Juanita Quigley
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Juanita Quigley (24 June 1931 – 29 October 2017) was an American child actress in motion pictures of the 1930s and 1940s. She had a sister, Rita Quigley, who was also a child actress.
Juanita Quigley was billed as "Baby Jane" in several early roles. Her screen debut was as Claudette Colbert's three-year-old daughter in Imitation of Life (1934). She went on to play featured parts in several films, including The Man Who Reclaimed His Head (1934) and was Jean Harlow's niece in Riffraff (1936). Quigley became a familiar face to moviegoers of the era, but major roles for children so young were few and she often played bits as well as featured roles. She was one of the most popular child stars of her day, and was Universal Pictures' youngest star in 1934.
Quigley was briefly involved in the Our Gang film series. In 1940, she was the guest-starring lead in The New Pupil when cast as Sally, who briefly takes Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer away from Darla Hood. Two years later, she reprised the character in Going to Press (1942), the only time in the MGM era where the female lead was played by someone other than Darla Hood (who had recently left the series) or Janet Burston.
Quigley acted alongside her older sister, Rita Quigley, in Whispering Footsteps (1943). Her last major role was in National Velvet (1944), in which she played Elizabeth Taylor's sister.
Quigley made only a handful of small appearances after National Velvet, her last being in 1950. At the age of 20, in August 1951, she became a religious sister in the order of the Daughters of Mary and Joseph, teaching at Precious Blood Catholic School. After several years in her convent, she left the vocation and married.
Inaccurate documentation exists that Juanita made an uncredited appearance as an extra in the locally filmed Porky's II: The Next Day. At the time of this filming, Juanita lived in Pennsylvania pursuing her post-convent career full-time. Juanita was retired and was an intensely private person with regard to her past. Most who knew her as a friend were unaware of her previous life as an actress. As of 2016, Juanita lived a peaceful retired life with her son and daughter-in-law in Massachusetts.
Juanita Quigley died in Sudbury, MA, on 29 October 2017, aged 86.
| Known For | Acting |
|---|---|
| Most Rating | 0.6209 |
| Birthday | 1931-06-24 |
| Place of Birth | Los Angeles, California, USA |
| Also Known As | Baby Jane, |
1938
Having Wonderful Time
4.933/15
Teddy Shaw, a bored New York office girl, goes to a camp in the Catskill Mountains for rest and finds Chick Kirkland.
Watch Now
Having Wonderful Time
1943
Whispering Footsteps
5.25/16
An Ohio bank clerk's life becomes a nightmare when his descriptions is a fit of a maniac killer.
Watch Now
Whispering Footsteps
1936
Born to Dance
6.1/30
On leave, a sailor falls in love with a young lady aspiring to become a Broadway dancer, but their relationship is jeopardized by an established Broad...
Watch Now
Born to Dance
1935
Straight from the Heart
9/1
In this romance, a slightly crooked and highly ambitious mayoral candidate convinces a woman to help him blackmail the incumbent by using a little bab...
Watch Now
Straight from the Heart
1934
Imitation of Life
7.029/87
A struggling widow and her daughter take in a black housekeeper and her fair-skinned daughter. The two women start a successful business but face fami...
Watch Now
Imitation of Life
1936
Riffraff
5.353/17
Fisherman Dutch marries cannery worker Hattie. After he is kicked out of his union and fired from his job he leaves Hattie who steals money for him an...
Watch Now
Riffraff
1934
The Man Who Reclaimed His Head
6/3
A writer discovers he's being used as a pawn by greedy businessmen.
Watch Now
The Man Who Reclaimed His Head
1943
Assignment in Brittany
7.1/5
A French Resistance fighter discovers he's a dead ringer for a Nazi official.
Watch Now
Assignment in Brittany
1944
The Lady and the Monster
5.977/22
A millionaire's brain is preserved after his death by a scientist and his two assistants, only to create a telepathic monster.
Watch Now
The Lady and the Monster
1938
Hawaii Calls
6/6
After being nabbed while trying to stow away on board an ocean liner en route to Hawaii, young Bobby Breen sings for his travel fare and, along with s...
Watch Now
Hawaii Calls
1941
Gangs Inc.
5.625/8
Circumstances force naive Rita Adams into serving an unjust prison term, but she emerges from it a cynical criminal who rises to power in the local cr...
