RIP Joyce MacKenzie

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By Laura Wagner

7/15/2021

 

R.I.P., JOYCE MACKENZIE (October 13, 1925 – June 10, 2021), movie and TV actress best known for playing Jane in TARZAN AND THE SHE-DEVIL (1953). I really liked her in DESTINATION MURDER (1950). This news comes from her son's (Normn Leimert) Facbook page “My mom 92 just passed in the middle the night peacefully here she is in her prime Jane and Tarzan.”

 

R.I.P Joyce Mackenzie who died on June 10, 2021 aged 95, is perhaps remembered for her role as Jane opposite Lex Barker as the loin-clothed hero in "Tarzan and the She-Devil" (1953).
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In a career which spanned the 1950s, she was as popular in gritty Film-Noir thrillers as she was riding the range in a series of westerns. As one of Hollywood’s most promising starlets, dates were fixed: “Rock Hudson and George Nader were heavenly. No sex, just pure joy to be with”, she said in 2006. She went on to marry three times, including Tim Leimert, heir to a large real estate empire (they had two sons) and construction tycoon Bob Driver.
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Born in Redwood City, California, she was a grade-A student, President of the junior class, Captain of the tennis team and an excellent swimmer. During WWII, Joyce worked as a secretary at the Western Pipe & Steel Co. based in San Francisco. In 1946, she moved to Pasadena, working as a department store cashier whilst also performing nightly at The Pasadena Community Playhouse. One night she was visited by Orson Welles, who taken by her performance, cast her in "Tomorrow is Forever".
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In 1950, she joined the Santa Monica Playhouse, where she was spotted by a scout working for 20th Century-Fox mogul Daryl F. Zanuck. A contract followed, however, when the work wasn’t forthcoming, she was loaned out to RKO for "Destination Murder" 1950). Her other credits include "Broken Arrow" (1950), "The Racket" (1951), "Deadline USA" (1952) and "The French Line" (1953) with Jane Russell.
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During the 1960s, she became an Assistant Producer for ABC, before earning her bachelor’s degree in English. By the late 1970s, Joyce was teaching English Literature at Niguel Hills Junior High School in Laguna Niguel, California. She retired in 1989.
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Following a series of strokes in 2007, she moved into a retirement home where her care assistant Kay, one of her former students, actively began to build a profile of the former star on internet websites. For the first time in 20 years, fan mail started to trickle in. She was buried at Forest Lawn cemetery on June 24, 2021.

MacKENZIE, Joyce (Joyce Elaine MacKenzie)

Born: 10/13/1029, Redwood City, California, U.S.A.

Died: 6/10/2021, Dana Point, California, U.S.A.

 

Joyce MacKenzie’s westerns – actress:

Broken Arrown – 1950 (Terry)

A Ticket to Tomahawk – 1950 (Ruby)

Rails into Laramie – 1954 (Helen Shanessy)