moriarty, was a housewife. After high school the beautiful blonde moved Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. In 1961 she made her acting debut in an episode of the Tab Hunter Show. Then she made guest appearances on My Three Sons, Dr. Kildare, and My Favorite Martian. Jan landed a supporting role in the 1963 film A New Kind Of Love starring Paul Newman.
On January 11, 1964 she married actor Michael Parks. The couple moved into a modest apartment on Sycamore Avenue in Los Angeles. Just two months after the wedding, on March 2, 1964, she tragically committed suicide with an overdose of sleeping pills. She was only twenty-four years old. Her husband Michael found her unconscious body in their bedroom. Several empty pill bottles were on a bedside tables. Michael claimed that she has been in good spirits before she died. Jan was cremated and her ashes were given to her family. Her final film, Bedtime Story, was released after her death.
