Rochelle Hudson
Rochelle Hudson (born Rachael Elizabeth Hudson;[3] March 6, 1916 – January 17, 1972) was an American film actress from the 1930s through the 1960s.[1] Hudson was a WAMPAS Baby Star in 1931.
Rochelle Hudson | |
|---|---|
Rochelle Hudson promoting Show Them No Mercy (1935) | |
| Born | Rachael Elizabeth Hudson March 6, 1916 |
| Died | January 17, 1972 (aged 55) Palm Desert, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1930–1967 |
| Spouse(s) | Harold Thompson (m. 1939; div. 1947)Dick Irving Hyland (m. 1948; div. 1950)Charles K. Brust (m. 1956; div. 19??) Robert L. Mindell (m. 1963; div. 1971) |
Early years
Hudson was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the daughter of Ollie Lee Hudson and Lenora Mae Hudson.[1] While in Oklahoma, she studied dancing, drama, piano, and voice. She began her acting career as a teenager, and completed her high school education at a high school on the Fox studios lot.[3]
Career
Hudson signed a contract with RKO Pictures on November 22, 1930, when she was 14 years old.[4]
She may be best remembered today for costarring in Wild Boys of the Road (1933), playing Cosette in Les Misérables (1935), playing Mary Blair, the older sister of Shirley Temple's character in Curly Top, and for playing Natalie Wood's mother in Rebel Without a Cause (1955). During her peak years in the 1930s, notable roles for Hudson included Richard Cromwell’s love interest in the Will Rogers showcase Life Begins at 40 (1935), the daughter of carnival barker W.C. Fields in Poppy (1936), and Claudette Colbert’s adult daughter in Imitation of Life (1934).[citation needed]
She played Sally Glynn, the fallen ingenue to whom Mae West imparts the immortal wisdom "When women go wrong, men go right after them!" in the 1933 Paramount film, She Done Him Wrong. In the 1954–1955 television season, Hudson co-starred with Gil Stratton and Eddie Mayehoff in the sitcom That's My Boy,[5] based on a 1951 Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin film of the same name.
Personal life
Hudson was married four times. All the unions were childless. Her first marriage was to Harold Thompson, in 1939. He was the head of the Storyline Department at Disney Studios.
After their divorce in 1947, (but the trade publication Billboard reported that they divorced on September 4, 1945)[6] she married a second time the following year to Los Angeles Times sportswriter Dick Irving Hyland. The marriage lasted two years before the couple divorced. She married her third husband, Charles K. Brust, in Jackson, Missouri on September 28, 1956.[7]
Little is known of the marriage other than they were divorced by June 1962 (he remarried). Her final marriage was to Robert Mindell, a hotel executive. The two remained together for eight years before they divorced in 1971.
She actually was born in 1916, but the studio reportedly made her two years older for her to play a wider variety of roles, including romantic roles. In That's My Boy, she was cast as the mother of Gil Stratton, who was only six years her junior.
Death
In 1972, Hudson was found dead in her home at the Palm Desert Country Club. A business associate with whom she had been working in real estate discovered her body sprawled on the bathroom floor. She was 55 years old.[2] Hudson died of a heart attack brought on by a liver ailment.[8]
Filmography
- Sinkin' in the Bathtub (1930 short) as Honey (uncredited voice)
- Laugh and Get Rich (1931) as Miss Jones - at Dance (uncredited)
- Everything's Rosie (1931) as Lowe Party Guest by Punch Bowl (uncredited)
- Fanny Foley Herself (1931) as Carmen
- Are These Our Children? (1931) as Mary
- Girl Crazy (1932) as San Luz Señorita (uncredited)
- Is My Face Red? (1932) as Newlywed Bride on Leviathon (uncredited)
- Beyond the Rockies (1932) as Betty Allen
- Hell's Highway (1932) as Mary Ellen
- Secrets of the French Police (1932) as K-31
- The Savage Girl (1932) as The Girl
- The Penguin Pool Murder (1932) as Telephone Operator
- The Past of Mary Holmes (1933) as Betty
- She Done Him Wrong (1933) as Sally
- Lucky Devils (1933) as Visitor
- Scarlet River (1933) as Rochelle Hudson (uncredited)
- Love Is Dangerous (1933) as Gwendolyn
- Notorious But Nice (1933) as Constance Martin
