Juanita Quigley (24 June 1931 – 29 October 2017) was an American child actress in motion pictures of the 1930s and 1940s. She had a sister,

Rita Quigley Rita Allene Quigley (March 31, 1923 – August 25, 2008) was an American actress who later became Corporate Secretary, and the first woman on the board of directors, of the Petroleum Club of Los Angeles. She was the elder sister of Juanita Quigl ...

, who was also a child actress.

Career

Juanita Quigley was billed as "Baby Jane" in several early roles. Her screen debut was as

Claudette Colbert Claudette Colbert ( ; born Émilie Claudette Chauchoin; September 13, 1903July 30, 1996) was an American actress. Colbert began her career in Broadway productions during the late 1920s and progressed to films with the advent of talking pictures ...

's three-year-old daughter in '' Imitation of Life'' (1934). She went on to play featured parts in several films, including ''The Man Who Reclaimed His Head'' (1934) and was

Jean Harlow Jean Harlow (born Harlean Harlow Carpenter; March 3, 1911 – June 7, 1937) was an American actress. Known for her portrayal of "bad girl" characters, she was the leading sex symbol of the early 1930s and one of the defining figures of the ...

's niece in ''

Riffraff Riff Raff, Riffraff, or Riff-Raff, a term for the common people but with negative connotations, may refer to: In music * Riff Raff (rapper), from Texas * Riff Raff (band), a UK progressive rock band * Riff Raff, a band formed by Billy Bragg * ' ...

'' (1936). Quigley became a familiar face to moviegoers of the era, but major roles for children so young were few and she often played bits as well as featured roles. She was one of the most popular child stars of her day, and was Universal Pictures' youngest star in 1934. Quigley was briefly involved in the ''

Our Gang ''Our Gang'' (also known as ''The Little Rascals'' or ''Hal Roach's Rascals'') is an American series of comedy short films chronicling a group of poor neighborhood children and their adventures. Created by film producer Hal Roach, also the ...

'' film series. In 1940, she was the guest-starring lead in '' The New Pupil'' when cast as Sally, who briefly takes "Alfalfa" (played by

Carl Switzer Carl may refer to: *Carl, Georgia, city in USA *Carl, West Virginia, an unincorporated community * Carl (name), includes info about the name, variations of the name, and a list of people with the name *Carl², a TV series * "Carl", an episode of te ...

) away from

Darla Hood Darla Jean Hood (November 8, 1931 – June 13, 1979) was an American child actress, best known as the leading lady in the ''Our Gang'' series from 1935 to 1941. She was born in Leedey, Oklahoma, the only child of music teacher Elizabeth Da ...

. Two years later, she reprised the character in '' Going to Press'' (1942), the only time in the MGM era where the female lead was played by someone other than Darla Hood (who had recently left the series) or Janet Burston. Quigley acted alongside her older sister,

, in '' Whispering Footsteps'' (1943). Her last major role was in ''

National Velvet ''National Velvet'' is a novel by Enid Bagnold (1889–1981), first published in 1935. It was illustrated by Laurian Jones, Bagnold's daughter, who was born in 1921. Plot summary ''National Velvet'' is the story of a 14-year-old girl named ...

'' (1944), in which she played

Elizabeth Taylor Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor (February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011) was a British-American actress. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 1950s. ...

's sister.

Later career

Quigley made only a handful of small appearances after ''National Velvet'', her last being in 1950. At the age of 20, in August 1951, she became a Catholic

religious sister A religious sister (abbreviated ''Sr.'' or Sist.) in the Catholic Church is a woman who has taken public vows in a religious institute dedicated to apostolic works, as distinguished from a nun who lives a cloistered monastic life dedicated to pr ...

, Sister Quentin Rita in the order of the Daughters of Mary and Joseph, teaching at Precious Blood Catholic School. After several years in her convent, she left the vocation and married Dr. Donald Robert Schultz in 1964. The couple had two children, Erik and Marta, before his death in 2012. Inaccurate documentation exists that Juanita made an uncredited appearance as an extra in the locally filmed '' Porky's II: The Next Day''. Juanita Quigley died in Sudbury, Massachusetts, on 29 October 2017, aged 86. She and her husband Donald R. Schultz (1927–2012) are buried at the

National Memorial Cemetery of Arizona National Memorial Cemetery of Arizona, also known as Arizona Veterans Memorial Cemetery, is a United States National Cemetery located in the city of Phoenix in Maricopa County, Arizona. It encompasses , and as of the end of 2005, had 43,672 interm ...

in Phoenix.

Filmography

References

Bibliography

* Willson, Dixie (1935). ''Little Hollywood Stars''. Akron, OH, and New York: Saalfield Pub. Co.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Quigley, Juanita 1931 births 2017 deaths Actresses from Los Angeles American child actresses American film actresses Burials in Arizona 20th-century American actresses 20th-century American Roman Catholic nuns 21st-century American women