Joy Page (born Joy Cerrette Paige; November 9, 1924 – April 18, 2008) was an American actress. She is best known for her role as the Bulgarian refugee Annina Brandel in ''
Casablanca
Casablanca, also known in Arabic as Dar al-Bayda ( ar, الدَّار الْبَيْضَاء, al-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ, ; ber, ⴹⴹⴰⵕⵍⴱⵉⴹⴰ, ḍḍaṛlbiḍa, : "White House") is the largest city in Morocco and the country's econom ...
'' (1942). She was sometimes credited as Joanne Page.
Early life
Page was the daughter of Mexican-American
silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...
star
Don Alvarado
Don Alvarado (born José Ray Paige, November 4, 1904 – March 31, 1967) was an American actor, assistant director and film production manager.
Life and career
Born Jose Paige in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Alvarado first studied agriculture on ...
(born José Ray Paige, in New Mexico) and Ann Boyar, the daughter of Russian Jewish immigrants. Her parents divorced when she was eight.
In 1936, her mother married
Jack L. Warner
Jack Leonard Warner (born Jacob Warner; August 2, 1892 – September 9, 1978) was a Canadian-American film executive, who was the president and driving force behind the Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California. Warner's career spanned some ...
, then head of
Warner Bros. studios. Warner, however, did not encourage his stepdaughter's interest in acting.
Career
Page, who initially thought the script to ''
Casablanca
Casablanca, also known in Arabic as Dar al-Bayda ( ar, الدَّار الْبَيْضَاء, al-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ, ; ber, ⴹⴹⴰⵕⵍⴱⵉⴹⴰ, ḍḍaṛlbiḍa, : "White House") is the largest city in Morocco and the country's econom ...
'' was "old fashioned" and "clichéd", landed the role of Annina Brandel on her own and Warner reluctantly approved. She was only seventeen and fresh out of high school. Page, along with
Dooley Wilson
Arthur "Dooley" Wilson (April 3, 1886 – May 30, 1953) was an American actor, singer and musician who is best remembered for his portrayal of Sam in the 1942 film ''Casablanca''. In that romantic drama, he performs its theme song " As Time Goes ...
and
Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey DeForest Bogart (; December 25, 1899 – January 14, 1957), nicknamed Bogie, was an American film and stage actor. His performances in Classical Hollywood cinema films made him an American cultural icon. In 1999, the American Film In ...
, were the only American-born feature actors in the film.
Warner, however, refused to sign Page to a contract, and she never appeared in another Warner Bros. film. She went on to act in a number of films for other studios, including a featured role in her next film, ''
Kismet'' in 1944. She was usually billed as Joanne Page, and also made some television appearances. In 1945, Page married actor
William T. Orr
William T. Orr (born William Ferdinand Quinn Jr.; September 27, 1917December 25, 2002) was an American actor and television producer associated with various Western and detective programs of the 1950s-1970s. In most of his Warner Bros. series, ...
. He became a Warner Bros. executive, leading to accusations of
nepotism
Nepotism is an advantage, privilege, or position that is granted to relatives and friends in an occupation or field. These fields may include but are not limited to, business, politics, academia, entertainment, sports, fitness, religion, an ...
. She retired from acting after appearing in the first season of
Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
's miniseries ''
The Swamp Fox'' in 1959. The year before, in her final film role, she played Prairie Flower, a Sioux Indian and mother of White Bull, played by
Sal Mineo, in ''
Tonka
Tonka is an American producer of toy trucks. The company is known for making steel toy models of construction type trucks and machinery. Maisto International, which makes diecast vehicles, acquired the rights to use the Tonka name in a line of ...
''.
Personal life
Page married actor
William T. Orr
William T. Orr (born William Ferdinand Quinn Jr.; September 27, 1917December 25, 2002) was an American actor and television producer associated with various Western and detective programs of the 1950s-1970s. In most of his Warner Bros. series, ...
in 1945. She died on April 18, 2008, of complications arising from a stroke and pneumonia.
"Joy Page, 83; in 'Casablanca', Bogart told her: 'Go back to Bulgaria.'"
''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...
'', April 24, 2008; accessed August 7, 2014.
Filmography
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Page, Joy
1924 births
2008 deaths
American film actresses
American television actresses
Deaths from pneumonia in California
Jewish American actresses
American actresses of Mexican descent
Actresses from Los Angeles
20th-century American actresses
Warner family
20th-century American Jews
21st-century American Jews
21st-century American women