- Doctor Bull (1933) as Virginia (Muller) / Banning
- Wild Boys of the Road (1933) as Grace
- Walls of Gold (1933) as Joan Street
- Mr. Skitch (1933) as Emily Skitch
- Harold Teen (1934) as Lillian 'Lillums' Lovewell
- Such Women Are Dangerous (1934) as Vernie Little
- Bachelor Bait (1934) as Cynthia Douglas
- Judge Priest (1934) as Virginia Maydew
- Imitation of Life (1934) as Jessie Pullman
- The Mighty Barnum (1934) as Ellen
- I've Been Around (1935) as Drue Waring
- Life Begins at 40 (1935) as Adele Anderson
- Les Misérables (1935) as Cosette
- Curly Top (1935) as Mary Blair
- Way Down East (1935) as Anna Moore
- Show Them No Mercy! (1935) as Loretta Martin
- The Music Goes 'Round (1936) as Susanna Courtney
- Everybody's Old Man (1936) as Cynthia Sampson
- The Country Beyond (1936) as Jean Alison
- Poppy (1936, with W.C. Fields) as Poppy
- Reunion (1936) as Mary MacKenzie
- Woman-Wise (1937) as Alice Fuller
- That I May Live (1937) as Irene Howard
- Born Reckless (1937) as Sybil Roberts
- She Had to Eat (1937) as Ann Garrison
- Rascals (1938) as Margaret Adams
- Mr. Moto Takes a Chance (1938) as Victoria Mason
- Storm Over Bengal (1938) as Joan Lattimore
- Pride of the Navy (1939) as Gloria Tyler
- Pirates of the Skies (1939) as Barbara Whitney
- Missing Daughters (1939) as Kay Roberts
- Smuggled Cargo (1939) as Marian Franklin
- Konga, the Wild Stallion (1939) as Judith Hadley
- A Woman Is the Judge (1939) as Justine West
- Convicted Woman (1940) as Betty Andrews
- Men Without Souls (1940) as Suzan Leonard
- Island of Doomed Men (1940) as Lorraine Danel
- Babies for Sale (1940) as Ruth Williams
- Girls Under 21 (1940) as Frances White Ryan
- Meet Boston Blackie (1941) as Cecelia Bradley
- The Stork Pays Off (1941) as Irene Perry
- The Officer and the Lady (1941) as Helen Regan
- Rubber Racketeers (1942) as Nikki
- Queen of Broadway (1942) as Sherry Baker
- Bush Pilot (1947) as Hilary Ward
- Devil's Cargo (1948) as Margo Delgado
- Sky Liner (1949) as Amy Winthrop
- Roots in the Soil (1949)
- Rebel Without a Cause (1955) as Judy's mother
- Strait-Jacket (1964) as Emily Cutler
- The Night Walker (1964) as Hilda
- Dr. Terror's Gallery of Horrors (1967) as Helen Spalding (final film role)
References
- ^ a b c d , Dictionary of Women Worldwide: 25,000 Women Through the Ages. Gale. 2007. Retrieved January 7, 2013 from HighBeam Research
- ^ a b "Former Screen Star Rochelle Hudson Dies". Arizona Daily Star. Tucson, Arizona. Associated Press. January 19, 1972. p. 5 – via newspapers.com.
Walter Price, a real estate business associate, found the body Monday alter being summoned by Miss Hudson's widowed mother, Mae Hudson, who got no response from her daughter by telephone or at the door. A friend, Evelyn Young, said Miss Hudson recently had been ill with a cold and laryngitis.
- ^ a b Houston, Noel (October 9, 1934). "Film Stardom Beckons to Rochelle Hudson, Oklahoma City Girl, Who Was 'On Her Toes' When Contract Arrived". The Oklahoma News. Oklahoma, Oklahoma City. p. 3. Retrieved October 30, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Films Give Career To Oklahoma Girl". The Akron Beacon Journal. Ohio, Akron. November 22, 1930. p. 10. Retrieved July 24, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Terrace, Vincent (2011). Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010 (2nd ed.). Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. p. 1067. ISBN 978-0-7864-6477-7.
- ^ "Divorces". Billboard. September 15, 1945. p. 70. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
- ^ "Missouri, County Marriage, Naturalization, and Court Records, 1800-1991". FamilySearch. The Church of Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Retrieved March 6, 2020.
- ^ Beaver County Times: "Death is investigated". January 19, 1972.
Sources
- Forty Years of Screen Credits, 1929-1969. Two volumes. Compiled by John T. Weaver. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1970. Entries begin on page 57.
- Biography and Genealogy Master Index. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, Cengage Learning. 1980–2009.
External links
- Rochelle Hudson at IMDb
- Photographs of Rochelle Hudson
- Rochelle Hudson at Find a Grave