Brenda Joyce (actress)

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Brenda Joyce (born February 25, 1917 in Excelsior Springs , Missouri - † July 4, 2009 in Santa Monica , California ) was an American actress .

Life

Brenda Joyce was born on February 25, 1917 as Betty Graffina Leabo , who was also known by her nickname "Graftina". As a model and a 21-year-old student at the University of California , 1.63 m tall, strikingly blonde Joyce was discovered by a talent scout and named "Discovery of the Year 1939" by the 20th Century Fox studios. That year she got her dream role as "remote Simons" in The Rains ( The Rains Came , 1939), an adaptation of the novel by Louis Bromfield in which Myrna Loy , Tyrone Power and George Brent participated.

Although Joyce starred in many B-movies of the 1940s, she remains unforgettable through her roles as the intrepid "Jane Parker", whom she played five times, among others alongside Johnny Weissmüller , in the Tarzan films. She replaced Maureen O'Sullivan , who held this role six times.

In addition to the "Tarzan" films, Joyce starred in Little Old New York (1940), Marry the Boss's Daughter (1941), The Postman Didn't Ring (1942) and The Spider Woman Strikes Back (1946).

Her last performance as "Jane", in Tarzan and the Blue Valley ( Tarzan's Magic Fountain , 1949), she had together with Lex Barker as "Tarzan". Joyce and Karla Schramm from the silent film era were the only two actresses who played the role of "Jane" with two different "Tarzan" actors.

Joyce did not appear in any other feature films after 1949. She worked in the Immigration Department in Washington, DC for a decade and appeared in two episodes on the PBS Kids show "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" in 1971 .

Private life

She was married to Owen Ward from 1941 until her divorce in 1949. They had three children, Pamela Ann, Timothy Owen and Beth Victoria.

Brenda Joyce died at the age of 92 after suffering from dementia for more than a decade in a nursing home in Santa Monica, California.

Filmography

  • 1939: Night Over India (The Rains Came)
  • 1939: Here I Am a Stranger
  • 1940: Little Old New York
  • 1940: Maryland
  • 1940: Public Deb No. 1
  • 1941: Marry the Boss's Daughter
  • 1941: Private nurse
  • 1942: Little Tokyo, USA
  • 1942: Right to the Heart
  • 1942: The Postman Didn't Ring
  • 1942: Whispering Ghosts
  • 1943: Thumbs Up
  • 1945: I'll Tell the World
  • 1945: Pillow of Death
  • 1945: Strange Confession
  • 1945: The Enchanted Forest
  • 1945: Tarzan and the Amazons (Tarzan and the Amazons)
  • 1946: Danger Woman
  • 1946: Little Giant
  • 1946: The Spider Woman Strikes Back
  • 1946: Tarzan and the Leopard Woman
  • 1947: Stepchild
  • 1947: Tarzan and the Huntress
  • 1948: Tarzan and the Mermaids
  • 1948: Shaggy
  • 1949: Tarzan and the Blue Valley (Tarzan's Magic Fountain)

Other appearances: (as herself)

  • 1940: Screen Snapshots Series 19, No. 7: Wardrobe Designers
  • 1941: Meet the Stars # 8: Stars Past and Present
  • 1941: Screen Snapshots Series 21, No. 1
  • 1943: Show Business at War
  • 1948: 10,000 Kids and a Cop
  • 1971: MisteRogers' Neighborhood

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Brenda Joyce in the All Movie Guide . Retrieved August 6, 2009
  2. ↑ Other sources also mention 1912 and 1915 as the year of birth.
  3. ↑ telegraph.co.uk S Branda Joyce died at the age of 97 . Retrieved August 6, 2009
  4. ↑ a b c d "Tarzan" actress Brenda Joyce dies . Retrieved August 6, 2009
personal data
SURNAME Joyce, Brenda
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Leabo, Betty Graffina (real name); Graftina (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-american actress
DATE OF BIRTH February 25, 1917
PLACE OF BIRTH Excelsior Springs , Missouri, United States
DATE OF DEATH 4th July 2009
Place of death Santa Monica , California, United States