All About Joan Blondell

6 min readMar 8, 2017

How Much Do You Know About Classic Movie Sex Symbol, Joan Blondell?

Joan Blondell was one of the reigning sex symbols of the 1930s. This blue-eyed babydoll sexpot scorched the screen in some of the sassiest (and sexiest) classic movies of the 1930s, showing off her shapely assets and sparkling wit. Here at Warner Archive, we’re delighted to have 10 Joan Blondell films in our library, now streaming on the newly revamped Warner Archive. Join now and get 40% off!

Joan Blondell’s Vital Stats

Date of Birth: August 30th, 1906
Height: 5'3
Measurements: 37–22–36
Feature films: 90
Years Active: 1929–1979
Academy Award nominations: 1
Marriages: 3 (George Barnes, Dick Powell, Mike Todd)
Children: 2

Joan Blondell in Vaudeville

Joan Blondell was a native New Yorker was born into show-business in 1906. Her parents were vaudevillian actors, and her first stage appearance was at the tender age of 3 months old.
Her young childhood was spent performing with her parents. Australia. Europe. China. She was on the road most of her young life, pausing in Texas long enough for a spell of semi-traditional family life.

By the time she was 17, in 1926, she’d blossomed enough to enter a beauty contest in Dallas, which she won. First place.
She used the haul ($2,000, a huge sum in 1926) and used it to help the family get back on its feet, financially. (Throughout her life, show business wasn’t about fame and glory to Joan: it was about making a living.)
The Blondells worked a number of odd jobs to help support them in the dying days of Vaudeville.
Joan once worked as a librarian. In 1927, when she was closing up the library, Joan was raped by a police officer while closing up the library. It wasn’t until she wrote her memoirs decades later that she ever discussed it.

“My family needed what I could make. For five people you gotta make money, even if it’s small money. I was most grateful to be making it.”

Joan Blondell on Broadway

Joan Blondell did not set out to become a movie star: at the beginning, acting was just to help out with her family.
When her father’s Vaudeville act folded (along with Vaudeville) in the late ’20s, Joan decided to try and make her own future in the business.

“My ambition was to make a buck so we could get the act back together again.”

Joan’s first big break was in a 1929 Broadway show called Maggie the Magnificent, opposite another New York native and future star: James Cagney.

“She has the most beautiful ass in Christendom.” — James Cagney about Joan Blondell

The two became friends, and Cagney (who’d been married since 1922) said that she was the only woman other than his wife that he ever loved.
One night on stage, Cagney nearly lost it laughing when a lighting snafu up-lit Blondell’s derriere so that, according to Cagney, it ‘looked like two giant owl eyes’ were staring at him.
Unfortunately, the play opened 3 days before the Wall Street Crash. But their strong performances were enough for them to be re-teamed in another show, Penny Arcade.
Warner Bros cast Cagney and Blondell in the film adaptation of Penny Arcade (re-titled Sinner’s Holiday, because Hollywood), and they were so good together that both were signed on to studio contracts in the middle of production.

Joan Blondell in Hollywood

Blondell, along with Cagney, became workhorses and would go on to make 6 films together.
In 1931, Blondell made 10 films for Warner Bros . (That’s about one movie every 6 weeks!) They were quick, 70-minute, sassy pictures low on budget but big on attitude.
Her pre-code movies often pushed the boundaries of censorship, like her role opposite Barbara Stanwyck in Night Nurse:

And Roy Del Ruth’s Blonde Crazy, opposite her best partner, James Cagney:

In 1932, she made 10 more pictures and, that same year, landed in the hospital for exhaustion.

“I just sailed through things, took the scripts I was given, did what I was told. I couldn’t afford to go on suspension.”

Warner Bros took note of her hard work, and started easing up her schedule and casting her in bigger-budget pictures, including Busby Berkeley extravaganzas like Footlight Parade (opposite Cagney, again) and Dames, both streaming on Warner Archive.

Footlight Parade and Dames both feature Blondell with her soon-to-be second husband: Dick Powell.
In Dames, Blondell was actually pregnant with her first child and one particular number, “The Girl with the Ironing Board,” was created for two reasons:
1.) To creatively hide Blondell’s delicate condition and, 2.) Because the producer nixed Berkeley’s original version of the number which had Blondell saying “Come up and see my pussy some time.”

Dick Powell and Joan Blondell would appear together in 10 musical pictures, their first as husband and wife being Gold Diggers of 1937 (streaming now on Warner Archive). They were married for eight years.

The 1940s & Beyond

Blondell’s career did not take off into superstardom during the late 30s and into the 40s, but she didn’t care because she wasn’t concerned with being a star and worked steadily.
In 1952 she earned her first and only Academy Award nomination as supporting actress in The Blue Veil.
Unlike other Warner Bros actresses like Bette Davis and Olivia de Havilland, who fought tooth and nail for their roles, Blondell was open about her lack of ambition.
She was known around Hollywood as a “studio dame.” The ultimate working girl: always professional, never complaining and accepting the roles she was offered.

“I enjoyed a home life more than a theatrical career. I just took what they gave me because I wanted to get home quickly.”

Throughout the rest of her career she appeared in numerous films, radio shows, and on TV.
In 1966, she was nominated for a Golden Globe for her unforgettable performance in The Cincinatti Kid (now streaming on Warner Archive) as the unforgettable “Lady Fingers.”
Her most notable performance from her later years is as Rydell High’s cafeteria marm in Grease (1977).

“It takes all the talent you’ve got in your guts to play unimportant roles. It’s not degrading, just tough to do.”

Here at Warner Archive, we are honored to have 10 Joan Blondell films in our library, waiting for your in glorious HD on the all new Warner Archive, available on desktop as well as Roku, Apple TV, iPhone, iPad, and Android. Join now and receive a *free* Roku streaming stick with your annual subscription: