Rose Joan Blondell was born in New York City to a vaudeville family; her birthdate was August 30, 1906 but was misrepresented as 1909 by Blondell earlier in her career and sometimes later conflated with the true year, includ… See more

Around 1927, she returned to New York, worked as a fashion model, a circus hand, a clerk in a store, joined a stock company to become an actress, and performed on Broadway. In 1930, she starred with James Cagney in … See more

Blondell was married three times, first to cinematographer George Barnes in a private wedding ceremony on January 4, 1933 at the First Presbyterian Church in Phoenix, Arizona. They had one child, Norman Scott Barnes. Blo… See more