Rose Joan Blondell (August 30, 1906 – December 25, 1979) was an American actress. After winning a beauty pageant, Blondell embarked upon a film career. Establishing herself as a sexy wisecracking blonde, she was a pre-Code staple of Warner Brothers and appeared in more than 100 movies and television productions. She was most active in films during the 1930s, and during this time she co-starred with Glenda Farrell in nine films, in which the duo portrayed gold-diggers. Blondell continued acting for the rest of her life, often in small character roles or supporting television roles. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her work in The Blue Veil (1951). Blondell was seen in featured roles in two films, Grease (1978) and the remake of The Champ (1979), released shortly before her death from leukemia.

Filmography

• 1984Going Hollywood: The '30s — (archive footage)
• 1981The Woman Inside — Aunt Coll
• $weepstake$ — Mme. Grimaldi
• 1979The Champ — Dolly Kenyon
• 1979The Glove — Mrs. Fitzgerald
• The Rebels — Mrs. Brumple
• 1978Battered — Edna Thompson
• Fantasy Island — Naomi Gittings
• 1978Grease — Vi
• 1977Opening Night — Sarah Goode
• 1977The Baron — Mama Lou
• The Love Boat — Ramona Bevans
• 1976Death at Love House — Marcella Geffenhart
• 1976Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood — Landlady
• Starsky & Hutch — Mrs. Pruitt
• Switch — Mrs. Lear
• 1975The Dead Don't Die — Levenia
• 1975Winner Take All — Beverly Craig
• Police Story
• The Snoop Sisters — Madame Mimi
• Banyon — Peggy Revere
• The Rookies
• 1971Support Your Local Gunfighter — Jenny
• The New Dick Van Dyke Show — Aunt Louise
• McCloud
• 1970The Phynx — Ruby
• 1969Big Daddy
• Love, American Style
• Medical Center — Doris
• Here Come the Brides — Lottie Hatfield
• 1968Kona Coast — Kittibelle Lightfoot Clark
• 1968Stay Away, Joe — Glenda Callahan
• The Name of the Game — Miss Wall
• The Outsider — Sadie Burch
• The Guns of Will Sonnett — Miss Lottie
• 1967The Spy in the Green Hat — Mrs. 'Fingers' Stilletto
• 1967Waterhole #3 — Lavinia
• 1967Winchester '73 — Larouge
• Family Affair
• 1966Ride Beyond Vengeance — Mrs. Lavender
• Summer Fun
• That Girl
• The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. — Madame
• 1965Kilroy — Rose Kelsey
• 1965The Cincinnati Kid — Lady Fingers
• 1964Advance to the Rear — Easy Jenny
• The Man from U.N.C.L.E. — Mrs. Fingers Stilletto
• Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre — Mrs. Melvin Freebie
• Burke's Law — Ethel Kronkeit, Candy Sturdevant
• Petticoat Junction — Florabelle Campbell
• The Greatest Show on Earth — T.T. Hill
• Vacation Playhouse — Miss Zilke
• The Lucy Show — Joan Brenner
• The Virginian — Rosanna Dobie
• 1961Angel Baby — Mollie Hays
• Dr. Kildare — Dolly Marlowe
• My Three Sons — Harriet Blanchard
• The Barbara Stanwyck Show — Helene Terry
• 1959A Marriage of Strangers — Mrs. Patrick
• Adventures in Paradise — Millicent Brass
• Bonanza — Lillian Manfred
• The Twilight Zone — Phyllis Britt
• The Untouchables — Hannah 'Lucy' Wagnall
• 1957Child of Trouble — Helen Green
• 1957Desk Set — Peg Costello
• 1957Lizzie — Aunt Morgan
• The Real McCoys — Aunt Win
• 1957This Could Be the Night — Crystal St. Clair
• 1957Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? — Violet
• 1956The Opposite Sex — Edith Potter
• Playwrights '56
• The Wonderful World of Disney — Rose Kelsey
• General Electric Theater — Joan Preston
• Schlitz Playhouse of Stars — Calamity Jane
• 1951The Blue Veil — Annie Rawlins
• 1950For Heaven's Sake — Daphne Peters
• Lux Video Theatre — May
• Suspense — Clara
• Studio One — Ruth Breen
• 1947Christmas Eve — Ann Nelson
• 1947Nightmare Alley — Zeena Krumbein
• 1947The Corpse Came C.O.D. — Rosemary Durant
• 1945A Tree Grows in Brooklyn — Aunt Sissy
• 1945Adventure — Helen Melohn
• 1945Don Juan Quilligan — Marjorie Mossrock
• 1943Cry 'Havoc' — Grace
• 1942Lady for a Night — Jenny Blake
• 1941Model Wife — Joan Keating Chambers
• 1941Three Girls About Town — Hope Banner
• 1941Topper Returns — Gail Richards
• 1940I Want a Divorce — Geraldine Brokaw
• 1940Two Girls on Broadway — Molly Mahoney
• 1939East Side of Heaven — Mary Wilson
• 1939Good Girls Go to Paris — Jenny Swanson
• 1939Off the Record — Jane Morgan
• 1939The Amazing Mr. Williams — Maxine Carroll
• 1939The Kid from Kokomo — Doris Harvey
• 1938There's Always a Woman — Sally Reardon
• 1937Back in Circulation — 'Timmy' Blake
• 1937Stand-In — Lester Plum
• 1937Talent Scout — Benefit Show Guest (archive footage) (uncredited)
• 1937The King and the Chorus Girl — Miss Dorothy Ellis
• 1937The Perfect Specimen — Mona Carter
• 1936Bullets or Ballots — Lee Morgan
• 1936Colleen — Minnie Hawkins
• 1936Dick Powell and Joan Blondell home movies: "No. 1, From beginning"
• 1936Dick Powell and Joan Blondell home movies: "No. 3, Normie"
• 1936Dick Powell and Joan Blondell home movies: "No. 5"
• 1936Gold Diggers of 1937 — Norma Perry
• 1936Sons o' Guns — Yvonne
• 1936Stage Struck — Peggy Revere
• 1936Three Men on a Horse — Mabel
• 1935Broadway Gondolier — Alice Hughes
• 1935Miss Pacific Fleet — Gloria Fay
• 1935Screen Snapshots Series 14, No. 8
• 1935Traveling Saleslady — Angela Twitchell
• 1935We're in the Money — Ginger Stewart
• 1934Dames — Mabel Anderson
• 1934He Was Her Man — Rose Lawrence
• 1934I've Got Your Number — Marie Lawson
• 1934Kansas City Princess — Rosie Sturges
• 1934Smarty — Vicki
• 1933Blondie Johnson — Virginia M. "Blondie" Johnson
• 1933Broadway Bad — Tony Landers
• 1933Convention City — Nancy Lorraine
• 1933Footlight Parade — Nan
• 1933Gold Diggers of 1933 — Carol
• 1933Goodbye Again — Anne Rogers
• 1933Havana Widows — Mae Knight
• 1933Just Around the Corner — Mrs. Graham
• 1932Big City Blues — Vida Fleet
• 1932Central Park — Dot
• 1932Lawyer Man — Olga Michaels
• 1932Make Me a Star — 'Flips' Montague
• 1932Miss Pinkerton — Nurse Georgia Adams aka Miss Pinkerton
• 1932The Crowd Roars — Anne Scott
• 1932The Famous Ferguson Case — Maizie Dickson
• 1932The Greeks Had a Word for Them — Schatzi Sutro
• 1932Three on a Match — Mary Keaton
• 1932Union Depot — Ruth Collins
• 1931Big Business Girl — Pearl
• 1931Blonde Crazy — Anne Roberts
• 1931God's Gift to Women — Fifi
• 1931Illicit — Helen 'Duckie' Childers
• 1931Millie — Angie
• 1931My Past — Marian Moore
• 1931Night Nurse — Maloney
• 1931Other Men's Women — Marie
• 1931The Public Enemy — Mamie
• 1931The Reckless Hour — Myrtle Nichols
• 1930Broadway's Like That — Ruth's Pal
• 1930Sinners' Holiday — Myrtle
• 1930The Devil's Parade
• 1930The Heart Breaker
• 1930The Office Wife — Katharine Murdock
• 1930The Voice of Hollywood