Watch Now
Gangs Inc.
1939
The Family Next Door
5.8/5
Rose Pierce is discontent with her life as the wife of a small town plumber and has visions of becoming a wealthy socialite. Consequently, when her sm...
Watch Now
The Family Next Door
1938
Woman Against Woman
7/3
A newlywed unhappily discovers that her husband's scheming ex-wife still has a controlling influence in his life and home.
Watch Now
Woman Against Woman
1942
A Yank at Eton
6.143/7
An American playboy is sent to a British boarding school to learn discipline.
Watch Now
A Yank at Eton
1936
The Devil-Doll
6.782/119
Respected Parisian banker Paul Lavond is framed for robbery and murder by crooked associates and sent to prison. Years later, he escapes with a friend...
Watch Now
The Devil-Doll
1935
Alias Mary Dow
7.167/3
A taxi-dancer agrees to pose as a girl who had been kidnapped as a child 18 years before.
Watch Now
Alias Mary Dow
1938
Men with Wings
5.4/5
Reporter Nicholas Ranson is jubilant when, on 17 Dec 1903, in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Orville and Wilbur Wright take their first airplane flight....
Watch Now
Men with Wings
1945
National Velvet
7.25/120
Mi Taylor is a young wanderer and opportunist who finds himself in the quiet English countryside home of the Brown family. The youngest daughter, Velv...
Watch Now
National Velvet
1940
The Blue Bird
5.822/45
Peasant children Mytyl and Tyltyl are led on a magical quest for the fabulous Blue Bird of Happiness by the fairy Berylune. On their journey, they're...
Watch Now
The Blue Bird
1939
Code of the Streets
7.667/3
Frankie Thomas plays Bob Lewis, leader of a gang consisting of Sailor, Murph, Monk, Trouble and Yap. The son of disgraced police officer Lt. Lewis, Bo...
Watch Now
Code of the Streets
1940
Oh, Johnny, How You Can Love!
6.5/4
In this musical comedy, a traveling salesman gets mixed up with a bratty heiress after she gets in a car wreck as she heads for her elopement. The two...
Watch Now
Oh, Johnny, How You Can Love!
1943
Happy Land
7.125/4
An Iowa drugstore owner becomes embittered when his son is killed in World War II. The druggist believes that the boy's life was cut short before he h...
Watch Now
Happy Land
1938
That Certain Age
5.5/8
Dashing reporter Vincent Bullit has just returned from covering the Spanish Civil War. His boss, newspaper magnate Fullerton, has more plans to send h...
Watch Now
That Certain Age
1940
Cinderella's Feller
7/1
The story of Cinderella with a children's cast.
Watch Now
Cinderella's Feller
1934
We're Rich Again
6.167/6
A polo-playing grandmother and her broke brood get back in the money with a Wall Street bet.
Watch Now
We're Rich Again
1940
The New Pupil
6.333/3
Spanky and Alfalfa both try to impress the new girl at school, much to Darla's dismay.
Watch Now
The New Pupil
1950
Mystery Street
6.75/66
When a young woman's skeletal remains turn up on a Massachusetts beach, Barnstable cop Peter Moralas teams with Boston police and uses forensics, with...
Watch Now
Mystery Street
1942
The Vanishing Virginian
8/2
The perineal District Attorney and conservative southern patriarch cherishes the old ways and does his best to adjust to change.
Watch Now
The Vanishing Virginian
1938
The Devil's Party
5.444/9
Adults who grew up as slum kids meet later in life, but murder disrupts their reunion.
Watch Now
The Devil's Party
1941
Bachelor Daddy
8/1
The lives of three bachelors is disrupted when one of them is left with a baby.
Watch Now
Bachelor Daddy
1942
Going to Press
7.5/2
The Our Gang kids are running their own newspaper and are determined to get the big scoop by learning the identity of the leader of a gang of bullies.
Watch Now
Going to Press
1938
You and Me
6.556/45
Mr. Morris, the owner of a large metropolitan department store, gives jobs to paroled ex-convicts in an effort to help them reform and go straight. Am...
Watch Now
You and Me
1934
In Love with Life
6/2
Professor John Sylvestus Applegate has been dismissed from his college teaching position for objecting too loudly to the predominant part that footbal...
Watch Now