Joyce Compton

Who was Joyce Compton?

Joyce Compton was an American actress.

She was born Olivia Joyce Compton in Lexington, Kentucky and not "Eleanor Hunt" as is frequently erroneously stated. After graduating high school she spent two years studying at Tulsa University, studying dramatics, art, music and dancing. She won a personality and beauty and contest and spent two months in a film studio as an extra.

Compton first made a name for herself when she was named one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars in 1926, alongside: Mary Brian, Dolores Costello, Joan Crawford, Dolores del Río, Janet Gaynor and Fay Wray. Compton appeared in a long string of mostly B-movies from the 1920s through the 1950s. She was a comedy actress and protested at being stereotyped as a "dumb blonde"

Among her over two hundred films were Imitation of Life, Magnificent Obsession, The Awful Truth, Mildred Pierce, and The Best Years of Our Lives.

A devout Christian, on her gravestone, just beneath her dates of birth and death, is written "Christian Actress". She died from natural causes, aged 90, and was laid to rest in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills.