Joan Leslie

 Joan Leslie, born Joan Agnes Theresa Sadie Brodel (January 26, 1925 – October 12, 2015)

Leslie was an actress who co-starred in films with such actors as Humphrey Bogart, Gary Cooper and James Cagney. She and her two sisters, Mary and Betty, performed on stage in their hometown of Detroit and in New York City in a singing and dancing vaudeville act called The Brodel Sisters. When a talent scout saw them perform and signed her older sister Mary to a contract at MGM, the family moved to Los Angeles. Her first film role was in Camille (1936), a romantic drama starring Greta Garbo and Robert Taylor. At age 15, Joan screen-tested with Warner Brothers and landed the coveted role of the crippled girl in High Sierra (1941). The following year, she was selected as Cooper's leading lady in Sergeant York (1941), and at age 17, she played the role of Cagney's wife in Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942). She co-starred in over 30 films, among them The Sky's the Limit (1943), Hollywood Canteen (1944), Rhapsody in Blue (1945), Cinderella Jones (1946) and Repeat Performance (1947). In the early 1950s, Leslie chose to focus on raising her daughters, which resulted in a more irregular film career. In 1952, she signed a short-term deal with Republic Pictures, the low-budget studio that primarily produced Westerns. Her last film was The Revolt of Mamie Stover (1956), but she continued making sporadic appearances in television shows while her children were at school. A devout Catholic, she was involved with charity work for the St. Anne's Maternity Home for more than 50 years. She married William Caldwell in 1950, and they had twin daughters. Leslie died on October 12, 2015, in Los Angeles, California. She was 90. Leslie is buried with her husband at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.