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September 1941 McCall's Magazine Cover image of Joan Caulfied

Joan Caulfield (June 1, 1922 - June 18, 1991) was an American actress and former fashion model. After being discovered by Broadway producers, she began a stage career in 1943 that eventually lead to signing as an actress with Paramount Pictures.

Born while her family resided in East Orange, New Jersey, she moved to West Orange during childhood [1] but continued attending Miss Beard's School in Orange, New Jersey. [2] During her teenage years, the family moved to New York City where Joan eventually attended Columbia University.

One of her most memorable roles was when she was lent out to Warner Bros. to appear in The Unsuspected (1947) alongside Claude Rains and Audrey Totter. Later in life she appeared mostly on television, appearing on programs such as Cheyenne, Baretta, and Murder, She Wrote, with Angela Lansbury. In the 1957-1958 season, Caulfield starred in her own short-lived NBC situation comedy, Sally in the role of a traveling companion to an elderly widow, played by Marion Lorne. At midseason, Gale Gordon and Arte Johnson joined the cast.[3]

An urban legend states that Caulfield's film Dear Ruth (1947) inspired author J.D. Salinger to name the protagonist of his novel The Catcher in the Rye (1951) "Holden Caulfield" after seeing a movie theater marquee with the film's stars: Caulfield and William Holden. However, Holden Caulfield first appeared in Salinger's short story "I'm Crazy" in Collier's magazine on December 22, 1945, a year and a half before Dear Ruth [4]. A more common version of the legend claims that Salinger was taken by Joan Caulfield upon first seeing her in a modeling photo or a publicity still or a film.[5][6] Since Joan's career began prior to 1945, this more common version of the legend makes his using her surname for his character entirely possible. Specifically and incorrectly citing Dear Ruth as Salinger's inspiration is most probably a later embellishment of the legend.

She died, aged 69, from cancer at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, and had lived in Beverly Hills, California.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b Fowler, Glenn. "Joan Caulfield, A Film Actress, Is Dead at 69", The New York Times, June 20, 1991. Accessed October 23, 2007.
  2. ^ Joan Caulfield, Actress, Obituaries Today. Accessed October 23, 2007. "At Miss Beard’s, a local private school, Joan made her stage debut in A Kiss for Cinderella."
  3. ^ "Sally". Classic TV Archives. http://ctva.biz/US/Comedy/Sally.htm. Retrieved September 11, 2009.  
  4. ^ IMDb's Biography for William Holden [1], see the "Trivia" section. Retrieved on October 4, 2006.
  5. ^ Richler, Mordecai. "SUMMER READING; RISES AT DAWN, WRITES, THEN RETIRES", The New York Times, June 5, 1988. Accessed October 23, 2007. "We are told, for instance, that the name Holden Caulfield probably came from joining the name of a boyhood friend called Holden to that of the movie actress Joan Caulfield, on whom Mr. Salinger once had a crush."
  6. ^ Honan, William H. "Shylock To Sherlock A Study In Names", The New York Times, February 9, 1997. Accessed October 23, 2007. "J. D. Salinger's Holden Caulfield, he said, resulted from the writer's combining the last names of a friend named Holden and the actress Joan Caulfield."

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