Mini Biography
The second "Jane" of the durable Tarzan jungle film series was born Betty Leabo in Missouri, raised in Los Angeles, and nicknamed "Graftina" by her father when she was a girl. Attending college, the lovely blonde became a photographer's model to help pay her tuition. 20th Century Fox noticed a fashion layout of her and immediately signed her on. The studio changed her name to Brenda Joyce after silent star Alice Joyce, making her movie debut with The Rains Came (1939). Building her up to the public as a sexy single girl, the studio didn't take kindly to her impulsive marriage to army husband Owen Ward and supposedly punished her by relegating her to "B" films. Two children later, Brenda appeared to have lost interest in her career, but was coaxed back to the film set when brunette Maureen O'Sullivan left the Tarzan series and Johnny Weissmuller approved the athletic beauty as his new blonde swinging mate. Beginning a four-year excursion with the film Tarzan and the Amazons (1945), Brenda continued on as Jane after Weissmuller left (actor Lex Barker took over), but finally decided enough was enough. Besieged by personal problems, including a painful divorce, Brenda left after her fifth movie, Tarzan's Magic Fountain (1949), and completely abandoned her career. Not much has been heard from her since.
Mini Biography By:
Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net