Rita Johnson

For other people named Rita Johnson, see Rita Johnson (disambiguation).

Rita Johnson
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Born	Rita Ann Johnson (1913-08-13)August 13, 1913 Worcester, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died	Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Cause of death	Brain hemorrhage
Resting place	Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, Los Angeles County, California
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1937–1957
Spouse(s)	Stanley Kahn (1940-43; divorced) Edwin Hutzler (1943-46; divorced)

Rita Johnson (August 13, 1913 – October 31, 1965) was an American actress.

Early years

Johnson was born Rita Ann Johnson in Worcester, Massachusetts, the daughter of a single mother, Lillian Johnson.

She worked as a waitress in her mother's lunchroom and sold hot dogs on the Boston-Worcester turnpike. She later attended the New England Conservatory of Music.

Career

Early in her career, Johnson was busy in radio. "By 1936 she ... was appearing in ten radio shows a week." She played the leading role in Joyce Jordan.

Johnson began acting on Broadway in 1935 and started her film career two years later. She played a murderess in Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941) and a doomed wife in the RKO film noir They Won't Believe Me (1947).

Johnson suffered injuries (attributed to a falling hair dryer) to her head and legs September 6, 1948, requiring brain surgery, causing her film career to come to a near complete stop. A newspaper article three years afterward reported, "It took her a year to recover. Her left side was paralyzed temporarily, and for a while she couldn't walk." Her screen time in movies after that was limited due to her reduced mobility and powers of concentration. She also suffered from alcoholism from the time of her injuries until her death of a brain hemorrhage on October 31, 1965, at age 52.

Personal life

Johnson was married to businessman L. Stanley Kahn. They were granted a divorce on June 29, 1943. She married, secondly, to Edwin Hutzler from 1943 to 1946, but that marriage also ended in divorce.

Partial filmography

• Letter of Introduction (1938)
• Honolulu (1939)
• Broadway Serenade (1939)
• Stronger Than Desire (1939)
• Congo Maisie (1940)
• Edison, the Man (1940)
• Forty Little Mothers (1940)
• Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941)
• Appointment for Love (1941)
• The Major and the Minor (1942)
• My Friend Flicka (1943)
• Thunderhead, Son of Flicka (1945)
• The Affairs of Susan (1945)
• The Naughty Nineties (1945)
• Pardon My Past (1945)
• They Won't Believe Me (1947)
• The Perfect Marriage (1948)
• Sleep, My Love (1948)
• The Big Clock (1948)
• Family Honeymoon (1949)
• The Second Face (1950)
• Susan Slept Here (1954)
• All Mine to Give (1957)

Radio appearances

Year	Program	Episode/source
1943	Lux Radio Theatre	My Friend Flicka
1952	Family Theater	The Crossroads of Christmas

External links

• Rita Johnson at the Internet Broadway Database
• Rita Johnson at AllMovie
• Rita Johnson at Find a Grave
• "The Booby-Trapped Life of Rita Johnson", 2013 Los Angeles Review of Books essay