Watch Jobyna Ralston Videos

Jobyna Ralston (November 21, 1899 – January 22, 1967) was an American stage and film actress. Born Jobyna Lancaster Raulston in South Pittsburg, Tennessee in 1899 to parents who named her after famed entertainer of the time, Jobyna Howland. Ralston's mother, a portrait photographer, carefully groomed her daughter for a show business career. At the age of nine she gave her first stage performance in Cinderella during the grand opening of the Wilson theatre/Opera House in 1909. Around 1915, Ralston attended acting school in New York. She later danced chorus and sang in Broadway... MORE

Jobyna Ralston (November 21, 1899 – January 22, 1967) was an American stage and film actress. Born Jobyna Lancaster Raulston in South Pittsburg, Tennessee in 1899 to parents who named her after famed entertainer of the time, Jobyna Howland. Ralston's mother, a portrait photographer, carefully groomed her daughter for a show business career. At the age of nine she gave her first stage performance in Cinderella during the grand opening of the Wilson theatre/Opera House in 1909. Around 1915, Ralston attended acting school in New York. She later danced chorus and sang in Broadway productions, her first being Two Little Girls in Blue. This production marked her Broadway debut, when she was 21. Comedian Max Linder saw her on stage and persuaded her to go to Hollywood, where she appeared in a number of his films. She also co-starred in Humor Risk (1921), the fabled lost comedy short film that was to be the film debut of the Marx Brothers. Soon director Hal Roach began to star the actress in one-reel comedies. She abandoned the stage for the screen in 1922 when her mother's health began to decline, and she needed to make more money to help pay the medical bills. In 1923 she was named by LESS