Rita Johnson trivia

Rita was one of those actresses whose face old movie watchers know, but perhaps not her name. She was one of those actresses whose mouth would smile, but whose eyes frequently did not.

In her youth she worked in her mother's lunchroom and sold hot dogs on the Boston-Worcester Turnpike.

She attended the New England Conservatory of Music.

Her career progressed from radio to Broadway to films. By 1936 she was appearing in ten radio shows a week, including the lead in Joyce Jordan, M. D.

Because of an injury from a falling hair dryer, she had to have brain surgery, which caused her career to come to a near stop. It took her a year to recover, and she died at the age of 52 from a brain hemorrhage.

She was a good enough swimmer to once consider entering the Olympics.