Rochelle Hudson

 Rochelle Hudson (March 6, 1916 – January 17, 1972)

Hudson signed a contract with RKO Pictures on November 22, 1930, when she was 14 years old. She may be best remembered today for costarring in Wild Boys of the Road (1933), playing Cosette in Les Misérables (1935), playing Mary Blair, the older sister of Shirley Temple's character in Curly Top, and for playing Natalie Wood's mother in Rebel Without a Cause (1955). During her peak years in the 1930s, notable roles for Hudson included Richard Cromwell’s love interest in the Will Rogers showcase Life Begins at 40 (1935), the daughter of carnival barker W.C. Fields in Poppy (1936), and Claudette Colbert’s adult daughter in Imitation of Life (1934). In the 1954–1955 television season, Hudson co-starred with Gil Stratton and Eddie Mayehoff in the sitcom That's My Boy, based on a 1951 Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin film of the same name. She later moved to her native Oklahoma and worked for a petroleum refinery. However, she later returned to California, and found success in real estate. In 1972, Hudson was found dead in her home at the Palm Desert Country Club. A business associate with whom she had been working in real estate discovered her body sprawled on the bathroom floor. The cause of death was pneumonia and liver disease. She was married four times, and had no children. Hudson was 55.