Joan Woodbury

Joan Elmer Woodbury (December 17, 1915 – February 22, 1989) was an American actress beginning in the 1930s and continuing well into the 1960s. Early life Woodbury was born in Los Angeles, California on December 17, 1915. Her father was Elmer Franklin Woodbury, and her mother was born Joan Meta Hadenfeldt, whose father, Charles Hadenfeldt, had emigrated to the US from Germany. Elmer owned various hotels, including the La Casa Grande and Maryland hotels in Pasadena and the Hotel Richelieu in downtown Los Angeles. Her mother had been at Pasadena's Tournament of Roses six times 'Rose Queen' and had been in vaudeville. When she was five years old, she and her mother appeared in Oliver Morosco's The Half Breed. When she was four years old, Joan had an 18-year-old live-in governess, Marie Sandow. In 1922, when she was six, she was selected for the leading role in a series of children's fairy story films; an article about this in the San Francisco Chronicle commented, "Joan Woodbury has been known for some time as America's 100 Percent Child, and has been photographed, sketched and painted by many artists." She first studied for seven years in a convent, later trained in dance, and eventually graduated from Hollywood High School. Woodbury began dancing for the Agua Caliente dance company and, at 19, decided to attempt a career in acting. She moved to Hollywood and that same year received her first acting role in the 1934 film Eight Girls in a Boat, which was uncredited. Another uncredited role followed, with her first credited role being in the 1934 film One Exciting Adventure, which starred Binnie Barnes. Her first major role, billed as Nana Martinez, was in a Hopalong Cassidy movie The Eagle's Brood. Woodbury appeared in 15 films from 1934 through 1935, of which 10 were uncredited.