Kay Johnson
{{short description|American actress (1904–1975)}}
{{for multi|the Australian sprinter|Kay Johnson (athlete)|other people|Katharine Johnson (disambiguation)}}
{{use mdy dates|date=December 2015}}
{{sources|date=January 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Kay Johnson
| image = KayJohnsonImageIDTH-24383NYPL for the performing arts_BillyRoseTheaterDivision.jpg
| caption =
| birthname = Catherine Townsend Johnson
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1904|11|29}}
| birth_place = Mount Vernon, New York, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|1975|11|17|1904|11|29}}
| death_place = Waterford, Connecticut, U.S.
| alma_mater = American Academy of Dramatic Arts
| occupation = Actress
| years_active = 1929–1954
| spouse = {{marriage|John Cromwell |1928|1946|end=divorced}}
| children = 2, including James Cromwell
}}
Catherine Townsend Johnson (November 29, 1904 – November 17, 1975){{cite book |last1=Wilson |first1=Scott |title=Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed. |date=2016 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=9781476625997 |page=381 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FOHgDAAAQBAJ&q=%22Catherine+Townsend+Johnson%22&pg=PA381 |access-date=24 July 2019 |language=en}} was an American stage and film actress.
Family
Johnson’s father was architect Thomas R. Johnson, the architect of several noteworthy buildings in New York City, including the Woolworth Building, the New York Customs House,{{cite news |last1=Peak |first1=Mayme Ober |title=Reel Life in Hollywood |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/34197160/kay_johnson/ |access-date=24 July 2019 |work=The Boston Globe |date=March 20, 1930 |location=Massachusetts, Boston |page=24|via = Newspapers.com}} and many library buildings. When she was a junior, she dropped out of Grew Seminary to study at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.{{cite news |last1=Harris |first1=Rache |title=Movie Monotypes |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/34196040/kay_johnson/ |access-date=24 July 2019 |work=Star-Gazette |date=July 28, 1930 |location=New York, Elmira |page=4|via = Newspapers.com}}
Career
=Stage=
Johnson's professional acting debut was in Beggar on Horseback, and she acted in R.U.R. in Chicago.{{cite news |last1=Thomas |first1=Dan |title=Kay Johnson Is a Success -- Just As Her Mother Had Dreamed |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/34196793/kay_johnson/ |access-date=24 July 2019 |work=The Central New Jersey Home News |date=January 19, 1930 |location=New Jersey, New Brunswick |page=11|via = Newspapers.com}}
Johnson's Broadway credits included State of the Union (1945), A Free Soul (1928), Crime (1927), No Trespassing (1926), One of the Family (1925), All Dressed Up (1925), The Morning After (1925), Beggar on Horseback (1925), Beggar on Horseback (1924), and Go West, Young Man (1923).{{cite web |title=Kay Johnson |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/kay-johnson-47065 |website=Internet Broadway Database |publisher=The Broadway League |access-date=24 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190724185038/https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/kay-johnson-47065 |archive-date=24 July 2019}}
=Films=
Johnson was signed to a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer by Cecil B. DeMille following a performance of The Silver Cord at the Repertory Theater in Los Angeles, California. The play was produced by Simeon Gest of the Figueroa Playhouse. Her film debut came in Dynamite (1929), written by Jeanie Macpherson and featuring Charles Bickford and Conrad Nagel. Production was delayed while Johnson recovered from an appendectomy.
She went on to appear in The Ship from Shanghai (1930), This Mad World (1930), Billy the Kid (1930), The Spoilers (1930) with Gary Cooper and Betty Compson, DeMille's Madam Satan (1930), Passion Flower (1930), Capra's American Madness (1932), Thirteen Women (1932), Of Human Bondage (which starred Leslie Howard and Bette Davis), Jalna (1935) and Mr. Lucky (1943). Johnson was cast opposite Warner Baxter in a screen adaptation of Such Men Are Dangerous by Elinor Glyn. The story was adapted to the screen by Fox Film.
Johnson's final film appearance was in the 1954 British film Jivaro (also known as Lost Treasure of the Amazon).
Personal life and death
Johnson married actor, director, and producer John Cromwell, and they had a son, actor James Cromwell.{{cn|date=March 2024}} Johnson and Cromwell divorced.{{cite web |last1=Marks |first1=Scott |title=James Cromwell on The Promise and the hoops of Hollywood |url=https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2017/apr/19/screen-james-cromwell-kicked-dirt-director/ |website=San Diego Reader |access-date=April 23, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126041418/https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2017/apr/19/screen-james-cromwell-kicked-dirt-director/ |archive-date=January 26, 2021}}
On November 17, 1975, Johnson died from a heart attack at her home in Waterford, Connecticut.
Partial filmography
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
- Dynamite (1929) as Cynthia Crothers
- The Ship from Shanghai (1930) as Dorothy Daley
- This Mad World (1930) as Victoria
- The Spoilers (1930) as Helen Chester
- Madam Satan (1930) as Angela Brooks/Madame Satan
- Billy the Kid (1930) as Claire Randall
- Passion Flower (1930) as Katherine Pringle 'Cassy' Wallace
- The Single Sin (1931) as Kate Adams
- The Spy (1931) as Anna Turin
- American Madness (1932) as Mrs. Phyllis Dickson
- Thirteen Women (1932) as Helen Dawson Frye
- Eight Girls in a Boat (1934) as Hannah
- This Girl Is Mine (1934) as Bee McCrea
- Of Human Bondage (1934) as Norah
- Their Big Moment (1934) as Eve Farrington
- Village Tale (1935) as Janet Stevenson
- Jalna (1935) as Alayne Archer Whiteoak
- White Banners (1938) as Mrs. Marcia Ward
- The Real Glory (1939) as Mrs. Mable Manning
- Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake (1942) as Helena Blake
- Mr. Lucky (1943) as Mrs. Mary Ostrander
- The Adventures of Mark Twain (1944) as Jane Clemens (uncredited)
- Jivaro (1954) as Umari
{{div col end}}
Notes
{{Reflist}}
- Los Angeles Times, "Demille Features Child Actor", January 17, 1929, Page A10.
- Los Angeles Times, "Kay Johnson Under Knife", March 3, 1929, Page C15.
- Los Angeles Times, "Kay Johnson Continues", May 30, 1929, Page A6.
- Los Angeles Times, "Kay Johnson, as Genteel Heroine of Cecil B. DeMille, Plays First Screen Role", July 21, 1929, Page B13.
External links
{{Commons category|Kay Johnson}}
- {{IMDb name|0425512}}
- {{IBDB name}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Kay}}
Category:20th-century American actresses
Category:American Academy of Dramatic Arts alumni
Category:American film actresses
Category:American stage actresses
Category:People from Waterford, Connecticut
Category:Actresses from Mount Vernon, New York