Joan Blondell

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Birth Name: Rose Joan Blondell

Born: 30 August 1909 Died: 25 December 1979

Country of origin: United States

Height: 5' 3"

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My Favourite Old Hollywood Hairstyles (519 items)
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Joan Blondell Videos

Movie Legends - Joan Blondell

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Joan Blondell & Barbara Stanwyck Get Undressed

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Movie Legends - Joan Blondell (Finale)

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Description: Rose Joan Blondell (August 30, 1906 – December 25, 1979) was an American actress who performed in film and television for 50 years. Blondell began her career in vaudeville. After winning a beauty pageant, she embarked on a film career, establishing herself as a Pre-Code staple of Warner Bros. Pictures in wisecracking, sexy roles, appearing in more than 100 films and television productions. She was described as a "brassy blonde with a heart of gold." Blondell was most active in film during the 1930s and early 1940s, and during that time co-starred with Glenda Farrell, a colleague and close friend, in nine films. Bl Rose Joan Blondell (August 30, 1906 – December 25, 1979) was an American actress who performed in film and television for 50 years.

Blondell began her career in vaudeville. After winning a beauty pageant, she embarked on a film career, establishing herself as a Pre-Code staple of Warner Bros. Pictures in wisecracking, sexy roles, appearing in more than 100 films and television productions. She was described as a "brassy blonde with a heart of gold." Blondell was most active in film during the 1930s and early 1940s, and during that time co-starred with Glenda Farrell, a colleague and close friend, in nine films. Blondell continued acting on film and television for the rest of her life, often in small, supporting roles. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in The Blue Veil (1951). In 1958, she was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her performance as Mrs. Farrow in The Rope Dancers.

Near the end of her life, Blondell was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Opening Night (1977). She was featured in two more films, the blockbuster musical Grease (1978) and Franco Zeffirelli's The Champ (1979), which was released shortly before her death from leukemia.

Blondell was married three times, first to cinematographer George Barnes in a private wedding ceremony on January 4, 1933, at the First Presbyterian Church in Phoenix, Arizona. They had one child, Norman Scott Barnes. Blondell and Barnes divorced in 1936.

On September 19, 1936, she married actor Dick Powell.[44] They had a daughter, Ellen, who later became a studio hair stylist.[45] Powell legally adopted Blondell's son Norman, who later became a producer, director, and television executive. Blondell and Powell divorced on July 14, 1944.

On July 5, 1947, Blondell married producer Mike Todd. Her marriage to Todd was an emotional and financial disaster that ended in divorce in 1950. She once accused him of holding her outside a hotel window by her ankles. He was also a heavy spender who lost hundreds of thousands of dollars gambling (high-stakes bridge was one of his weaknesses) and went through a controversial bankruptcy during their marriage. An often-repeated myth is that Mike Todd left Blondell for Elizabeth Taylor, when in fact, she had left Todd of her own accord years before he met Taylor. ... (more)