Kean and her older sister Betty Kean, formed a comedy duo that worked the nightclub circuit throughout the 1940s/50s, and the two appeared on Broadway as sisters in the short-lived 1955 musical, "Ankles Aweigh". Jane Kean was the sister-in-law of actor Lew Parker, best known as Lou Marie, the father of Marlo Thomas's character, Ann Marie, on "That Girl". She was also the sister-in-law of Jim Backus, with whom she co-starred in "Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol". Parker and Backus were two of Betty Kean's husbands.