| Joanne Dru | |
|---|---|
from the trailer for Vengeance Valley (1951) |
|
| Born | Joan Letitia LaCock[1] January 31, 1922 Logan, West Virginia, U.S. |
| Died | September 10, 1996 (aged 74) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1946–1980 |
| Spouse |
|
Joanne Dru (January 31, 1922 – September 10, 1996) [2] was an American film and television actress, known for such films as Red River and All the King's Men.
Contents |
Born as Joan Letitia LaCock[1] in Logan, West Virginia, Dru came to New York City in 1940 at the age of eighteen. After finding employment as a model, she was chosen by Al Jolson to appear in the cast of his Broadway show Hold Onto Your Hats. When she moved to Hollywood, she found work in the theater. Dru was spotted by a talent scout and made her first film appearance in Abie's Irish Rose (1946).
Over the next decade, Dru appeared frequently in films and on television. She was cast often in western films such as Howard Hawks's Red River (1948), and John Ford's She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), and Wagon Master (1950).
She gave a well-received performance in the dramatic film All the King's Men (1949) and co-starred with Dan Dailey in The Pride of St. Louis (1952) about major-league baseball pitcher Jerome "Dizzy" Dean.
She appeared in the James Stewart drama Thunder Bay in 1953 and then a Martin and Lewis comedy 3 Ring Circus (1954). Her film career petered out by the end of the 1950s, but she continued working frequently in television, most notably as "Babs Wooten" on the 1960-61 sitcom, Guestward, Ho!.
After Guestward, Ho!, she appeared sporadically for the rest of the 1960s and the first half of the 1970s, with one feature film appearance, in Sylvia (1965), and eight television appearances.
For her contribution to the television industry,[3] Dru was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
She was the elder sister of Peter Marshall, an actor and singer best-known as the original host of the American game show Hollywood Squares.
Before moving to Hollywood, Dru met and married popular singer Dick Haymes. The couple had three children together: Richard Ralph Haymes (born July 24, 1942), Helen Joanna Haymes (born May 13, 1944), Barbara Nugent Haymes (born September 19, 1947).
Divorced from Haymes in 1949, Dru married Red River co-star John Ireland less than a month later. The pair were divorced in 1957. She had no children from her subsequent three marriages.
She died in Los Angeles, California in 1996, aged 74, from lymphedema. Her ashes were scattered into the Pacific Ocean.