Grace Bradley

Grace Bradley (September 21, 1913 – September 21, 2010) As a child she took piano lessons and at the age of six gave her first recital. She attended the Eastman School of Music near Rochester, New York where, at the age of 12, she was awarded a scholarship. Originally, she had wanted to become a professional pianist. While in school she took dance lessons and played piano.

As one obituary noted, she "played the piano, sang and danced, on stage and in nightclubs, from an early age to help support her widowed mother."

On December 22, 1930, she made her Broadway debut at New York's Hammerstein Theatre in Ballyhoo of 1930. Her next stage appearance came one year later at The Music Box Theater in The Third Little Show. Soon Bradley found herself working in various New York nightclubs and theatres. In March 1933, she appeared in Strike Me Pink at the Majestic Theater. She left the show after deciding to give Hollywood a try.

Hollywood Although she made one film in 1932, her film career did not gather steam until she starred in the film Too Much Harmony (1933), which provided her "first film credit". In the 1930s, she became one of the period's most popular musical stars.

Personal life and post-career activities

In May 1937, Bradley agreed to a blind date and met Hopalong Cassidy star William Boyd. The two of them hit it off so well that they married the next month. The union was happy but childless. In the 1940s, Bradley's star began to wane and, in 1943, she starred in her last big role in Taxi, Mister. Following this film, Bradley had officially played out her Paramount contract, and she spent the remainder of the 1940s alongside her husband, traveling around the country with him helping promote his cowboy image. She made one more film appearance, an uncredited cameo role in Tournament of Roses (1954).

Following Boyd's death on September 12, 1972, Bradley retired from the entertainment world, but still continued to do things to help keep Boyd's memory alive. She also endured years of fighting for the legal rights to her late husband's 66 "Hopalong Cassidy" features. With her acting career behind her, she devoted her time to volunteer work at the Laguna Beach Hospital where her husband had spent his final days.

Death Grace Bradley Boyd died on her 97th birthday in 2010. Two days later, private services were held at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California, where she was interred with her husband in the Great Mausoleum, Sanctuary of Sacred Promise.

Filmography Too Much Harmony (1933) - Verne La Mond The Way to Love (1933) - Sunburned Lady Girl Without a Room (1933) - Nada Six of a Kind (1934) - Goldie Wharf Angel (1934) - Saloon Girl Come on Marines! (1934) - JoJo La Verne She Made Her Bed (1934) - Eve Richards The Cat's-Paw (1934) - Dolores Doce Redhead (1934) - Dale Carter The Gilded Lily (1935) - Daisy Stolen Harmony (1935) - Jean Loring Old Man Rhythm (1935) - Marion Beecher Two-Fisted (1935) - Marie Rose of the Rancho (1936) - Flossie Anything Goes (1936) - Bonnie LeTour Dangerous Waters (1936) - Joan Marlowe Thirteen Hours by Air (1936) - Trixie La Brey F-Man (1936) - Evelyn Three Cheers for Love (1936) - Eve Bronson Sitting on the Moon (1936) - Polly Blair Don't Turn 'Em Loose (1936) - Grace Forbes Larceny on the Air (1937) - Jean Sterling O.H.M.S. (1937) - Jean Burdett Roaring Timber (1937) - Kay MacKinley Wake Up and Live (1937) - Jean Roberts Blazing Glory (1937) It's All Yours (1937) - Constance Marlowe The Big Broadcast of 1938 (1938) - Grace Fielding Romance on the Run (1938) - Lily Lamont Roaring Timber (1938) The Invisible Killer (1939) - Sue Walker Sign of the Wolf (1941) - Judy Weston The Hard-Boiled Canary (1941) - Madie Duvalie Brooklyn Orchid (1942) - Sadie McGuerin The McGuerins from Brooklyn (1943) - Sadie McGuerin Taxi, Mister (1943)