Joan Barclay
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Joan Barclay, early screen name Geraine Greear, (August 31, 1914-November 22, 2002) was a popular, though now little known, film actress of the 1930s and 1940s, starring mostly in B-movies and cliffhangers, with her career starting during the silent film era.
[edit] Early life and early acting
Barclay was born Mary Elizabeth Greear in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her family moved to California when she was still a child due to her mother wishing to escape the cold climate of the north. Moving to Hollywood to pursue acting, Barclay received her first role at the age of 13, which was credited with her billed as "Geraine Greear", in the 1927 film The Goucho, starring Douglas Fairbanks and Lupe Velez. It would be her only silent film. In 1930, still billed as "Geraine Greear", she had a minor role in King of Jazz. From 1932 to 1935 she would have thirteen uncredited film roles, which included an uncredited role in the 1932 film 42nd Street, which was Ginger Rogers breakthrough movie.
[edit] Career in B-movies
Then, in 1936, her career changed for the better when she began starring in westerns opposite some of Hollywoods leading cowboy stars, to include Tom Tyler, Hoot Gibson, and Tom Keene. These roles would start a career for her in B-movies, and would be what she is most remembered for today.
Her first western starring role was opposite Tom Tyler in Ridin' On, followed by Feud of the West alongside Hoot Gibson, Glory Trail with Tom Keene, and Men of the Plains with Rex Bell, all being in 1936. That year she received roles in other B-movies that were not westerns as well, including the 1936 crime drama Prison Shadows, which starred Lucille Lund and Edward J. Nugent, and the action/adventure film Phantom Patrol starring opposite Kermit Maynard.
From early 1936 to 1939 Barclay had both starring and supporting roles in a total of thirty five films, almost all of which were B-movies, many of which were westerns, serials, or cliffhangers. Most had her playing the role of the heroine opposite the films hero. During the latter part of the 1930s she starred alongside such cowboy stars as Slim Whitaker, Tim McCoy, Ben Corbett, Tex Fletcher, and also rejoined Edward J. Nugent in the 1937 adventure film Island Captives.
By 1940 Barclay was working steadily, averaging better than six films per year. From 1940 to 1945 she appeared in thirty four films. However, by 1943 she had began receiving more and more uncredited roles, a trend which would only increase with time. In 1944 she appeared in six films, four of which were uncredited. In 1945 she starred in the Charlie Chan mystery The Shanghai Cobra. It would be her last film. She retired from acting, but for a time she remained in the Los Angeles area. She married three times in her lifetime, with her having children from her first marriage, which lasted from 1945 to 1967, ending in divorce. A second marriage was shortlived, and also ended in divorce. Her last marriage was to George Sullivan, with whom she remained until his death. The couple eventually settled in Palm Desert, California, where she was residing at the time of her death on November 22, 2002.