Appearances as themselves (22)

• 2009Hollywood Singing and Dancing: A Musical History - The 1930s: Dancing Away the Great Depression — Self (archive footage)
• 2008Public Enemies: The Golden Age of the Gangster Film — Self (archive footage)
• 2008You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story — Self
• 2006Gold Diggers: FDR'S New Deal... Broadway Bound — Self (archive footage)
• 2003Complicated Women — Self (archive footage)
• 1991Barbara Stanwyck: Fire and Desire — Self (archive footage)
• 1990Steve McQueen: Man on the Edge — Self (archive footage)
• 1975Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? — Self (archive footage)
• 1965The Cincinnati Kid Plays According to Hoyle — Self
• The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson — Self
• The Mike Douglas Show — Self
• Tonight Starring Jack Paar — Self
• The Colgate Comedy Hour — Self
• What's My Line? — Self
• The Ed Sullivan Show — Self
• 1939Breakdowns of 1939 — Self
• 1936One And One Is One — Herself
• 1935Things You Never See on the Screen — Self
• 1934And She Learned About Dames — Herself
• 1934Hollywood Newsreel — Self
• 1931How I Play Golf, by Bobby Jones No. 10: 'Trouble Shots' — Self - Gallery Member (uncredited)
• 1930An Intimate Dinner in Celebration of Warner Bros. Silver Jubilee — Self