Judy Canova

The Florida-born daughter of a cottonbroker father and concert-singer mother, Judy Canova joined her siblings in a radio singing act in Jacksonville when she was 10-years old. Judy had hoped to attend the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, but the exigencies of the Depression depleted her family's income. Relocating in New York City with her mother, Judy studied tap-dancing, taught a contortion-dancing class, and hit the nightclub circuit. Discovered by Rudy Vallee, Judy became a solo "hillbilly" singer on Vallee's radio show, then worked on bandleader Paul Whiteman's series, establishing herself as a cornpone comedienne. After appearing with her brother and sister in a 1934 Hollywood stage revue, Judy made her movie debut in Warner Bros. In Caliente, singing a comic reprise of the film's hit song "The Lady in Red." More radio and vaudeville work followed, and then Judy co-starred with Phil Silvers in the 1939 Broadway musical Yokel Boy. This led to a 15-year association with Republic Pictures, where Judy became one of that studio's biggest moneymakers in such raucous vehicles as Sis Hopkins (1941), Sleepy Lagoon (1942), Oklahoma Annie (1946) and Carolina Cannonball (1955). Among her best films were a pair of co-starring stints with Joe E. Brown, Joan of Ozark (1942) and Chatterbox (1943). In 1943, she inaugurated her own radio comedy series on CBS, which garnered high ratings for the next twelve years. After both her radio and movie contracts expired in 1955, Judy was seen infrequently on television and in nightclubs; her last film appearances were in 1960's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and 1976's Cannonball. Married four times, Judy Canova was the mother of TV actress Diana Canova of Soap fame.

~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide