Joan Davis

Acting

Joan Davis

Born — Died

1907-06-29 — 1961-05-22

Place of birth

Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA

Known for

Acting

Credits

54 titles

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Joan Davis (June 29, 1907 – May 22, 1961) was an American comedic actress whose career spanned vaudeville, film, radio and television. Remembered best for the 1950s television comedy, I Married Joan, Davis had a successful earlier career as a B-movie actress and a leading star of 1940s radio comedy. Born as Madonna Josephine Davis in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Davis was a performer since childhood. She appeared with her husband Si Wills in vaudeville. Description above from the Wikipedia article Joan Davis, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Known for

Film credits

1940s · 21 titles

Sun Valley Serenade poster
7.1

When Phil Corey's band arrives at the Idaho ski resort its pianist Ted Scott is smitten with a Norwegian refugee he has sponsored, Karen Benson. When soloist Vivian Dawn quits, Karen stages an ice show as a substitute.

Sun Valley Serenade

1941

Hold That Ghost poster
6.8

Two bumbling service station attendants are left as the sole beneficiaries in a gangster's will. Their trip to claim their fortune is sidetracked when they are stranded in a haunted house along with several other strangers.

Hold That Ghost

1941

Free, Blonde and 21 poster
7.3

Stories of women who live in an all-women hotel. One (Bari) works hard and marries a millionaire; another (Hughes) cheats and goes to jail.

Free, Blonde and 21

1940

She Wrote the Book poster
6.5

A plain-Jane math professor (Joan Davis) at a small midwestern college is talked into journeying to New York on behalf of a colleague who has written a steamy bestseller under an assumed name. When she arrives she gets a bump on the head which brings on a form of amnesia and she begins to believe she is the author of the book. Hijinks and adventures follow.

She Wrote the Book

1946

Sailor's Lady poster
6.5

Sailor is going to marry his girlfriend when he returns, but she becomes foster mother to baby whose parents are accidentally killed. The baby is accidentally left on board a visiting battleship.

Sailor's Lady

1940

Show Business poster
5.6

Musical about vaudeville performers, from 1944.

Show Business

1944

Screen Snapshots Series 21 No. 1 poster
NR

This edition of Screen Snapshots has more of a vaudeville flavor as opposed to Ralph Staub's usual candid-camera at home with the stars offerings. Ken Murray, assisted by the Brewer Twins, is the MC, while the Andrews Sisters sing "In Apple Blossom Time" and the pre-"Uncle Miltie" Milton Berle plays his clarinet. The rest of the players, with contract-player faces belonging to 20th-Century Fox, RKO Radio, Universal and Columbia, just pass through. Production Number 3851.

Screen Snapshots Series 21 No. 1

1941

Hedda Hopper’s Hollywood No. 6 poster
6.0

Narrator Hopper covers two war benefit affairs, a garden party and a USO fashion show, at Pickfair, "The White House of Hollywood."

Hedda Hopper’s Hollywood No. 6

1942

For Beauty's Sake poster
10.0

A woman-hater who inherits a beauty salon gets a new perspective on females after capturing a gang of thieves.

For Beauty's Sake

1941

He's My Guy poster
6.5

The former members of a vaudeville team meet up again in a defense plant during WW II.

He's My Guy

1943

Kansas City Kitty poster
6.3

A piano teacher and her roommate decide to invest their savings in a music publishing company. Comedy with music.

Kansas City Kitty

1944

Two Latins from Manhattan poster
6.0

Joan Daley, a New York booking/press agent, attempts to recruit two local stand-ins, Jinx Terry and Lois Morgan, when the Cuban sister-act, Marianela and Rosita she as booked into the nightclub for which she works fails to materialize. Complications arrive when the real Cuban sisters show up.

Two Latins from Manhattan

1941

If You Knew Susie poster
7.3

In the small town of Brookford, everybody can trace their ancestors back to the Revolutionary War, except Sam and Susie Parker. One day, however, they find a letter written by George Washington that mentions the bravery of a Revolutionary War hero named Parker.

If You Knew Susie

1948

Two Señoritas from Chicago poster
6.7

The Two Senoritas from Chicago are Gloria and Maria. When their goofy pal Daisy Baker passes off a discarded Portuguese play manuscript as her own, producer Rupert Shannon agrees to bankroll the production. With stars in their eyes, Gloria and Maria pretend to be a pair of Portuguese musical comedy stars, thereby winning parts in the new production. The fun begins when the play's original authors sell the same manuscript to a rival producer.

Two Señoritas from Chicago

1943

George White's Scandals poster
6.5

Two couples work through their issues in this backstage Broadway musical.

George White's Scandals

1945

Around the World poster
6.8

Bandleader Kay Kyser takes his troupe of nutty musicians, goofball comics and pretty girl singers on a tour around the world to entertain the troops during World War II.

Around the World

1943

Yokel Boy poster
5.8

A film company hires a gangster to mock himself holding up a bank, but he succeeds too well and makes off with the money. But all ends well.

Yokel Boy

1942

Make Mine Laughs poster
5.5

A kind of filmed vaudeville show, using old material from RKO films and some new.

Make Mine Laughs

1949

Beautiful But Broke poster
6.0

Theatrical agent Waldo Main is inducted into the army, and turns his now clientless agency over to his secretary Dottie Duncan. Dottie decides to organize an all-girl orchestra to fill the void caused by so many orchestra members being called to service due to WWII, and joins struggling singers/songwriters Sally Richards and Sue Ford in this endeavor. Dottie's screwball schemes to get engagements for the group often lead to disaster.

