Search
Joyce Holden Profile
|
|
Photo gallery |
| (Joanne Heckert) |
|
| 1 September 30 | is born in Kansas City, Missouri, of Swedish-English-German-Dutch descent |
| ? | starts modeling, singing and dancing at 13 |
| 47 | goes to Hollywood with her mother, D. P. Heckert |
| ? | finishes high school at Hollywood High |
| ? | enrolls at the University of California at Los Angeles |
| 48 | is crowned "Miss Southern California" |
| 49 | an agent spots her at a college dance |
| becomes "Miss Television" |
|
| ? | works as an advertising and fashion model |
| ? | is on television |
| ? | a TV actor introduces her to Sophie Rosenstein, talent coach at Universal-International, who introduces her to the bosses, who sign her to a contract |
| c. 50 | Tony Curtis helps her to screen-test for The Milkman, which starts her career |
| November 50 | Dr. Jerry Rudner is so crazy about her that he has his car painted blue, the color of her eyes |
| 51 | lives with her mother and her brother |
| April 51 | is named "Pet Girl" by the American Humane Association to call attention to upcoming "Be Kind to Animals Week" in May |
| 16 June 51 | secretly marries songwriter Arnold "Dok" Stanford in Las Vegas, Nevada. The marriage will be disclosed to the press in 1953. |
| August 51 | Stanford flattens an annoyer who wouldn’t let Joyce alone in a Valley bar. He breaks the guy’s jaw. |
| September 51 | her agent does not want her to sign the new contract offered by Universal-International. Unless a big raise is coming through, she may decide to wait out her present seven-year ticket. |
| columnist Earl Carroll phones her to check a rumor that she and Stanford have called the whole thing off. "I can’t tell you for sure," says Joyce. "The other evening, I went to a restaurant near the studio to have a beer with Casey Tibbs, world’s champion cowboy, who is appearing with me in Bronco Buster. Doc came to pick me up and found us. I wasn’t doing anything bad but he got very angry, I offered to return the ring. He hasn’t called me since. I don’t know what is going to happen." |
|
| March 52 | despite her complaints about the high cost of living in Hollywood, her $100 salary raise, from $150 to $250 weekly, will not give her much more take-home pay. A Superior Court judge tells her she still must save 15 percent of her salary. She is 20. |
| April 52 | is to attend the world premiere of Bronco Buster in Omaha. She, John Lund, and Chill Wills are sent directly into the thick of the devastated flood district in Nebraska to ballyhoo their new movie. For over a day and a half Universal-International is unable to contact the troupe, and boss William Goetz is plenty worried. |
| May 52 | she and Stanford, are seen chatting with Tony Curtis at Modern Screen’s recent party |
| November 52 | she and Stanford have a big battle. On the Girls in the Night set, she isn’t sure what will happen. "It seemed awfully important this morning," she says. "Maybe by tomorrow, it won’t." |
| 19 August 53 | reveals her marriage to Stanford |
| September 53 | she and Stanford expect a baby in December |
| she and Stanford deny the stork rumors |
|
| December 53 | she and Stanford will welcome the stork, any edition |
| 54 | switches from her Methodist upbringing to Jehovah’s Witnesses |
| August 54 | catches her estranged husband, "Dok" Stanford, entertaining a young woman in his apartment. She finds the girl hiding in a car in Stanford’s garage. |
| February 55 | she and Stanford now live under separate roofs and aren’t making any headway on divorce plans. He tells pals that Joyce isn’t in the mood to tell it to the judge. |
| April 55 | once a golden hope at Universal-International, she now earns greenstuff by working as a fashion model around town. She’s up for a few telefilm series, however. |
| July 55 | says she wants to divorce Stanford, but can’t locate her estranged male |
| 31 October 55 | wins a divorce from Stanford in Los Angeles on grounds of infidelity, testifying she caught him with an "other woman" last August. She’s awarded a half interest in songs Stanford has written or will write within a year. He’s 40; she’s 24. |
| December 56 | is seen at the Pygmalion night with Gene Tunney’s handsome son, Jack |
| ? | is mistress of ceremonies on the Will Rogers, Jr., "Good Morning" show |
| 5 August 58 | marries David P. Mannhalter. He will become an industrial real estate broker. |
| April 64 | she and Mannhalter are still members of Jehovah’s Witnesses and knock on front doors to deliver their sermon. "Christ went from city to city," she says, "from door to door, preaching his way." |
| 08 | she and her husband of fifty years reside in California |
| 21 January 22 | dies at age 91 in Encinitas, California |
| Sources: Tom Weaver, Universal-International publicity, Waterloo Sunday Courier, Modern Screen, Valley Morning Star, Dixon Evening Telegraph, The Monessen Daily Independent, Mansfield News-Journal, The Lowell Sun, The Era, The Portsmouth Herald, Pottstown Mercury, Indiana Evening Gazette, The Bridgeport Telegram, The Newark Advocate | |
| Recommended Books: | |
| Links: Filmography Joyce Holden at Spooky's Nightmare Mansion Brian's Drive-In Theater: Joyce Holden | |