Jody Lawrance

Jody Lawrance

Born: October 19, 1930
Died: July 10, 1986
in Fort Worth, Texas, USA
As the 1950s began, Jody Lawrance (born Nona Josephine Goddard) showed much promise as a contract player for Columbia. In 1951 alone, she was the female lead in four features including "Ten Tall Men," playing opposite Burt Lancaster. However, her reticence to appear in the Mickey Rooney musical, "All Ashore" (1953) because she didn't feel she had the singing ability required for the role and her reluctance to do publicity for the studio resulted in an early release from her contract. After her appearance as Pocahontas in the independent film, "Captain John Smith and Pocahontas" (1953) was a critical and commercial flop, Lawrance was effectively out of the movie business. Now working as a waitress in the Westwood area of Los Angeles, she was the subject of a feature article on her plight as an actress. Soon afterward, she received a surprise visit at the restaurant by her former co-star Burt Lancaster, who promised to help restart her acting career. This led to a role in the film noir, "The Scarlet Hour" (1956) and a contract with Paramount. While her billing had dropped a few notches from her Columbia days, her career was clearly on the mend. However, when Paramount learned that she had eloped and was expecting her first child, they terminated her contract. Despite this latest setback in her career, Lawrance found work on the small screen and appeared on some of the most popular television series of the late 1950s, including "The Loretta Young Show," "The Rebel," and "Perry Mason." She succeeded during this period despite the failure of her first marriage and the subsequent custody battle. After her second marriage, she effectively retired from show business to raise a family with her new husband.

Movies for Jody Lawrance...

Stagecoach to Dancers' Rock
Title: Stagecoach to Dancers' Rock
Character: Dr. Ann Thompson
Released: October 1, 1962
Type: Movie
Five passengers in a stagecoach are abandoned by their driver in the desert. Trying to survive, they struggle with illness, thirst, hunger, and the threats posed both by one another and the local Indigenous peoples.
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The Purple Gang
Title: The Purple Gang
Character: Joan McNamara
Released: December 18, 1959
Type: Movie
The story of the infamous Purple Gang - a ring of bootleggers, hijackers and killers in 1920's Detroit.
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Title: The Rebel
Character: Lorena (as Jody Lawrence)
Released: October 4, 1959
Type: TV
The Rebel is a 76-episode American western television series starring Nick Adams that debuted on the ABC network from 1959 to 1961. The Rebel was one of the few Goodson-Todman Productions outside of their game show ventures. Beginning in December 2011, The Rebel reruns began to air Saturday mornings on Me-TV.
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Title: The Rebel
Character: Kate
Released: October 4, 1959
Type: TV
The Rebel is a 76-episode American western television series starring Nick Adams that debuted on the ABC network from 1959 to 1961. The Rebel was one of the few Goodson-Todman Productions outside of their game show ventures. Beginning in December 2011, The Rebel reruns began to air Saturday mornings on Me-TV.
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Hot Spell
Title: Hot Spell
Character: Dora May
Released: May 21, 1958
Type: Movie
Alma Duval, a middle-aged housewife, tries to hide how much she suffers from her husband's amorous excursions while trying to help her children solve their problems and doing her best to keep her family together as it's slowly falling apart. Meanwhile, daughter Virginia is dumped by her boyfriend because she cannot help him with his career. Her cheating husband's birthday party is approaching and many lines will be crossed after that event.
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Title: Perry Mason
Character: Ellen Monteith
Released: September 21, 1957
Type: TV
The cases of master criminal defense attorney Perry Mason and his staff who handled the most difficult of cases in the aid of the innocent.
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Title: M Squad
Character: Rebecca Traxler (as Jody Lawrence)
Released: September 20, 1957
Type: TV
Lt. Frank Ballinger is a no-nonsense plain clothes cop in the elite M Squad Division. The Squad's task is to root out organised crime and corruption in America's Second City, Chicago.
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The Leather Saint
Title: The Leather Saint
Character: Pearl Gorman
Released: June 6, 1956
Type: Movie
Episcopalian minister Gil Allen keeps up his college days interest in boxing by working out at a gym run by his friend, Tom Kelley but declines offers to fight in an actual staged bout, until he realizes he could use the prize money to purchase equipment for local polio victims. Keeping his real identity secret and hoping to step away after one big payday, Gil signs a contract to fight for greedy promoter Gus MacAuliffe.
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The Scarlet Hour
Title: The Scarlet Hour
Character: Kathy Stevens
Released: April 1, 1956
Type: Movie
An unhappy wife uses her powers of manipulation to draw an infatuated man into an ill-fated jewelry heist.
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Captain John Smith and Pocahontas
Title: Captain John Smith and Pocahontas
Character: Pocahontas
Released: November 20, 1953
Type: Movie
With the help of Pocahontas, Captain John Smith overcomes the treachery of some of his men and resentment of the local Native Americans to establish the colony of Jamestown.
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Title: Letter to Loretta
Character: Miss Vivian
Released: September 20, 1953
Type: TV
Letter to Loretta is an American anthology drama series telecast on NBC from September 1953 to June 1961 for a total of 165 episodes. The filmed show was hosted by Loretta Young who also played the lead in various episodes. Letter to Loretta was sponsored by Procter & Gamble from 1953 through 1960. The final season's sponsor was Warner-Lambert's Listerine.
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All Ashore
Title: All Ashore
Character: Nancy Flynn
Released: March 3, 1953
Type: Movie
Three sailors finally get some shore leave, and go in search of fun and girls.
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The Brigand
Title: The Brigand
Character: Princess Teresa
Released: June 24, 1952
Type: Movie
Carlos Delargo, the banished son of a royal princess of Mandorra, is returned to the kingdom to be tried for a murder change. However, he is freed by King Lorenzo, whom bears a remarkable resemblance to Delargo. When the king is wounded by assassins sent by Napoleon, Delargo takes over the throne at the request of the Prime Minister in a plot to thwart the traitors. He also falls in love with Princess Teresa, the king's fiancée.
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The Son of Dr. Jekyll
Title: The Son of Dr. Jekyll
Character: Lynn Utterson
Released: October 31, 1951
Type: Movie
The son of the notorious Dr. Henry Jekyll is determined to prove that his father's reputation has been unjustly deserved. He sets out to develop his father's formula in order to prove that he was a brilliant scientist rather than a murderous monster.
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Ten Tall Men
Title: Ten Tall Men
Character: Mahla
Released: October 26, 1951
Type: Movie
Sgt. Mike Kincaid of the French Foreign Legion learns, from a Riff prisoner, that an attack will soon be made by the villainous Hussin on the Legion's outpost of Tarfa. Kincaid volunteers to lead nine other Legionnaires on a mission to delay Hussin's attack till reinforcements arrive. When he discovers that Hussin plans to marry Mahla, a girl from a rival tribe, in order to build a coalition against the French, Kincaid kidnaps Mahla. Hussin forcefully takes her back, but by now his planned attack on Tarfa is crumbling and Mahla has begun to fall in love with Kincaid.
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The Family Secret
Title: The Family Secret
Character: Lee Pearson
Released: October 21, 1951
Type: Movie
When his son accidentally kills someone, a lawyer must defend the man wrongly charged with the murder.
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Mask of the Avenger
Title: Mask of the Avenger
Character: Maria
Released: June 27, 1951
Type: Movie
Costume swashbuckler with heroic John Derek battling evil Anthony Quinn.