Brenda Joyce (born Betty Graftina Leabo, February 25, 1917 – July 4, 2009)
was an American film actress.
Early life
The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Grafton Leabo, Joyce was born in
Excelsior Springs, Missouri, and was known to family and friends as Graftina.
When she was 5 years old, she moved with her mother to
San Bernardino, California, staying there through her junior high school years. They moved to
Los Angeles, California, where she attended high school. She entered the
University of Southern California on a scholarship but transferred to the
University of California, Los Angeles after one semester.
[ ]
Between her years in college and those in film, Joyce was a model for photographers. She appeared "in current magazines -- in new automobiles, using toothpaste, modeling shoes, smiling her way through the glossy life of a magazine girl."
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Film career
Although she appeared in many B-movie
A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double featur ...
s of the 1940s, she had a prominent supporting role in the major film '' The Rains Came'' (1939) opposite George Brent and Myrna Loy, and was cast as Maris Hanover in the film, '' Little Tokyo, U.S.A.'' (1942). She is best-remembered as the seventh actress to play Jane in the '' Tarzan'' series of films. She succeeded Maureen O'Sullivan in the series and appeared in the role five times.
Her first four appearances as Jane were opposite Johnny Weissmuller. However, her last performance as Jane, in '' Tarzan's Magic Fountain'' (1949), was with Lex Barker as Tarzan. Joyce and Karla Schramm
Karla Schramm (February 1, 1891 – January 17, 1980), was an American film actress. A lifelong resident of Los Angeles, California, she was the second actress to play Jane Porter, mate of Tarzan, in motion pictures.
She first appeared in the 1 ...
, from the silent era, were the only two actresses to play Jane opposite two different actors playing Tarzan.
She retired from acting in 1949.
Later years
Joyce retired "at the peak of her career to raise a family."[ ] Later, as Betty Ward, she became director of the Catholic Resettlement Office in Monterey, California
Monterey (; es, Monterrey; Ohlone: ) is a city located in Monterey County on the southern edge of Monterey Bay on the U.S. state of California's Central Coast. Founded on June 3, 1770, it functioned as the capital of Alta California under bo ...
, and "helped hundreds of refugees find new lives in America."[
]
Personal life
She was married to Owen Ward, whom she had known "since her junior high school days,"[ from 1941 until their divorce in 1960; they had three children, Pamela Ann, Timothy Owen and Beth Victoria.
]
Death
Joyce died of pneumonia at age 92[ ] on July 4, 2009, in a nursing home in Santa Monica, California.
Filmography
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Joyce, Brenda (Actress)
1917 births
2009 deaths
People from Excelsior Springs, Missouri
Actresses from Missouri
American film actresses
People from Greater Los Angeles
University of California, Los Angeles alumni
Deaths from pneumonia in California
20th-century American actresses
University of Southern California alumni
21st-century American women