Jeffrey Lynn (born Ragnar Godfrey Lind; 1905 or 1906 – November 24, 1995) was an American stage-screen actor and film producer who worked primarily through the Golden Age of Hollywood establishing himself as one of the premier talents of his time.

He was at the center of the Gone with the Wind (1939) casting controversy: he was the top contender to play Ashley Wilkes but the director eventually chose Leslie Howard.

Lynn was asked to join James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart in The Roaring Twenties (1939), a gangster noir that garnered him critical praise.

His success continued with such films as The Fighting 69th (1940) in which he portrayed poet-soldier Joyce Kilmer opposite Cagney, It All Came True (1940), All This, and Heaven Too (1940) and Million Dollar Baby (1941).

His movie career was put on hold for World War II draft, where he received a Bronze Star for his service in Italy and Austria as a combat intelligence captain.

His later film career credits include: BUtterfield 8 (1960) along with Elizabeth Taylor and Laurence Harvey, and Tony Rome (1967) with Frank Sinatra.

In April 1938 Lynn was cast in a role originally turned down by Errol Flynn: one of the romantic male love interests in Four Daughters (1938) (first called Sister Act).

It was during this time that he received typecasting as "the handsome romantic husband or boyfriend," "the attractive, reliable love interest of the heroine,"[3] and "the tall, stalwart hero.

He was the male lead in A Child Is Born (1939) co-starring with Geraldine Fitzgerald, and he was reunited with Cagney in The Fighting 69th (1940), though billed beneath Pat O'Brien and George Brent.

[12][13] Lynn was Ann Sheridan's love interest in It All Came True (1940), battling Humphrey Bogart, and was third billed in All This, and Heaven Too (1940) with Bette Davis and Charles Boyer.

[15] He starred in Million Dollar Baby (1941) with Priscilla Lane and Ronald Reagan, was top billed in the war film Underground (1941), and was Constance Bennett's leading man in Law of the Tropics (1941).

[2] His movie career was interrupted by service during World War II, with Lynn joining the United States Army Air Forces in February 1942.

[22] In April 1947, Lynn was about to begin work on his first post-war picture when he was in a car accident with his first wife at the Donner Pass while coming back from a ski trip.

[23] In 1947 he signed to make Let's Fall in Love for Columbia but it was made as Slightly French without him[24] He returned to the screen in 1948 with Black Bart (1948) at Universal, supporting Yvonne De Carlo and Dan Duryea, stepping into a role intended for Edmond O'Brien.

[25] At the same studio he was one of Deanna Durbin's leading men in For the Love of Mary (1948) then returned to Warners for Whiplash (1948), where he was billed beneath Dane Clark, Alexis Smith and Zachary Scott.

Lynn made his television debut in an episode of Suspense (1949) and an adaptation of Miracle in the Rain for Studio One in Hollywood (1950) under the direction of Franklin J. Schaffner.

Soon after his film with Sinatra, Lynn decided to go back into television beginning with Ironside (1969) as Professor Halstead and The Bold Ones: The New Doctors (1969) as Thomas Cleary.

The episode, entitled “The Days Dwindle Down,” was a sequel to the 1949 feature film Strange Bargain, in which he had also starred, with a slight reimagining of the original plot.

Lynn died at St. Joseph's Hospital in Burbank, California, aged 89, [1] and was buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles.

"[1] Denis Gifford of The Independent noted that "his good looks and sincere playing won him a place in the memories of all film fans of Hollywood's golden age.