Born Jean Robinson in Drouin, Victoria, she attended Geelong Church of England Grammar School and gained a PhD in French literature at the University of Melbourne with a thesis on Charles Baudelaire, and undertook postgraduate studies at the Sorbonne.
In the late 1950s she hosted several television series on HSV-7: Movie Guide, Personal Column and What's On.
In 1968, she was invited by H. C. Coombs, chairman of the Australian Council for the Arts, to become its first executive officer.
[1] In 1987 she began a new career as an arts advisory consultant for corporate buyers.
She died in a Sydney nursing home after an 18-month battle with cancer of the oesophagus.