In 1939, Mathews had some bit parts in films, using the name Jeanne Francis. In 1942, she conducted a screen test for Samuel Goldwyn of MGM Studios. That same night, she married radio Writer John Arthur Stockton in Tijuana, Mexico, the scion of a wealthy Chicago family. Goldwyn immediately canceled her contract. In late January 1944, she had the marriage annulled, and she never remarried, though she was associated with several other men, including a considerably younger Don Durant, two years before he was cast in his own CBS Western series, Johnny Ringo, according to a report from Walter Winchell.