Joyce MacKenzie
{{Short description|American actress (1925–2021)}}
{{Use American English|date=May 2021}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Joyce MacKenzie
| image = Joyce MacKenzie 1950.jpg
| caption = Mackenzie in 1950
| birth_name = Joyce Elaine MacKenzie
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1925|10|13}}
| birth_place = Redwood City, California, U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2021|6|10|1925|10|13}}
| death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S.
| known_for = Jane, wife of Tarzan, in Tarzan and the She-Devil
Destination Murder
Broken Arrow
| occupation = Actress
English teacher
| years_active = 1946–1961
| spouse = Walter H. Leimert Jr
(m. 1952–60, divorced; 2 children)
Robert L. Driver
(m. 1961–66, divorced)
Victor Benedict Hassing
(m. 1972–80, his death)
| children = 2
|}}
Joyce Elaine MacKenzie (October 13, 1925 – June 10, 2021) was an American actress who appeared in films and television from 1946 to 1961.{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1350&dat=19611124&id=jZ5OAAAAIBAJ&sjid=EwEEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5907,2717470|title=Joyce victim of misleading campaign | publisher=Toledo Blade|date=November 24, 1961|accessdate=March 5, 2014}} She might be best remembered for being the eleventh actress to portray Jane. She played the role opposite Lex Barker's Tarzan in Tarzan and the She-Devil (1953).
Early life through World War II
MacKenzie was the daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Norman MacKenzie. She was active in sports in high school, winning an award for "her all-round sports ability."{{cite news|last1=Soanes|first1=Wood|title=Movie Star Once Earned Living as Active Carpenter|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/15291995/joyce_mackenzie/|work=Oakland Tribune|date=February 14, 1950|location=California, Oakland|page=33|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = November 21, 2017}} {{Open access}}
During World War II, MacKenzie worked as a carpenter's helper in shipyards{{cite news|title=Girl Hammers Way Up|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/15291742/joyce_mackenzie/|work=Salt Lake Telegram|agency=United Press|date=October 20, 1944|location=Utah, Salt Lake City|page=11|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = November 21, 2017}} {{Open access}} in San Francisco. Her opportunity for acting came when she was discovered on her job as cashier at the Pasadena Playhouse in the summer of 1948.{{cite news|last1=Neill|first1=Frank|title=In Hollywood|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6792746/long_beach_independent/|work=Long Beach Independent|agency=International News Service|date=December 21, 1949|location=California, Long Beach|page=24|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = September 26, 2016}} {{Open access}}
Film actor
MacKenzie starred in a film noir, Destination Murder (1950). She appeared with James Stewart in the western Broken Arrow (also 1950), as the wife of Robert Mitchum in the crime drama The Racket (1951) and as a publisher's daughter trying to wrest control of editor Humphrey Bogart's newspaper in Deadline - U.S.A. (1952). MacKenzie's character and Jane Russell's exchanged identities in a musical, The French Line (1954).{{Cite web |title=Joyce Mackenzie {{!}} Actress, Soundtrack |url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0533339/ |access-date=2025-05-18 |website=IMDb |language=en-US}}
Later years
Her final appearance was in the role of Nancy Gilman in the Perry Mason television series episode, "The Case of the Duplicate Daughter" (1961). After her acting career ended, MacKenzie was an English teacher; one of her students was radio host Anthony Cumia of Opie and Anthony.{{cite web|last=Cumia |first=Anthony |title=Opie and Anthony Show |url=http://www.siriusxm.com/theopie&anthonychannel |publisher=SiriusXM |access-date=November 16, 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121112102556/http://www.siriusxm.com/theopie%26anthonychannel |archive-date=November 12, 2012 }}
Personal life and death
On November 26, 1952, MacKenzie married Walter H. "Tim" Leimert Jr. in Hollywood, California; the couple had two sons but divorced in 1960. In 1961, Joyce married Robert L. (Keiki) Driver until their divorce in 1966. In 1972, she married Victor Benedict Hassing. They remained married until his death at age 64 on October 29, 1980.{{cite news|title=Weds Joyce MacKenzie|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/15292252/joyce_mackenzie/|work=The Kansas City Times|agency=Associated Press|date=November 27, 1952|location=Missouri, Kansas City|page=73|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = November 21, 2017}} {{Open access}}
MacKenzie died on June 10, 2021, in Hollywood, California, at the age of 95.{{cite web|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/joyce-mackenzie-dead-tarzan-she-devil-1234982830/|title=Joyce MacKenzie, Actress in 'Tarzan and the She-Devil,' Dies at 95|first=Mike|last=Barnes|work=The Hollywood Reporter|date=July 15, 2021|access-date=July 15, 2021}}
Filmography
| class="wikitable" | |||
| Year
! Title ! Role ! Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1946 | Tomorrow Is Forever | Cherry Davis | |
| 1946 | The Kid from Brooklyn | Goldwyn Girl | Uncredited |
| 1949 | Whirlpool | Daisy – Telephone Operator | Uncredited |
| 1949 | Twelve O'Clock High | Nurse | Uncredited |
| 1950 | Mother Didn't Tell Me | Helen Porter | |
| 1950 | A Ticket to Tomahawk | Ruby | Uncredited |
| 1950 | Destination Murder | Laura Mansfield | |
| 1950 | Stella | Peggy Denny | |
| 1950 | Broken Arrow | Terry | |
| 1951 | On the Riviera | Mimi | |
| 1951 | His Kind of Woman | Lady Gwendolyn in Film | Uncredited |
| 1951 | People Will Talk | Gussie | Uncredited |
| 1951 | The Racket | Mary McQuigg | |
| 1951 | The Model and the Marriage Broker | Doris | Uncredited |
| 1952 | Deadline - U.S.A. | Katherine Garrison Geary | |
| 1952 | Wait till the Sun Shines, Nellie | Bessie Jordan | |
| 1952 | O. Henry's Full House | Hazel Woods | (segment "The Clarion Call"), (scenes deleted) |
| 1952 | Night Without Sleep | Laura Harkness | |
| 1953 | The I Don't Care Girl | Babette | Uncredited |
| 1953 | Tarzan and the She-Devil | Jane | |
| 1953 | The French Line | Myrtle Brown | |
| 1954 | Rails Into Laramie | Helen Shanessy |
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category}}
- {{IMDb name|0533339}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mackenzie, Joyce}}
Category:Actresses from California
Category:American film actresses
Category:American television actresses