Constance Worth

From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia Constance Worth also known as Jocelyn Howarth 19 August 1911 18 October 1963 was an Australian actress who became a Hollywood star in the late 1930s As Jocelyn Howarth she experienced success in Ken Halls films The Squatters Daughter 1933 and The Silence of Dean Maitland 1934 Cinesound put her under an 18month contract and paid for her to tour Australia as their rising star Ken Hall claimed Howarths first screen test showed light and shade good diction no accent and that she undoubtedly could act with no sign of the selfconsciousness which almost always characterised the amateur In late 1933 Smiths Weekly raved enthusiastically about the young actress Young Joy Howarth who leapt into publicity when she became the Squatters Daughter a few months ago is just the big hit nowadays In April 1936 she sailed for the United States and Hollywood After six months of unsuccessful effort including a nearfatal incident with a gas stove in her flat she signed a contract with RKO Pictures taking the leading female roles as Constance Worth in China Passage and Windjammer The change of name was related to her first role with established Hollywood actor Vinton Hayworth After Windjammer RKO offered her no more films Her next role was in Willis Kents 1938 exploitation quickie The Wages of Sin playing a young woman lured into prostitution For the next 12 years she appeared in a mix of leading supporting and uncredited roles in B films In mid1939 she returned to act on stage in Australia but went back to the US before the end of the year In 1941 she appeared in an uncredited minor role in Alfred Hitchcocks Suspicion and in the same year a leading role in the gangster B film Borrowed Hero Her last film was a minor role in the 1949 Johnny Mack Brown Western Western Renegades Throughout her career and as late as 1961 publicity in Australia repeatedly suggested she was on the verge of signing a major studio contract again This did not happen