AllMovie

Actress Brenda Joyce projected a wholesome, tomboyish, self-assured quality which her parent company, 20th Century-Fox, exploited only once, in 1940's Maryland. Formerly a model, Joyce was signed by Fox in 1939, remaining there until she temporarily retired in 1942. She returned to films as a second-feature star at Universal and RKO, appearing opposite Lon Chaney Jr. and Gale Sondergaard in such "B" chillers as Pillow of Death (1945) and The Spider Woman Strikes Back (1946). A rare glimpse of the off-camera Joyce can be seen in outtakes of the Abbott and Costello comedy Little Giant (1946). As Lou Costello cheerfully spouts ad-libbed profanities, the otherwise demure Joyce appears increasingly unamused and irritated. In 1945, Brenda Joyce was cast as Jane in Sol Lesser's Tarzan series, one of the few blonde actresses to essay this role; she retired from films after 1949's Tarzan's Magic Fountain. Joyce died at the age of 92 in 2009, after suffering from dementia for over a decade.