Beautiful But Broke

1944

She Gets Her Man poster
5.2

The corny daughter of a famed policewoman tries to catch a blowgun killer.

She Gets Her Man

1945

Manhattan Heartbeat poster
8.0

A couple can't make ends meet. He is an airplane mechanic and makes extra money testing planes. When the baby arrives things get better.

Manhattan Heartbeat

1940

1930s · 23 titles

Hold That Co-ed poster
6.7

An egotistical politician believes he can win votes by turning a small college's hapless football squad into a championship team.

Hold That Co-ed

1938

Tail Spin poster
6.3

Trixie is a female pilot looking to win a big race to advance her career. During one race, however, her plane becomes damaged, and she needs help to repair it. She meets a Navy pilot named "Tex" Price and tries to gain his aid. Tex soon meets another pilot, Gerry, a novice who seeks to win an important upcoming race. Tex, concerned for Gerry's safety, tries to convince her not to race. But Gerry, now a rival of Trixie's, is determined to fly.

Tail Spin

1939

You Can't Have Everything poster
6.5

Starving playwright Judith Wells meets playboy writer of musicals, George Macrae, over a plate of stolen spaghetti. He persuades producer Sam Gordon to buy her ridiculous play "North Winds" just to improve his romantic chances, and even persuades her to sing in the sort of show she pretends to despise. But just when their romance is going well, Gordon's former flame Lulu reveals the ace up her sleeve...

You Can't Have Everything

1937

Time Out for Romance poster
6.0

A girl escapes marriage and hitchhikes with a young man in whose car a jewel thief has planted his loot.

Time Out for Romance

1937

Too Busy to Work poster
10.0

The Jones family females decide to teach Father a lesson. He's neglecting the family business to run for mayor, so they decide to neglect their household chores.

Too Busy to Work

1939

Day-time Wife poster
6.0

When a young wife discovers her husband of two years is involved with his beautiful secretary, she applies for a job as secretary to a business rival.

Day-time Wife

1939

Sally, Irene and Mary poster
6.8

Manicurists Sally, Irene and Mary hope to be Broadway entertainers. When Mary inherits an old ferry boat, they turn it into a successful supper club.

Sally, Irene and Mary

1938

Millions in the Air poster
10.0

The daughter of a radio-program sponsor wants to get on the air too, but her father doesn't allow it, so she enters an amateur contest on his radio program under an assumed name.

Millions in the Air

1935

Sing and Be Happy poster
10.0

Rival advertising firms compete for a radio show's pickle manufacturing account.

Sing and Be Happy

1937

Just Around the Corner poster
5.8

Penny helps her idealistic architect father get his dream of a slum clearance project; The little miss dances with Corporal Jones.

Just Around the Corner

1938

Wake Up and Live poster
6.2

Satire on radio, built around the supposed feud between bandleader Ben Bernie and journalist Walter Winchell.

Wake Up and Live

1937

My Lucky Star poster
5.9

George Cabot Jr., the son of a department store owner, enrolls Kristina Nielsen, the store's sports clerk, at a university to use her as an advertisement for their fashion department. She falls for Larry Taylor, a teacher, and gets expelled.

My Lucky Star

1938

Bunker Bean poster
5.2

A shy office worker becomes a hero when a fortune teller calls him another Napoleon.

Bunker Bean

1936

Life Begins in College poster
8.0

When a wealthy Indian student endows the college so they can keep the football coach rumor has it the Indian has played professionally and can't be on the team.

Life Begins in College

1937

Thin Ice poster
6.8

A Swiss hotel ski instructor falls in love with a man who goes skiing every morning.

Thin Ice

1937

Love and Hisses poster
10.0

As part of their public feud, Bandleader Bernie pretends a girl singer is no good so columnist Winchell promotes her in his column.

Love and Hisses

1937

On the Avenue poster
7.2

A new Broadway show starring Gary Blake shamelessly lampoons the rich Carraway family. To get her own back, daughter Mimi sets out to ensnare Blake, but the courtship is soon for real, to the annoyance of his co-star, hoofing chanteuese Mona Merrick.

On the Avenue

1937

Angel's Holiday poster
6.0

Lively June, teen-aged daughter of mystery writer Waldo Everett, who calls her "Angel," becomes involved in intrigue centering on movie star Pauline Kaye and her companion Stivers. Reporter Nick Moore, once sweet on Pauline, is convinced that her sudden disappearance is a publicity stunt, which is true -- until gangster Bat Regan decides to get involved.

Angel's Holiday

1937

The Great Hospital Mystery poster
5.5

A nurse's brother who's pursued by the mob, hides out in a hospital by pretending to be a patient.

The Great Hospital Mystery

1937

The Holy Terror poster
5.0

Corky is the daughter of an officer in the Naval Air Service who, while putting on musical shows for the troops, uncovers a group of spies.

The Holy Terror

1937

Josette poster
7.2

Two young men try to wrest their father from the clutches of a gold digger but by mistake think the woman is a young nightclub singer with whom they both fall in love.

Josette

1938

Hollywood Hobbies poster
5.6

In this short film, two starstruck movie fans hire a tour guide and see a plethora of Hollywood stars.

Hollywood Hobbies

1939

Way Up Thar poster
10.0

This 1934 short subject was Mack Sennett's final directorial effort for Educational Pictures, and comedienne Joan Davis' film debut. It features Buster Keaton's Mother and Sister, Myra and Louise, respectively. A very young Roy Rogers (billed as Leonard Slye) is featured as a member of the Sons of the Pioneers, and sings a few songs during the course of the movie.

Way Up Thar

1935

Series credits

Behind the camera