Rochelle Hudson

Her first job was voicing Honey in the Bosko cartoon series. In 1931, she was chosen as a Wampas Baby star alongside Joan Blondell and Sidney Fox. She played supporting roles in films like Imitation of Life, Poppy, and Les Miserables. With her brown hair and slim build, she was often cast as an innocent ingenue. She costarred with Mae West in She Done Him Wrong and with Shirley Temple in Curly Top.

In 1939, she married Harold Thompson, who worked at Disney Studios. During World War II, they agreed to spy for the US government. Posing as tourists in Mexico, they looked for German activity. One trip uncovered a supply of high test aviation gas hidden by German agents in Baja. They divorced in 1945.

Her career slowed afterward, and she appeared in low-budget films like Devil's Cargo and Sky Liner. She married sports writer Dick Hyland in 1948; they divorced in 1950. Her third marriage, to businessman Charles Brust, lasted less than a year. In 1955, she played Natalie Wood's mother in Rebel Without A Cause. Then she took a break from acting and became a real estate agent in Palm Springs. She later developed a drinking problem.

Rochelle returned to the screen in the 1964 horror film Straight Jacket, starring Joan Crawford. Her final film was the 1967 thriller Gallery of Horror. She married hotel executive Robert Mindell in 1968; they split up three years later. On January 17, 1972, she died from pneumonia caused by a liver ailment at age 55. She was cremated and her ashes were given to her family.