Joan Croydon (May 15, 1908 â€" April 23, 1985) was an American stage
actress.Born as Vivian Giesen in Tarrytown, New York to a French
mother and a father of German/French descent. She was trained as a
dancer at Isadora Duncan dance school. She was cast as a substitute
lead nun in Max Reinhardt's The Miracle. She also had Broadway credits
in the 1930s under her real name.She appeared in only one film, The
Bad Seed, in which she reprised her stage role, Miss Fern. It was
rather surprising casting, given that Croydon was a quite lovely young
woman at the time, and the character she played, a murderous child's
suspicious teacher, is one described in the play's stage notes as
"dowdy", "a spinster", and "middle aged", and is generally played by
much older actresses. In any event, Croydon received a poor review for
her film performance from the New York Times' film critic, Bosley
Crowther, who gave poor or mixed reviews to the entire cast in his
review.Croydon received rave reviews for playing the Mother in William
Ball's production of Six Characters in Search of an Author. Croydon
then became one of the founding members of The American Conservatory
Theater (ACT) which originated in Pittsburgh and is now in San
Francisco.[citation needed]
actress.Born as Vivian Giesen in Tarrytown, New York to a French
mother and a father of German/French descent. She was trained as a
dancer at Isadora Duncan dance school. She was cast as a substitute
lead nun in Max Reinhardt's The Miracle. She also had Broadway credits
in the 1930s under her real name.She appeared in only one film, The
Bad Seed, in which she reprised her stage role, Miss Fern. It was
rather surprising casting, given that Croydon was a quite lovely young
woman at the time, and the character she played, a murderous child's
suspicious teacher, is one described in the play's stage notes as
"dowdy", "a spinster", and "middle aged", and is generally played by
much older actresses. In any event, Croydon received a poor review for
her film performance from the New York Times' film critic, Bosley
Crowther, who gave poor or mixed reviews to the entire cast in his
review.Croydon received rave reviews for playing the Mother in William
Ball's production of Six Characters in Search of an Author. Croydon
then became one of the founding members of The American Conservatory
Theater (ACT) which originated in Pittsburgh and is now in San
Francisco.[citation needed]
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