Judy Canova


Judy Canova , born Juliette Canova, was an American comedian, actress, singer, and radio personality. She appeared on Broadway and in films. She hosted her own self-titled network radio program, a popular series broadcast from 1943 to 1955.

Biography

Early career

She was born in Starke, Florida, one of seven siblings, to Joseph Francis Canova, a businessman, and Henrietta E. Canova, a singer. Young Juliette became "Judy" and began her show-business career with a family vaudeville routine, joining her sister Annie and brother Zeke. Their performances as the Three Georgia Crackers took them from Florida theaters to the Village Barn, a Manhattan club. Canova sang, yodeled, and played guitar, and she was typed as a wide-eyed likable country bumpkin, often barefoot and wearing her hair in braids, sometimes topped with a straw hat. Sometimes she was introduced as The Ozark Nightingale or The Jenny Lind of the Ozarks. In an interview with Rosemary Clooney she said that her family came from the Pyrenees Mountains of Spain, though other sources say the island of Menorca.

Stardom: Radio, films, and recordings

When bandleader Rudy Vallée offered the still-teenaged Canova a guest spot on his radio show in 1931, The Fleischmann Hour, the door opened to a career that spanned more than five decades. The popularity of the Canova family led to numerous performances on radio in the 1930s, and they made their Broadway theater debut in the revue Calling All Stars. An offer from Warner Bros. led to specialty appearances in short subjects and minor features before she signed with Paramount Pictures for one year.
Republic Pictures, whose customer base was largely in rural areas, signed Judy Canova in 1940. She quickly became the studio's leading female star, playing country gals who always blundered into trouble, in such titles as Scatterbrain, Sis Hopkins, and Joan of Ozark. She left the studio in 1943 over a salary dispute and was quickly signed by Columbia Pictures for three feature films, each released annually. Republic wooed her back in 1951 to star in comedy features, now in color, and she made six more pictures through 1955.
She recorded for the RCA Victor label.
in 1938 from left: Judy, Zeke, and Annie
In 1943, she began her own radio program, The Judy Canova Show'', that ran for 12 years: first on CBS and then on NBC. Playing herself as a love-starved Ozark bumpkin dividing her time between home and Southern California, Canova was accompanied by a cast that included voicemaster Mel Blanc as Pedro and Sylvester ; Ruth Perrott as Aunt Aggie; Ruby Dandridge as Geranium; Joseph Kearns as Benchley Botsford; and Sharon Douglas as Brenda. Gale Gordon, Sheldon Leonard, Gerald Mohr, and Hans Conried also appeared sporadically.
During World War II, she closed her show with the song "Goodnight, Soldier" and used her free time to sell U.S. War Bonds. After the war, she introduced a new closing theme that she once said she remembered her own mother singing to her when she was a small child:

Television

Her radio and movie careers ended in 1955. Canova made a smooth transition to television; she never transitioned the radio show to a standalone television series but made frequent guest appearances on The Colgate Comedy Hour, The Steve Allen Show, Matinee Theatre, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Mickey Mouse Club, The Danny Thomas Show, and other shows. In 1967, she portrayed Mammy Yokum in an unsold TV pilot adapted from Al Capp's Li'l Abner. She also worked on Broadway and in Vegas nightclubs through the early 1970s, touring with the revival of No, No Nanette in 1971. She appeared as a mystery guest on the TV show What's My Line on July 18, 1954.

Personal life

Her hayseed character developed as radio's female equivalent of her first husband, comedian Bob Burns. A nationally known cracker-barrel radio and film personality during the 1930s and 1940s, Burns was recognized by his own hillbilly origins as "The Arkansas Traveler" and "The Arkansas Philosopher." The couple were married in 1936, but the marriage ended in divorce after only three years. Briefly, Canova then was married to James Ripley, but the union soon was annulled during 1941. Her third marriage was to Chester B. England in 1943, which ended in divorce by 1950. Her fourth and final husband was musician Filberto Rivero in 1950. She lived in Palm Springs, California, from 1956 to 1959. The union produced a daughter, Diana, but the marriage ended in 1964. Diana Canova is an actress best known for her role as Corinne on Soap.

Death

In 1983, at the age of 69, Judy Canova died from cancer and her ashes were interred in the secluded Columbarium of Everlasting Light section, at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. Her ashes are among those of her siblings Annie and Zeke Canova.
Canova is honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contribution to the film industry and a second star for her radio career.

Filmography

Features:
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