Leatrice Joy

Leatrice Joy
File:Leatrice joy.jpg
Born	Leatrice Johanna Zeidler (1893-11-07)November 7, 1893 New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
Died	Riverdale, Bronx, New York, U.S.
Cause of death	Acute anemia
Resting place	Saint Savior Episcopal Churchyard
Nationality	American
Other names	Beatrice Joy
Education	New Orleans Convent of the Sacred Heart
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1915–1954
Spouse(s)	John Gilbert (m. 1922; div. 1925) William S. Hook (m. 1931; div. 1944) Arthur Kem Westermark (m. 1945; div. 1954)
Children	1

Leatrice Joy (November 7, 1893 – May 13, 1985) was an American actress most prolific during the silent film era.

Early life

Leatrice Johanna Zeidler was born in New Orleans, Louisiana to dentist Edward Joseph Zeidler, who was of Austrian and French descent, and Mary Joy Crimens Zeidler, who was of German and Irish descent. She had a brother, Billy, who later worked at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

She attended New Orleans Convent of the Sacred Heart but left when her father was diagnosed with tuberculosis and forced to give up his dental practice. She tried out for the New Orleans-based Nola Film Company in 1915 and was hired as an actress. Her mother disapproved of her becoming an actress, but the family needed the money, so her mother accompanied her to California where she began working in plays and films.

Career

Joy began her acting career in stock theater companies and soon made her film debut; between April 1916 and November 1917 she was the star of about 20 one-reel Black Diamond Comedies produced by the United States Motion Picture Corporation in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and released nationally by Paramount Pictures. In many of these, she starred as "Susie," an irrepressibly enthusiastic, impulsive young woman who gets into humorous scrapes.

In late 1917 she relocated to the relatively young film colony in Hollywood, California and began appearing in comedy shorts opposite Billy West and Oliver Hardy. Signed under contract with Samuel Goldwyn Studios, her first role for the studio was in 1917's The Pride of the Clan opposite Mary Pickford. Her career quickly gained momentum, and by 1920 she had become a highly-popular actress with the filmgoing public and was given leading-lady status opposite such performers as Wallace Beery, Conrad Nagel, Nita Naldi, and Irene Rich.

Directors often cast Joy in the "strong-willed independent woman" role, and the liberated atmosphere of the Jazz Age Roaring Twenties solidified her public popularity, especially with female film goers. Her close-cropped hair and somewhat boyish persona (she was often cast as a woman mistaken for a young man) became fashionable during the era. With her increasing popularity, Joy was sought out by Cecil B. DeMille, who signed her to Paramount Pictures in 1922, immediately casting her in that year's successful high-society drama Saturday Night opposite Conrad Nagel. Joy starred in a number of successful releases for Paramount and was heavily promoted as one of DeMille's most prominent protégées.

Transition to sound

In 1925, against the advice of studio executives, Joy parted ways with Paramount and followed DeMille to his new film company, Producers Distributing Corporation, for which she made a few moderately-successful films, including Lois Weber's last silent film The Angel of Broadway in 1927. A professional dispute ended the DeMille/Joy partnership in 1928 and she was signed with MGM. That year she headlined MGM's second part-talkie effort, The Bellamy Trial opposite Betty Bronson and Margaret Livingston.

Joy's career began to falter with the advent of talkies, possibly because her heavy southern accent was considered unfashionable in comparison with other actresses' refined "mid-Atlantic" diction. In 1929 she became a freelance actress without a longterm contract.

Retirement and later years

By the early 1930s, Joy was semi-retired from the motion-picture industry, but she later made several guest appearances in a few modestly-successful films, such as 1951's Love Nest, which featured a young Marilyn Monroe.

In the 1960s, Joy retired to Greenwich, Connecticut, where she lived with her daughter and son-in-law. She was interviewed in the television documentary series Hollywood: A Celebration of the American Silent Film (1980).

Personal life

Joy was married three times and had one child. On March 22, 1922, she married actor John Gilbert. They had a daughter, Leatrice Joy Gilbert (later Fountain), in September 1924 who later acted in bit parts. Joy filed for divorce in August 1924, citing Gilbert's alcoholism. Joy's second marriage was to businessman William Spencer Hook on October 22, 1931; they divorced in 1944. Joy's third and final marriage was to former actor and electrical engineer Arthur Kem Westermark. They married on March 5, 1945 in Mexico City and divorced in October 1954.

During her silent film career in the 1920s, she was Hollywood's best known Christian Scientist.

Death

On May 13, 1985, Joy died from acute anemia at the High Ridge House Christian Science nursing home in Riverdale, Bronx, New York. She was interred at the Saint Savior Episcopal Churchyard in Old Greenwich, Fairfield County, Connecticut.

