Joyce MacKenzie, ‘Tarzan’ Actress, Dead at 95

Joyce MacKenzie, who starred as Jane in one of the 1950s Tarzan movies starring Lex Barker, died last month. She was 95. MacKenzie starred in over a dozen movies during the 1940s and 1950s, including the underrated Humphrey Bogart newspaper classic Deadline – U.S.A. and the crime drama The Racket with Robert Mitchum.

MacKenzie died at a health care facility in Hollywood on June 10, her son Norman Leimert told The Hollywood Reporter on July 15. MacKenzie is survived by her sons Norman and Walter. She was married and divorced three times.

The actress was born on Oct. 13, 1925, in Redwood City, California. She studied acting and worked at a San Francisco shipyard to pay for the tuition. She was performing at the Pasadena Playhouse when Citizen Kane director Orson Welles spotted her. He gave her a role in Tomorrow Is Forever, a 1946 drama Welles made with Claudette Colbert. This lead to roles in The Kid from Brooklyn (1946), Twelve O’Clock High (1949), and the noir Whirlpool (1950), although she was uncredited in those three movies.

MacKenzie’s other important movies include the nor Destination Murder (1950); the James Stewart Western Broken Arrow (1950); On the Riviera (1951) with Danny Kaye; People Will Talk (1951) with Carey Grant; and Deadline – U.S.A. (1952) with Bogart. She also starred in The Racket (1951) and O. Henry’s Full House (1952). In 1953, she became the 11th actress to play Jane in a Tarzan movie, starring opposite Barker in Tarzan and the She-Devil. It was Barker’s last appearance as Tarzan. Barker made five Tarzan movies, each with a different actress playing Jane.

in 1961, MacKenzie starred in an episode of Perry Mason. After that, she left acting behind. She worked as an assistant producer at ABC and taught English.