Joy Page was born Joy Cerrette Paige on November 9, 1924, in Los Angeles, California. Her father, Don Alvarado, was an actor who was known for playing dashing Latin-lover types in silent films, and her mother, Ann Boyar, was also an actress. After her parents divorced, Joy's mother married Jack L. Warner, the studio chief of Warner Bros.
This association with Warner Bros. helped to launch Joy's acting career, as she was cast in a minor role in the classic film Casablanca (1942). In the film, she played the role of Annina Brandel, a Bulgarian newlywed whose virtue is threatened when her husband loses all their money at Rick's roulette table. Despite the relatively small role, Joy made a lasting impression and it remains her most notable performance to this day.
As the stepdaughter of Jack Warner, Joy was expected to have a successful career in Hollywood, but unfortunately, this was not the case. She married actor William T. Orr in 1945, and her father-in-law made him a producer almost overnight. However, Joy's own film career was marked by a string of routine roles, with the exception of Bullfighter and the Lady (1951),in which she played a sultry vixen opposite Robert Stack.
In the late 1950s, Joy appeared in the first season of Walt Disney's "Swamp Fox" series, and she eventually retired from acting. She and Orr divorced in 1970, and their son, Gregory Orr, went on to become a screenwriter and documentary producer. Joy Page passed away on April 18, 2008, at the age of 83, due to complications from a stroke and pneumonia.