For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Leatrice Joy has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6517 Hollywood Blvd., in Hollywood, California.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1915	His Turning Point	Mrs. Carey
1916	The Folly of Revenge	Antonio's Daughter
1916	The Other Man		Short film
1916	A Troublesome Trip	Unconfirmed role	Short film
1916	Their Counterfeit Vacation	Unconfirmed role	Short film
1916	Auto Intoxication		Short film Credited as Beatrice Joy
1917	The Pride of the Clan	Extra	Uncredited
1917	A Girl's Folly	Girl	Uncredited
1917	Her Scrambled Ambition		Short film
1917	The Magic Vest		Short film Credited as Beatrice Joy
1917	Speed		Short film Credited as Beatrice Joy
1917	Getting the Evidence		Short film Credited as Beatrice Joy
1917	The Wishbone		Short film Credited as Beatrice Joy
1917	Her Iron Will		Short film Credited as Beatrice Joy
1917	Her Fractured Voice		Short film Credited as Beatrice Joy
1917	Susie of the Follies	Susie	Short film Credited as Beatrice Joy
1917	The Window Dresser's Dream		Short film Credited as Beatrice Joy
1917	Wits and Fits		Short film Credited as Beatrice Joy
1917	The Rejuvenator		Short film Credited as Beatrice Joy
1917	Susie the Sleepwalker	Susie	Short film Credited as Beatrice Joy
1917	Susie's Scheme	Susie	Short film Credited as Beatrice Joy
1917	Susie Slips One Over	Susie	Short film Credited as Beatrice Joy
1917	The Candy Kid		Short film
1917	Nearly a Baker		Short film Credited as Beatrice Joy
1917	A Society Scrimmage		Short film Credited as Beatrice Joy
1917	The Slave	Susie, his daughter	Short film
1918	The Stranger	Susie	Short film
1918	His Day Out	Joy	Short film
1918	The Orderly		Short film
1918	The Scholar		Short film
1918	The Messenger		Short film
1918	The Handy Man		Short film
1918	Shackled	Undetermined role	Uncredited/Unconfirmed
1918	One Dollar Bid	Emily Dare
1918	The City of Tears	Maria
1918	Wedlock	Jane Hollister
1918	Her Man		Alternative titles: The Battle Cry The Woman Eternal
1918	Three X Gordon	Farmer's Daughter
1919	The Man Hunter	Florence
1919	The Water Lily	Undetermined Role
1920	Just a Wife	Mary Virginia Lee
1920	The Right of Way	Rosalie Eventurail
1920	Blind Youth	Hope Martin
1920	Smiling All the Way	Alice Drydan
1920	The Invisible Divorce	Pidgie Ryder
1920	Down Home	Nance Pelot
1921	Bunty Pulls the Strings	Bunty Biggar
1921	A Tale of Two Worlds	Sui Sen
1921	The Ace of Hearts	Lilith
1921	Ladies Must Live	Barbara	Lost film
1921	The Poverty of the Riches	Katherine Colby
1921	Voices of the City	Georgia Rodman	Lost film
1922	Saturday Night	Iris Van Suydam
1922	The Bachelor Daddy	Sally Lockwood
1922	A Trip to Paramountown	Herself	Short film
1922	Manslaughter	Lydia Thorne
1922	The Man Who Saw Tomorrow	Rita Pring
1922	Minnie	Minnie
1923	Java Head	Taou Yuen
1923	You Can't Fool Your Wife	Edith McBride
1923	The Silent Partner	Lisa Coburn
1923	Hollywood	Cameo role	Lost film
1923	The Ten Commandments	Mary Leigh
1924	The Marriage Cheat	Helen Canfield
1924	Triumph	Ann Land
1924	Changing Husbands	Gwynne Evans/Ava Graham
1925	The Dressmaker from Paris	Fifi	Lost film
1925	Hells Highroad	Judy Nichols
1925	The Wedding Song	Beatrice Glynn
1926	Made for Love	Joan Ainsworth
1926	Eve's Leaves	Eve Corbin
1926	The Clinging Vine	Antoinette B. "A.B." Allen
1926	For Alimony Only	Mary Martin Williams
1927	Girl in the Rain
1927	Nobody's Widow	Roxanna Smith
1927	Vanity	Barbara Fiske
1927	The Angel of Broadway	Babe Scott	Lost film
1928	The Blue Danube	Marguerite
1928	Man-Made Women	Nan Payson
1928	Show People	Herself - at Banquet	Uncredited
1928	Tropic Madness	Juanita
1929	The Bellamy Trial	Sue Ives
1929	Strong Boy	Mary McGregor	Lost film
1929	A Most Immoral Lady	Laura Sergeant
1930	The Love Trader	Martha Adams
1939	First Love	Grace Shute Clinton	Alternative title: Cinderella
1940	The Old Swimmin' Hole	Mrs. Julie Carter
1949	Red Stallion in the Rockies	Martha Simpson
1949	Air Hostess	Celia Hansen
1951	Love Nest	Eadie Gaynor
1953-1954	Westinghouse Studio One	Various roles	2 episodes
1954	Robert Montgomery Presents		Episode: "The Steady Man"

External links

• Leatrice Joy at the Internet Movie Database
• Leatrice Joy at Silents Are Golden
• Leatrice Joy at Silent Era People
• Leatrice Joy at Silent Ladies & Gents
• Leatrice Joy at The International Silent Movie
• Leatrice Joy at Find a Grave
• Leatrice Joy at Virtual History