Rita Johnson


Rita Ann Johnson was an American actress.

Early years

Johnson was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, the daughter of a single mother, Lillian Johnson.
She worked as a waitress in her mother's lunchroom and sold hot dogs on the Boston-Worcester turnpike. She later attended the New England Conservatory of Music.

Career

Early in her career, Johnson was busy in radio. "By 1936 she... was appearing in ten radio shows a week." She played the leading role in Joyce Jordan, M.D..
Johnson began acting on Broadway in 1935 and started her film career two years later. She played a murderer in Here Comes Mr. Jordan and a doomed wife in the RKO film noir They Won't Believe Me.
Johnson suffered injuries to her head and legs September 6, 1948, requiring brain surgery, causing her film career to come to a near complete stop. A newspaper article three years afterward reported, "It took her a year to recover. Her left side was paralyzed temporarily, and for a while she couldn't walk." Her screen time in movies after that was limited due to her reduced mobility and powers of concentration. She also suffered from alcoholism from the time of her injuries until her death of a brain hemorrhage on October 31, 1965, at age 52.

Personal life

Johnson was married to businessman L. Stanley Kahn. They were granted a divorce on June 29, 1943. She married, secondly, to Edwin Hutzler from 1943 to 1946, but that marriage also ended in divorce.

Partial filmography