Joy Page

The name Joy Page won’t say anything to even the most passionate moviegoers. But they will remember a mythical scene from Casablanca . A newlywed Bulgarian girl comes to Rick for help because her boyfriend loses at roulette. The couple desperately need to get out of Casablanca, and the girl’s only option is to ask Louis, the prefect of police, for visas, presumably in exchange for sexual favors. In his line, Rick responded to the request for help with an unforgettable phrase: “Do you want some advice? You go back to Bulgaria”. However, under his tough guise, Rick hides an idealistic type, who ends up ordering his employees to allow the husband to earn enough money to get visas.

Casablanca was the brilliant screen debut of Page (Los Angeles, 1924), who was the daughter of silent film actor Don Alvarado , also known as Don Page. Her mother, Ann Boyar, divorced Alvarado and married the aforementioned Jack Warner . The sheriff wasn’t convinced that young Joy wanted to pursue acting, but despite everything, she financed his enrollment in Sophie Ronstein’s acting school. This teacher was the one who got her the role in Casablanca . Despite the success of the tape, Joy Page failed to establish itself as an actress. After playing leading roles in The Beggar Prince and The Kumaon Tiger , she was the lead –a Mexican beauty– inBullfighting Afternoon , by Budd Boetticher , where Robert Stack was an American citizen who gets into being a bullfighter in Mexico to impress her. As she then only offered supporting roles in television series, she ended up retiring from it in 1959. Ella Page she married William T. Orr , actor and television producer.

Joy Page was one of the last survivors of the film Casablanca . In fact, of all the actors credited in the cast, or important in the plot, only the French Madeleine LeBeau survives , who had a brief appearance as Rick’s girlfriend.