Joyce Reynolds, a bright-eyed and brunette aspiring actress, had a fleeting taste of Hollywood stardom during the 1940s. Born to Joel B. Reynolds and his wife Mary (née Dunn),she attended the University of California before being discovered by a talent scout during an amateur stage performance of Alice in Wonderland.
This discovery led to a contract with Warner Brothers, and Joyce's first visit to the studio lot resulted in a chance encounter with director Michael Curtiz. Impressed by her "cute and cuddly personality," Curtiz assigned her a small role in the blockbuster musical Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942),starring James Cagney.
Joyce then played the daughter of famous author Mark Twain in The Adventures of Mark Twain (1944) and starred alongside him in Janie (1944),a sugary comedy about teenage mentality in the 40s. Although panned by critics, the film did well at the box office.
She next appeared as herself in the star-studded piece of nostalgia Hollywood Canteen (1944) and got another lead role opposite Robert Hutton as a cinema buff who inherits a million dollars from a dying millionaire in Always Together (1947). The film is now notable for its cameos by top Warner's contract stars, including Humphrey Bogart and Errol Flynn.
Joyce co-starred with Hutton again in Wallflower (1948),as one of two sisters vying for the affections of the same man. In 1945, Warner Brothers gave notice that Joyce's contract would be rescinded, citing her desire to continue her education at a private university in North Carolina. This was also given as the reason why she was dropped from the Janie sequel Janie Gets Married (1946).
By then, Joyce had married a Marine Corps pilot and given birth to a daughter. Her swansong as a free-lance actress was the second feature melodrama Girls' School (1950) for Columbia. And that was it for Joyce Reynolds. She got married a second time in 1947 to Don Gallery, the adopted son of actress Zasu Pitts and the actor Tom Gallery. This union also ended in divorce.
Apparently, Joyce reinvented herself as a teacher and disappeared from public view. She married thrice more. Her last husband, Arthur George White, predeceased her in 1980. At the time of her own death in September 2019, she was known as 'Helen Joyce White'.
