Brenda Joyce

Best remembered as the second talking-era "Jane" (following Maureen O'Sullivan) of the durable Tarzan jungle film series and the only one in the sound era to play the role opposite two different Tarzan's (Johnny Weissmuller and Lex Barker, lovely Brenda was born Betty Leabo in Missouri, raised in Los Angeles, and nicknamed "Graftina" by her father when she was a girl. Attending UCLA for four years, the lovely blonde became a photographer's model to help pay her tuition. A 20th Century-Fox talent scout noticed a fashion layout of her and immediately signed her on. The studio changed her name to "Brenda Joyce" after silent star Alice Joyce and immediately gave her an impressive movie debut with The Rains Came (1939) starring Tyrone Power and Myrna Loy in which she received fine reviews.

Building her up to the public as a sexy single girl, she was subsequently showcased in Here I Am a Stranger (1939) opposite Richard Greene and partnered with John Payne in Maryland (1940).

Succeeded Maureen O'Sullivan as the character Jane in "Tarzan" productions towards the end of the 1940s.

The studio didn't take kindly to her impulsive 1941 marriage to army husband Owen Ward and supposedly punished her by relegating her to "B" films. Three children were the result of this first marriage -- Pam, Timothy and Beth. Brenda eventually lost interest in her career, but was coaxed back to the film set when brunette Maureen O'Sullivan left the Tarzan series and Johnny Weissmuller approved the athletic beauty as his new blonde swinging mate.

Her eldest child, daughter Pam, was born on November 9, 1942, and was once publicized as "Hollywood's First War Baby".

Beginning a four-year excursion with the film Tarzan and the Amazons (1945), Brenda continued on as Jane after Weissmuller left (actor Lex Barker took over), but finally decided enough was enough.

In 1948 Brenda Joyce was announced for a role in the forthcoming 20th Century-Fox Picture Down to the Sea in Ships (1949). But she decided to retire at that time and leave Hollywood, eventually not appearing in the film.

Brenda left after her fifth movie, Tarzan's Magic Fountain (1949), and just walked away -- never to return. Following her movie career, Brenda moved to the Washington D. C. area and worked with the Refugee Services for nearly 10 years in which she helped displaced persons find employment and places to live. This line of work eventually had her relocate to the Carmel, California area and she worked with Catholic Resettlement in Seaside, California (near Monterey).

Besieged by personal and health problems in later years, she endured a painful divorce from Ward in 1960 after 19 years of marriage. She was then married and divorced twice more. Suffering from dementia in her twilight years, she stayed with her children at various stages until she was forced to be institutionalized in a nursing home in Santa Monica, California.

According to an in-depth article by David Ragan for Classic Images (June 2010), Gene Tierney was Brenda's closest Hollywood friend and her maid of honor when she married Owen Ward in 1941.