Joan Blondell

Joan Blondell made six films with James Cagney at Warner Brothers, more than any other actress. Cagney said that, apart from his wife, Blondell was the only woman he ever loved.

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In 1927, while she was closing the library where she worked, Blondell was raped by a police officer, who told her he would kill her if she told anyone. She kept silent for decades and finally told her adult daughter, later making the story public in her memoir.

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Blondell's marriage to the theatrical impresario Mike Todd was an emotional and financial disaster. Todd was a big spender who lost hundreds of thousands of dollars gambling — high-stakes bridge was one of his weaknesses — and went through a controversial bankruptcy during their marriage. While the irresponsible Todd continued to live a luxurious life on a vast estate in Westchester County, New York, he spent Blondell's savings.

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Blondell felt that her best performance was as Aunt Sissy in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945).

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According to the July 24, 1944 issue of Time magazine, Blondell divorced Dick Powell on grounds of cruelty, claiming that "when she objected to the constant coming and going of guests, Powell muttered: 'If you don't like it, you can get the hell out.'".

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Blondell wrote a novel, Center Door Fancy, a thinly disguised autobiography in which she portrayed her former husbands. Dick Powell was depicted as extremely stingy and conceited.

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Her son Norman Scott was born in breech position with the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck. The birth was complicated by a fractured coccyx and lasted twenty hours.

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On February 8, 1960, she was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6311 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.

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In the British sitcom Dad's Army (1968), Private Pike is in love with her and has dozens of her photographs on his bedroom walls.

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She was portrayed by Kathy Bates in Feud (2017).

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After her death she was cremated and her ashes were placed in a columbarium at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.

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In December 2019 she was honored as Star of the Month on Turner Classic Movies.

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She was the mother of Norman S. Powell from her marriage to George Barnes; he was adopted by Dick Powell in February 1938. She was the mother of Ellen Powell from her marriage to Dick Powell.

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Her father's grandparents were Polish Jewish immigrants who came to Indiana. Her mother was of Irish descent.

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Her daughter Ellen Powell waged a long battle with cocaine and also overcame it (1984).

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She attended the Professional Children's School in New York City.

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Her son Norman Scott was named after Claudette Colbert's first husband, the actor-director Norman Foster.

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She was the older sister of the actress Gloria Blondell.

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June Allyson was the stepmother of Blondell's daughter Ellen Powell after Allyson married Blondell's ex-husband Dick Powell.

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Like her second husband Dick Powell and her acquaintance June Allyson, she was a lifelong loyal supporter of the Republican Party.

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In the summer of 1932 and again in the summer of 1933, she became pregnant out of wedlock by her first husband George Barnes. She had an abortion in both cases.

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Her profile was written by Ray Hagen and Laura Wagner in "Killer Tomatoes: Fifteen Tough Film Dames" (McFarland, 2004).

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She was the daughter of Edward Blondell (1865-1943), who was born in Poland as Levi Bluestein and grew up in Columbus, Indiana, and Katherine (née Cain) Blondell (1884-1952), who was born in the state of New Jersey.

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In 1945 she received a marriage proposal from Clark Gable and turned it down.

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She was the aunt of the makeup artist Kathryn Blondell.

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Joan Blondell had three grandchildren: Joan Ellen Powell, Scott Powell and Stephanie Powell.

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Joan Blondell appeared in eight films with Glenda Farrell: Three on a Match (1932), Havana Widows (1933), I've Got Your Number (1934), Kansas City Princess (1934), Traveling Saleslady (1935), We're in the Money (1935), Miss Pacific Fleet (1935) and Gold Diggers of 1937 (1936).

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Joan Blondell was a WAMPAS Baby Star in 1931.

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Joan Blondell's granddaughter Stephanie Powell is married to Sean Murphy, the owner of a surf travel company.

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Joan Blondell's grandson Scott Powell has a stepson named David and two grandchildren named Zander and Dakota.

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