Goodee Montgomery

{{Short description|American actress}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Goodee Montgomery

| image =

| imagesize =

| caption =

| birth_name = Virginia Lawhead

| birth_date = March 28, 1906

| birth_place = St. Joseph, Missouri, United States

| death_date = June 5, 1978 (aged 72)

| death_place = Los Angeles, California, United States

| othername = Virginia Montgomery

| occupation = Actress

| yearsactive = 1926 - 1937 (film)

| spouse = Frank Burgess McDonald (1934 - ?)

}}

Goodee Montgomery (born Virginia Lawhead; 1906–1978) was an American actressAaker p.56 and musician. She was the niece of the actor David C. Montgomery.{{cite magazine |date=December 18, 1925 |page=22 |title=May Breen's Pupil To Star |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mPWXg_NzsqkC&dq=%22Goodee+Montgomery%22&pg=RA7-PA22 |magazine=The Billboard |access-date=October 28, 2022}} She also performed in vaudeville.{{cite magazine |last=Shapiro |first=M. H. |date=November 13, 1926 |page=15 |title=B. S. Moss' Regent, N. Y. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mPWXg_NzsqkC&dq=%22Goodee+Montgomery%22&pg=RA2-PA15 |magazine=The Billboard |access-date=October 28, 2022}}

Montgomery was born Virginia Lawhead in St. Joseph, Missouri.{{cite news |title=Plays and Players |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/112158091/brooklyn-life/ |access-date=October 28, 2022 |work=Brooklyn Life |date=July 14, 1923 |page=18|via = Newspapers.com}} Her father, Rex Lawhead, managed a theater in Decatur, Illinois.{{cite news |title=About Town and Elsewhere |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/112154138/goodee-montgomery/ |access-date=October 28, 2022 |work=The Decatur Daily Review |date=December 13, 1933 |page=8|via = Newspapers.com}} Her parents divorced when she was 15 years old. Her stage name was a combination of a pet name her uncle used for her, Goodee, and her mother's maiden name, Montgomery.{{cite news |last1=Buck |first1=Paula |title=Goodee Montgomery Became Stage Success |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/64343059/goodee-montgomery-bio/ |access-date=October 28, 2022 |work=Decatur Sunday Herald and Review |date=September 10, 1976 |page=51|via = Newspapers.com}}

Montgomery sang and played banjo and ukulele. She also arranged, recorded, and made broadcasts for the Victor Company in addition to writing songs and writing books about the ukulele. As a writer, Montgomery used the pen name Donna McDonald.{{cite news |title=Actress Has Pen Name |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/112157700/the-los-angeles-times/ |access-date=October 28, 2022 |work=Los Angeles Times |date=August 29, 1937 |page=55|via = Newspapers.com}}

On Broadway, Montgomery portrayed Hotsie in Piggy (1927).{{cite web |title=Goodee Montgomery |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/goodee-montgomery-53464 |website=Internet Broadway Database |publisher=The Broadway League |access-date=October 28, 2022}} Montgomery and Dorothy Stone formed an act in the early 1930s, following in the tradition of Montgomery's uncle and Stone's father, who had an act together.

Montgomery married director Frank Burgess McDonald in 1934. She became a successful watercolor artist after she injured her spine in 1940 and cut short her career in acting.{{cite book |last1=Tucker |first1=David C. |title=Pine-Thomas Productions: A History and Filmography |date=August 15, 2019 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-7743-9 |page=230 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TM2qDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Goodee+Montgomery%22&pg=PA230 |access-date=October 28, 2022 |language=en}}