Jobyna Ralston
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Jobyna Ralston (November 21, 1899 - January 22, 1967) was a notable actress of the silent film era. Many consider her one of the most beautiful actresses of her era.
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[edit] Early Life and Career
Born Jobyna Lancaster Ralston in South Pittsburg, Tennessee in 1899 to parents who named her after famed entertainer of the time, Jobyna Howland. Jobyna's mother, a portrait photographer, carefully groomed her daughter for a show business career.
At the age of nine she gave her first stage performance in Cinderella during the grand opening of the Wilson theatre/Opera House in 1909. Around 1915, Jobyna attended acting school in New York. Later danced chorus and sang in Broadway productions, beginning with Two Little Girls In Blue. This production marked her Broadway debut, when she was 21. The French comedian Max Linder saw her on stage and persuaded her to go to Hollywood, where Jobyna appeared in a number of his films. Soon director Hal Roach began to star the actress in one-reel comedies. She forsook the stage for the screen in 1922 when her mother's health began to fail. She needed to make more income quickly to help pay her medical bills.
[edit] Starring with Harold Lloyd
In 1923 she was named by the film industry as one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars. This award was given every year to the top up and coming female stars. This same year she starred with famed silent comedian Harold Lloyd in Why Worry?, and for the next five years appeared in six of Lloyd's acclaimed feature films as his leading lady. Ralston brought both genuine emotional depth and comedic talent to these films, and it is for these performances and her onscreen chemistry with Lloyd that she is best remembered today.
[edit] Silent film career
As a freelance actress, Jobyna co-starred with Richard Arlen, in the first Oscar-winning film, Wings. She had a feature role in a film which also featured Clara Bow, Gary Cooper, and Buddy Rogers. She would star in eleven more motion pictures. A number of her movies co-starred actor Eddie Cantor. Her film career ended after two early talkies mostly because Jobyna had a lisp. Her last talkie, Rough Waters (1930), found her acting opposite Rin Tin Tin [1].
[edit] Personal life
Jobyna was married twice, the first time to her childhood beau John Campbell, but the marriage did not last. She married actor Richard Arlen in 1927, who she had met on the set of Wings. They had one child, actor Richard Arlen, Jr. Ralston and Richard Arlen divorced in 1945. She spent the last five years of her life suffering from rheumatism and had a series of strokes. She died in 1967 from pneumonia at the Motion Picture Country Home in Woodland Hills, California, USA. She was 66 years old.
[edit] Trivia
Shares a birthday with Björk, Goldie Hawn, Rachel Rogers, Nicollette Sheridan, & Juliet Mills.
[edit] Filmography
- Sheer Luck (1931)
- Rough Waters (1930)
- The College Coquette (1929)
- Some Mother's Boy (1929)
- The Power of the Press (1928)
- The Toilers (1928)
- The Big Hop (1928)
- Black Butterflies (1928)
- The Count of Ten (1928)
- The Night Flyer (1928)
- Little Mickey Grogan (1927)
- Pretty Clothes (1927)
- A Racing Romeo (1927)
- Wings (1927)
- Lightning (1927)
- Special Delivery (1927)
- The Kid Brother (1927)
- Gigolo (1926)
- Sweet Daddies (1926)
- For Heaven's Sake (1926)
- Don't Butt In (1926)
- Between Meals (1926)
- Humor Risk (1926)
- Whistling Lions (1925)
- Are Parents Pickles? (1925)
- The Freshman (1925)
- Whispering Lions (1925)
- Hot Water (1924)
- Girl Shy (1924)
- Winner Take All (1923)
- Why Worry? (1923)
- For Guests Only (1923)
- For Art's Sake (1923)
- For Safe Keeping (1923)
- Shoot Straight (1923)
- Do Your Stuff (1923)
- Tight Shoes (1923)
- A Loose Tightwad (1923)
- Jailed and Bailed (1923)
- Don't Say Die (1923)
- Mr. Hyppo (1923)
- Watch Your Wife (1923)
- The White Blacksmith (1922)
- Fair Week (1922)
- I'll Take Vanilla (1922)
- Blaze Away (1922)
- The Flivver (1922)
- Harvest Hands (1922)
- Washed Ashore (1922)
- Shine 'em Up (1922)
- The Golf Bug (1922)
- Shiver and Shake (1922)
- The Uppercut (1922)
- Face the Camera (1922)
- Soak the Shiek (1922)
- Bone Dry (1922)
- The Landlubber (1922)
- Wet Weather (1922)
- The Three Must-Get-Theres (1922)
- The Truth Juggler (1922)
- Touch All the Bases (1922)
- Take Next Car (1922)
- The Bride-to-Be (1922)
- Friday, the Thirteenth (1922)
- The Call of Home (1922)
- A Sailor-Made Man (1921) (uncredited)
[edit] References
- Los Angeles Times, Death Takes Comedy Star Jobyna Ralston, January 23, 1967, Page A8.
- New York Times, Jobyna Ralston, 66, Ex-Screen Actress, January 23, 1967, Page 43.
