Joan Mitchell (Who’s Who at MGM, 1937) 🇺🇸
From childhood on, Joan Mitchell seemed destined for a career as an actress. Her burning ambition ever since she could remember was to act. As a young girl, Joan would gather all the children in the neighborhood and enact dramatic bits from plays.
She was born on June 30, in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of John Mitchell, a government employee, and Ann Mitchell. She attended the Holy Innocence grade school and, later, Erasmus High School in Brooklyn.
Graduating from Erasmus High School, she decided to earn her own livelihood. At seventeen, she ventured into New York alone, walked into an advertising agency, demanded a job — and got it.
Screen Test
After two years of appearing in a cigarette company's advertisements and modeling furs for a New York designer, she was called to the attention of Metro‑Goldwyn‑Mayer executives, who induced her to go to Hollywood for a screen test. She had studied dramatics in leading New York schools.
So successful was Miss Mitchell's test that she was signed to a contract by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and given a part in Rosalie with Nelson Eddy and Eleanor Powell.
Since coming to Hollywood, Miss Mitchell has been more determined to make a success of her career than ever. The two actors she most admires, Spencer Tracy and Luise Rainer, are on her same lot. She often visited their set to watch them in "Big City."
Her first role in "Rosalie" has given her further opportunity to carry out this wish. Here she was under the direction of W. S. Van Dyke, famous for his ability to bring out hidden talents in stars.
Pictures Interesting
Miss Mitchell confesses that working in pictures is far more interesting than the life she led as a model.
"You get more satisfaction out of the work, for one thing," she declared. "Instead of posing for pictures, this profession of acting for pictures gives you the feeling of having accomplished one definite thing. It is stimulating, and makes you want to accomplish bigger and more definite things."
Miss Mitchell is five feet, seven inches tall, weighs 125 pounds, has chestnut brown hair and a striking personality. She has lived in New York all of her life, venturing outside the city for the first time to come to Hollywood.
She is fond of orchids. Her favorite playwright is Ibsen, favorite author is Alexandre Dumas, favorite classical orchestration is Ravel's Bolero. She likes the modern girl paintings of McClelland Barclay and the paintings of Michelangelo. She loves to listen to the dance arrangements of Eddie Duchin.
Her Favorites
Other favorites that are included in her list are, modern playwright, Noel Coward, modern author, Somerset Maugham, favorite historical character, Abraham Lincoln, favorite actor, Spencer Tracy, actress Luise Rainer.
Her favorite exercise is walking. When not working, her favorite pastime is to sit, rest and read, mostly biographies and plays. Also, likes to design clothes in her spare time. The living personality she admires most is the Duke of Windsor.
She firmly believes in hunches and has successfully carried through many of them, she states. Her only superstition is walking under ladders.
Miss Mitchell's closest friend is her sister.
Her favorite recreation is dancing and going to the movies. For sports, she engages in swimming, tennis and horseback riding.
Collection: Who’s Who at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (1937)