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Leatrice Joy (November 7, 1893 – May 13, 1985) was an American actress most prolific during the early silent film era. Born as Leatrice Joy Zeidler in New Orleans, Louisiana, she began her acting career in stock theater companies and made her film debut for the little-known small New Orleans based Nola Film Company in 1915. By 1917 she relocated to the relatively young film colony in Hollywood, California and began appearing in comedy shorts opposite Billy West and Oliver Hardy. Signed under contract with Samuel Goldwyn Studios, her first role for the studio was in 1917s The Pride of the... MORE

Leatrice Joy (November 7, 1893 – May 13, 1985) was an American actress most prolific during the early silent film era. Born as Leatrice Joy Zeidler in New Orleans, Louisiana, she began her acting career in stock theater companies and made her film debut for the little-known small New Orleans based Nola Film Company in 1915. By 1917 she relocated to the relatively young film colony in Hollywood, California and began appearing in comedy shorts opposite Billy West and Oliver Hardy. Signed under contract with Samuel Goldwyn Studios, her first role for the studio was in 1917s The Pride of the Clan opposite Mary Pickford. By 1920, Joy's career quickly gained momentum and she became a highly popular actress with the film-going public and was given leading lady status opposite such performers as Wallace Beery, Conrad Nagel, Nita Naldi and Irene Rich. Joy was often cast by directors in the role of the strong-willed and independent woman, and in the liberated atmosphere of the Jazz Age Roaring Twenties solidified her public popularity, especially with women film-goers. Her close-cropped hair and somewhat boyish persona (she was several times cast as a woman mistaken for a young man) became LESS