Joyce Compton

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Olivia Joyce Compton (born January 27, 1907 in Lexington , Kentucky , † October 13, 1997 in Los Angeles , California ) was an American actress.

life and career

Joyce Compton began her acting career at the age of 18 in the silent film The Golden Bed . Her parents had previously moved her from Oklahoma to Hollywood, hoping for a successful acting career for their handsome daughter there. Indeed, after a difficult start, success set in and Compton received a studio contract with First National , where she landed a number of leading female roles. In 1926 she was selected as a potential star among the WAMPAS Baby Stars . With the beginning of the sound film eraAt the end of the 1920s, Compton specialized in a role, which she retained until the end of her career: supporting roles as a stupid blonde with a squeaky voice, often paired with her distinctive southern accent.

In the early 1930s she appeared in several short films for comedy producer Mack Sennett , and in other comedies she acted as a partner for comedians such as Bobby Clark , Paul McCullough , Charley Chase and Walter Catlett . Perhaps the best-known role of her career she played in 1937 as a simple-minded nightclub singer in the screwball comedy The Terrible Truth , in which she competes with Irene Dunne for the love of Cary Grant . In the 1940s she appeared as a loving nurse in the comedy Christmas Made to Measure (1945) alongside Barbara Stanwyck . Later the offers decreased because she was now too old for the role type of the stupid blonde. Instead, she occasionally worked as a private nurse and used her free time in hobbies such as painting and dress design. She played her last role in 1961 in the television series Pete and Gladys .

She had a brief relationship with Joel McCrea in the late 1920s . Otherwise, the actress lived most of her life with her parents, a 1955 marriage with William Kaliher failed after just a few months. Towards the end of her life she wrote her autobiography The Real Joyce Compton: Behind the dumb blonde movie image , which was published posthumously in 2009. Joyce Compton died in Los Angeles in 1997 at the age of 90. She was buried in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Celebrity Cemetery in Hollywood Hills.

Filmography (selection)

literature

  • Joyce Compton and Michael Ankerich: "The Real Joyce Compton: Behind the dumb blonde movie image" . BearManor Media, 2009.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Joyce Compton at Classic Images
  2. ^ Joyce Compton at Allmovie
  3. ^ Joyce Compton in the Find a Grave database . Retrieved February 1, 2018.
personal data
SURNAME Compton, Joyce
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Compton, Olivia Joyce (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-american actress
DATE OF BIRTH January 27, 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH Lexington , Kentucky , United States
DATE OF DEATH October 13, 1997
Place of death Los Angeles , California , United States