Judith Wood | |
---|---|
Born |
Helen Johnson August 1, 1906 New York, New York |
Died | April 6, 2002 Los Angeles, California |
(aged 95)
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 1929–1950 |
Judith Wood (August 1, 1906 – April 6, 2002) was an American film actress from the end of the 1920s through the 1940s.
Born as Helen Johnson in New York City, Wood moved to Hollywood, California, to pursue an acting career in the late 1920s. Her first role was in the 1929 film Gold Diggers of Broadway. In that first film, as well as in the four in which she would star during 1930, Wood was credited under her birth name.
Her first film of 1931 was It Pays to Advertise, which starred Carole Lombard. It was the last film in which she was billed as "Helen Johnson", and thereafter all of her film credits were under the name "Judith Wood". In 1931, she was selected as one of 13 girls to be "WAMPAS Baby Stars", along with actresses Marian Marsh, Karen Morley, Marion Shilling, and Barbara Weeks.
Wood starred in six films in 1931, after which her career slowed and eventually faded out. She starred as Kitty Packard in the original Broadway production of Dinner at Eight, but the film version went to Jean Harlow. In 1934, she only received three film roles, one of which was uncredited. In 1936 and 1937, she had small but credited roles in two films, then did not receive another until 1941, which was uncredited. Her last film was in 1950, when she had an uncredited role in The Asphalt Jungle (1950).
Following that, she retired from acting, but remained in Los Angeles, California. She died there in 2002, of natural causes, aged 95.