Rita Johnson

Acting

Rita Johnson

Born — Died

1913-08-13 — 1965-10-31

Place of birth

Worcester, Massachusetts, USA

Known for

Acting

Credits

39 titles

Rita Ann Johnson (August 13, 1913 – October 31, 1965) was an American actress. Early in her career, Johnson was busy in radio. Johnson began acting on Broadway in 1935 and started her film career two years later. She played a murderer in Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941) and a doomed wife in the RKO film noir They Won't Believe Me (1947). In an incident that was never fully explained, Johnson suffered a head trauma on September 6, 1948 that required brain surgery. Unsubstantiated rumors promulgated by gossip columnists such as Walter Winchell suggested she might have been abused by a boyfriend, but the only explanation she offered was that a large, industrial-grade hair dryer at her apartment …

Known for

Mr. & Mrs. North poster
5.0

Mr. & Mrs. North is an American comedy/mystery television series that aired on CBS from October 3, 1952 to May 25, 1954. The series centers on Jerry North, a mystery magazine publisher who thinks he is a good amateur detective, and his wife, Pamela, as they solve crimes in New York City.

Mr. & Mrs. North

1952

All Mine to Give poster
6.3

This is a story based on fact that follows a husband and wife who emigrate from Scotland to Wisconsin in the 1850s. They work very hard and become welcome citizens of their new town, Eureka. They have six children. They prosper in the husband's boat-building business. But when their eldest is 12, tragedy strikes the family, and the 12-year-old is burdened with a terrible task which he handles as well as any adult could.

All Mine to Give

1957

The Big Clock poster
7.3

George Stroud, a crime magazine's crusading editor, has to postpone a vacation with his wife - again - when a glamorous blonde is murdered and he is assigned by his publishing boss to find the killer. As the investigation proceeds to its conclusion, Stroud must try to disrupt his ordinarily brilliant investigative team as they increasingly build evidence that he is the killer.

The Big Clock

1948

The Major and the Minor poster
7.1

Low on funds, working-class girl Susan Applegate disguises herself as a youngster in order to pay half fare home. But little 'Sue Sue' finds herself in a whole heap of grownup trouble when she hides out in a compartment with handsome Major Philip Kirby.

The Major and the Minor

1942

They Won't Believe Me poster
6.6

On trial for murdering his girlfriend, philandering stockbroker Larry Ballentine takes the stand to claim his innocence and describe the actual, but improbable sounding, sequence of events that led to her death.

They Won't Believe Me

1947

Edison, the Man poster
6.8

In flashback, fifty years after inventing the light bulb, an 82-year-old Edison tells his story starting at age twenty-two with his arrival in New York. He's on his way with the invention of an early form of the stock market ticker.

Edison, the Man

1940

Film credits

1950s · 4 titles

1940s · 20 titles

The Big Clock poster
7.3

George Stroud, a crime magazine's crusading editor, has to postpone a vacation with his wife - again - when a glamorous blonde is murdered and he is assigned by his publishing boss to find the killer. As the investigation proceeds to its conclusion, Stroud must try to disrupt his ordinarily brilliant investigative team as they increasingly build evidence that he is the killer.

The Big Clock

1948

The Major and the Minor poster
7.1

Low on funds, working-class girl Susan Applegate disguises herself as a youngster in order to pay half fare home. But little 'Sue Sue' finds herself in a whole heap of grownup trouble when she hides out in a compartment with handsome Major Philip Kirby.

The Major and the Minor

1942

They Won't Believe Me poster
6.6

On trial for murdering his girlfriend, philandering stockbroker Larry Ballentine takes the stand to claim his innocence and describe the actual, but improbable sounding, sequence of events that led to her death.

They Won't Believe Me

1947

Edison, the Man poster
6.8

In flashback, fifty years after inventing the light bulb, an 82-year-old Edison tells his story starting at age twenty-two with his arrival in New York. He's on his way with the invention of an early form of the stock market ticker.

Edison, the Man

1940

Here Comes Mr. Jordan poster
7.0

Boxer Joe Pendleton, flying to his next fight, crashes...because a Heavenly Messenger, new on the job, snatched Joe's spirit prematurely from his body. Before the matter can be rectified, Joe's body is cremated; so the celestial Mr. Jordan grants him the use of the body of wealthy Bruce Farnsworth, who's just been murdered by his wife. Joe tries to remake Farnsworth's unworthy life in his own clean-cut image, but then falls in love; and what about that murderous wife?

Here Comes Mr. Jordan

1941

Sleep, My Love poster
6.3

A woman wakes up in the middle of the night on board a train, but she can't remember how she got there. Danger and suspense ensue.

Sleep, My Love

1948

The Perfect Marriage poster
5.5

A couple celebrate their tenth anniversary by quarreling their way to divorce court.

The Perfect Marriage

1947

My Friend Flicka poster
5.9

Ken McLaughlin is a precocious 10-year-old who lives with his family on a remote Wyoming ranch. When Ken returns home from school with failing grades, his father, Rob, blames the boy's lack of personal responsibility. At the suggestion of his wife, Nell, Rob allows Ken to choose a single colt from the herd to raise as his own. Much to his father's dismay, Ken chooses a fiery mustang filly -- but the two soon become fast friends.

My Friend Flicka

1943

An Innocent Affair poster
4.8

Vincent Doane is in the precarious position of trying to close an advertising account with his rich ex-fiancée. Unfortunately she is more interested in him than in business. Vincent's wife Paula gets suspicious and finally decides to do some flirting of her own to make him jealous. Unknown to her, she chooses cigarette tychoon Claude Kimball. In fact, Kimball hits it off well with both of the Doanes. The question is whether or not their marriage can survive all the shenanigans.

An Innocent Affair

1948

Appointment for Love poster
5.8

Charming Andre Cassil woos physician Jane Alexander and the two impulsively get married. The honeymoon ends very quickly when Jane voices her progressive views on marriage which include the two having separate apartments. Andre then tries to make his wife jealous in order to lure her into his bedroom.

Appointment for Love

1941

The Affairs of Susan poster
6.5

Susan is about to be married, but the wedding may get called off after her fiancé summons three former beaus. Each reveals a different portrait of Susan: one describes her as a naive country girl who reluctantly becomes an actress, another paints a picture of a gay party girl and and the third describes a serious intellectual.

The Affairs of Susan

1945

The Naughty Nineties poster
6.7

In the gay '90s, cardsharps take over a Mississippi riverboat from a kindly captain. Their first act is to change the showboat into a floating gambling house. A ham actor and his bumbling sidekick try to devise a way to help the captain regain ownership of the vessel.

The Naughty Nineties

1945

Michigan Kid poster
8.0

A former U.S. marshal rescues an instant heiress from an outlaw's gang.

Michigan Kid

1947

The Golden Fleecing poster
5.9

A mild-mannered insurance salesman gets mixed up with gangsters.

The Golden Fleecing

1940

Family Honeymoon poster
6.2

Grant Jordan, bachelor botany professor, marries Katie, a widow with three kids, despite the machinations of Grant's former girlfriend Minna. But on the wedding day, Aunt Jo, who was to babysit, breaks a leg; so the kids come along on the honeymoon.

Family Honeymoon

1948

Forty Little Mothers poster
6.5

An out-of-work professor gets a break from an old college buddy to teach at an exclusive girl's school. But events conspire against him: he finds an abandoned child which he takes under his wing, despite the school's rules against teachers having a family; and the girls in the school resent his replacing a handsome and popular teacher, and do everything in their power to get him fired.

Forty Little Mothers

1940

Pardon My Past poster
6.7

Eddie York is mistaken for playboy Francis Pemberton and gets into trouble.

Pardon My Past

1945

Thunderhead: Son of Flicka poster
6.6

A young boy tries to train Thunderhead, a beautiful white colt and the son of his beloved Flicka, to be a champion race horse.

