Jump to content

Joy Page

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Joy Page
Page in 1956
Born
Joy Cerrette Paige

(1924-11-09)November 9, 1924
DiedApril 18, 2008(2008-04-18) (aged 83)
Other namesJoanne Page
OccupationActress
Years active1942–1959
Spouse
(m. 1945; div. 1970)
Children2, including Gregory Orr
FatherDon Alvarado
RelativesJack L. Warner
(stepfather)

Joy Page (born Joy Cerrette Paige;[1] 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 (1942).[2] She was sometimes credited as Joanne Page.

Early life

[edit]

Page was the daughter of Mexican-American silent film star Don Alvarado (born José Ray Paige, in New Mexico) and Ann Boyar, the daughter of Russian Jewish immigrants. Her parents divorced when she was eight.[citation needed]

In 1936, her mother married Jack L. Warner, then head of Warner Bros. studios. Warner, however, did not encourage his stepdaughter's interest in acting.

Career

[edit]

Page, who initially thought the script to Casablanca 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 and Humphrey Bogart, were the only American-born feature actors in the film.[3]

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. He became a Warner Bros. executive, leading to accusations of nepotism. She retired from acting after appearing in the first season of Disney'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.[citation needed]. She also appeared in episode 22 of Wagon Train as the wife of Bill Tawnee ("The Bill Tawnee Story").

Personal life

[edit]

Page married actor William T. Orr in 1945. She died on April 18, 2008, of complications arising from a stroke and pneumonia.[4]

Filmography

[edit]
Year Title Role Notes
1942 Casablanca Annina Brandel
1944 Kismet Marsinah
1948 Man-Eater of Kumaon Lali
1950 Bullfighter and the Lady Anita de la Vega
1953 Conquest of Cochise Consuelo de Cordova
1953 Fighter Attack Nina
1955 The Shrike Charlotte Moore
1958 Tonka Prairie Flower

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Joy Page obituary, The Times. April 29, 2008.
  2. ^ Vagg, Stephen (March 15, 2020). "My Top Ten Bit Parts in Films". Filmink.
  3. ^ [1] IMdB, Casablanca, Full Cast and Crew
  4. ^ "Joy Page, 83; in 'Casablanca', Bogart told her: 'Go back to Bulgaria.'", Los Angeles Times, April 24, 2008; accessed August 7, 2014.
[edit]