Kay Johnson on AllMovie

The daughter of a Michigan architect, actress Kay Johnson was on Broadway at age 19, following training at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. She was lured to Hollywood during the "talkie boom" of 1929. Though she'd established her stage reputation in poised, sophisticated roles, Johnson's earliest film appearances were a pair of ridiculous, risible leading-lady assignments in Cecil B. DeMille's gloriously goofy Dynamite (1929) and Madam Satan (1930). While she enjoyed a handful of major roles in the 1930s (notably in 1934's Of Human Bondage, directed by her first husband John Cromwell), Johnson had to settle for second leads and supporting parts for most of her film career. After 10 years' retirement, Kay Johnson made one final screen appearance in the 1954 western Jivaro.