Thunderhead: Son of Flicka

1945

The Art Director poster
6.7

A film's art director is in charge of the set, from conception to construction to furnishing. This short film walks the viewer through art directors' responsibilities and the demands on their talents. They read a script carefully and design a set to capture the time and place, the social strata, and the mood. They must be scholars of the history of architecture, furnishings, and fashion. They choose the colors on a set in anticipation of the lighting and the mood. Their work also sets styles, from Art Deco in the 20's to 30s modernism. Then it's on to the next project. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2012.

The Art Director

1949

Congo Maisie poster
4.4

Maisie gets lost in a jungle in Africa and the jungle of romance. The African jungle has snakes, crocodiles and witch doctors. The romantic jungle has a dedicated doctor with an un-dedicated wife and an embittered doctor who is dedicated to no one.

Congo Maisie

1940

1930s · 14 titles

Man-Proof poster
5.2

A newspaper illustrator tries to remain best friends with the man she secretly loves, even though he recently married another woman.

Man-Proof

1938

They All Come Out poster
5.9

A down on his luck young man stumbles into a gang of robbers who all get landed in prison. Will he be reformed, or is he ensnared into a life of crime?

They All Come Out

1939

Within the Law poster
6.5

Shopgirl Mary Turner, sentenced to prison for someone else's theft, is released and takes revenge upon those who wronged her in powerful but lawful ways.

Within the Law

1939

Letter of Introduction poster
6.0

An aging actor, trying to make a comeback on Broadway, is surprised when his estranged daughter shows up. It seems that she is an actress and is also trying to make it on Broadway. He tries to re-establish his relationship with her while also trying to hide the fact that she is his daughter from the press.

Letter of Introduction

1938

My Dear Miss Aldrich poster
6.2

A young woman inherits a newspaper whose editor refuses to hire lady reporters.

My Dear Miss Aldrich

1937

Nick Carter, Master Detective poster
6.0

Detective Nick Carter is brought in to foil spies at the Radex Airplane Factory, where a new fighter plane is under manufacture.

Nick Carter, Master Detective

1939

Honolulu poster
6.5

Wanting a break from his overzealous fans, a famous movie star hires a Hawaiian plantation owner to switch places with him for a few weeks.

Honolulu

1939

Rich Man, Poor Girl poster
6.1

A millionaire courts a working-class woman.

Rich Man, Poor Girl

1938

Smashing the Rackets poster
6.7

Jim 'Socker' Conway, former boxer and FBI hero, is maneuvered for political reasons into a do-nothing job in the district attorney's office. Meanwhile, he meets wild debutante Letty Lane, girlfriend of mob mouthpiece Steve Lawrence; and Letty's much nicer sister Susan. Now the slot machine gang brutally beats Jim's friends Franz and Otto. And Jim finds a way to use his nominal position to go into the racket- busting business. But his success puts Letty in deadly peril...

Smashing the Rackets

1938

Stronger Than Desire poster
5.5

An attorney handling a murder case is unaware his own wife played a crucial role in the killing.

Stronger Than Desire

1939

6,000 Enemies poster
6.1

A tough prosecutor who has sent dozens of criminals to prison finds himself framed on a bribery charge and winds up in prison himself.

6,000 Enemies

1939

London by Night poster
6.1

A newspaperman, his canine companion, and an adventurous socialite investigate an umbrella-wielding murderer who is terrorizing a London neighborhood.

London by Night

1937

Broadway Serenade poster
6.6

A married singer, pianist/composer team are struggling to hit it big in New York. Finally, they audition before a Broadway producer, but the producer only wants the singer, leaving the husband without a job and feeling a failure.

Broadway Serenade

1939

The Girl Downstairs poster
4.7

A wealthy playboy surreptitiously romances a scullery maid to gain access to her mistress with whom he is in love, but doesn't count on the maid falling in love with him.

The Girl Downstairs

1938

Series credits