Rita Allene Quigley (March 31, 1923 – August 25, 2008) was an American actress who later became Corporate Secretary, and the first woman on the board of directors, of the Petroleum Club of

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

. She was the elder sister of

Juanita Quigley Juanita Quigley (24 June 1931 – 29 October 2017) was an American child actress in motion pictures of the 1930s and 1940s. She had a sister, Rita Quigley, who was also a child actress. Career Juanita Quigley was billed as "Baby Jane" in severa ...

, who was also an actress, beginning in films at the age of three in 1934.

Career

A visit to the commissary of

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...

in 1939 led to Quigley's film career. She was seen by producer

Joe Pasternak Joseph Herman Pasternak (born József Paszternák; September 19, 1901 – September 13, 1991) was a Hungarian-American film producer in Hollywood. Pasternak spent the Hollywood "Golden Age" of musicals at MGM Studios, producing many successf ...

as she ate lunch with her mother and her sister, and that contact resulted in a role for her in the

Deanna Durbin Edna Mae Durbin (December 4, 1921 – April 17, 2013), known professionally as Deanna Durbin, was a Canadian-born actress and singer, who moved to the USA with her family in infancy. She appeared in musical films in the 1930s and 1940s. With th ...

film '' First Love''. Quigley made her film debut in 1940 in ''

Susan and God ''Susan and God'' is a 1940 American comedy-drama film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer directed by George Cukor and starring Joan Crawford and Fredric March. The screenplay was written by Anita Loos and was based upon a 1937 play by Rachel Crothe ...

'', and appeared in more than a dozen other movies, including ''

Five Little Peppers in Trouble 5 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 5, five or number 5 may also refer to: * AD 5, the fifth year of the AD era * 5 BC, the fifth year before the AD era Literature * ''5'' (visual novel), a 2008 visual novel by Ram * ''5'' (comics), an awa ...

,'' '' The Howards of Virginia'', ''

Whispering Footsteps ''Whispering Footsteps'' is a 1943 American film noir crime film directed by Howard Bretherton and starring John Hubbard, Rita Quigley, and Joan Blair. Premise A bank clerk's life becomes a nightmare because he fits the description of a maniac ...

'' and '' The Human Comedy''.

Personal life

Quigley was born in

Bell, California Bell is an incorporated city in Los Angeles County, California, near the center of the former San Antonio Township (abolished after 1960). Its population was 35,477 at the 2010 census, down from 36,664 in the 2000 census. Bell is located on th ...

and was married to Arthur Goehner. She left acting in the late 1940s to focus on raising her family.

Death

Quigley died in Arroyo Grande, California. She is buried in Calvary Cemetery in Los Angeles.

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Quigley, Rita 1923 births 2008 deaths American film actresses Actresses from Los Angeles People from Bell, California 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American women