Joyce Coad

Joyce Coad
Born	(1917-04-14)April 14, 1917 Laramie, Wyoming, U.S.
Died	May 3, 1987(1987-05-03) (aged 70) March Air Force Base, Riverside County, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1926–1933

Joyce Coad (April 14, 1917 – May 3, 1987) was a child actress in motion pictures.

Child prodigy

Coad was the survivor of triplets whose parents died shortly after she was born. She was adopted by a childless couple and taken to Los Angeles, California. By the age of five she became a reader of children's stories on radio KHJ-AM in Los Angeles with the Beacon Light Company. It was commented that Coad's genius was first observed when she began to commit to memory songs, speeches, and music she heard over the radio.

Film actress

Coad's good fortune was moving to Los Angeles at the same time that Metro Goldwyn Mayer was searching for a million dollar baby. She won a contest conducted by a local newspaper and was brought to Hollywood to play the leading role in Hearts In Dixie. She was selected from among one thousand youngsters to play a part in The Devil's Circus (1926). Directed by J. Leo Meehan, Coad played the role of Little Anita.

She performed the role of Pearl in The Scarlet Letter (1926), a film which featured Lillian Gish. Louis B. Mayer chose Victor Seastrom to direct the movie. He proved a fine choice because of his attentiveness to characterization. Drums of Love (1928), directed by D.W. Griffith, is set in the middle of the nineteenth century in South America. Coad appeared in the role of the little sister in a screen production which starred Lionel Barrymore, Don Alvarado, and Tully Marshall.

The number of her film appearances declined after 1931. She played the role of Elsa The German Milkmaid in Captured! (1933). In June 1937 Coad was cast in The Deerslayer, which was being filmed by Standard Pictures. She was twenty years old.

Death

Joyce Coad died at March Air Force Base, Riverside County, California in 1987, aged 70, from undisclosed causes.

Select filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1926	The Devil's Circus	Little Anita
	The Scarlet Letter	Pearl
1927	Children of Divorce	Little Kitty
	Mother	Betty Ellis
	The Magic Garden	Amaryllis Minton, as a child
	One Woman to Another	The Niece
1928	Drums of Love	The Little Sister
1931	Blood and Thunder		(uncredited)
	Devotion	Elsie	(uncredited)
	X Marks the Spot	Gloria
1933	Captured!	Elsa the German Milkmaid

References

• "New Voices On Air". Los Angeles Times. October 19, 1924. p. B8. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
• "Child Prodigy Given Place in Picture Cast". Los Angeles Times. November 29, 1925. p. C29. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
• "Film to Start". Los Angeles Times. June 7, 1937. p. A16. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
• "Orphan Adopted in Wyoming Turns Out To Be Screens' Million Dollar Child". Middletown Daily Times-Press. May 8, 1926. p. 10. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
• "A Nathaniel Hawthorne Classic". New York Times. August 10, 1926. p. 19. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
• "Screen Notes". New York Times. November 21, 1926. p. X5. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
• "Paolo and Francesca". New York Times. January 25, 1928. p. 20. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
• "At Syracuse Theaters". Syracuse Herald. January 20, 1932. p. 10. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)

External links

• Joyce Coad photo from silentsaregolden.com, retrieved 2-13-08.
• Joyce Coad at Find a Grave