Joanne Dru

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Joanne Dru (January 31, 1922 – September 10, 1996) was an American film and television actress, best-known for such films as Red River and All the King's Men.

Career

Born as Joan Letitia LaCock 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 industries, Dru was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Personal life

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. Joanne Dru had three children by her first marriage; Richard Ralph Haymes (born July 24, 1942), Helen Joanna Haymes (born May 13, 1944), Barbara Nugent Haymes (born September 19, 1947).

She was divorced from Haymes in 1949, then married John Ireland, who was also in Red River, less than a month later. Dru and Ireland 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.

Selected filmography

Abie's Irish Rose (1946)

Red River (1948)

All the King's Men (1949)

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)

Wagon Master (1950)

711 Ocean Drive (1950)

Vengeance Valley (1951)

Mr. Belvedere Rings the Bell (1951)

Return of the Texan (1952)

The Pride of St. Louis (1952)

My Pal Gus (1952)

Thunder Bay (1953)

3 Ring Circus (1954)

Southwest Passage (1954)

The Dark Avenger (1955)

Drango (1957)

Hell on Frisco Bay (1955)

The Light in the Forest (1958)

The Wild and the Innocent (1959)

Sylvia (1965)

Super Fuzz (Poliziotto superpiù) (1980)

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