Judy Landon

Judith Brenna Landon, born February 26, 1928, was an American actress and dancer whose career spanned Broadway, film, and television. She died on October 31, 2021, in Thousand Oaks, California, at the age of 93.

Landon began her performing career in theater, dancing with various theatrical groups including the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera before transitioning to Broadway. Between 1946 and 1948, she appeared in two Broadway productions: Gypsy Lady and Magdalena.

Her film work concentrated in the early 1950s and consisted largely of dancing roles, the majority of them produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. An exception was her credited role as Eras in Prehistoric Women (1950), which stood apart from her other screen appearances in that it was neither a musical nor an MGM production. Her most recognizable film performance came in Singin' in the Rain (1952), where she played Olga Mara, a silent-screen vamp, in an uncredited but distinctly visible role. Other film credits include a dancing part in the "Stairway to Paradise" sequence of An American in Paris (1951), a role as a dancing girl in Aladdin and His Lamp (1952), an uncredited appearance as a troupe dancer in The Band Wagon (1953), and a chorus role in the "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" number in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), the one musical film among her credits not made by MGM. She also appeared as an extra in Charlie Chaplin's Limelight (1952).

Following her film career, Landon made occasional television appearances. She took a guest role as Margo Dunbar in a 1967 episode of Family Affair and appeared as a ballet teacher, Miss Clariette, in a 1973 episode of The Brady Bunch.

In 1954, Landon married actor Brian Keith. The couple resided in Bel-Air, raised two biological children, and adopted three others before divorcing in 1969. Brian Keith starred in Family Affair, the series in which Landon later guest-appeared. She subsequently married English ballet dancer Stanley Holden, and the two remained together for 37 years until his death in 2007.