{{Short description|American actress}} {{Infobox person | name = Goodee Montgomery | image = | image_size = | caption = | birth_name = Virginia Lawhead | birth_date = March 28, 1906 | birth_place = St. Joseph, Missouri, United States | death_date = June 5, 1978 (aged 72) | death_place = Los Angeles, California, United States | other_names = Virginia Montgomery | occupation = Actress | years_active = 1926 - 1937 (film) | spouse = Frank Burgess McDonald (1934 - ?) }} '''Goodee''' '''Montgomery''' (born '''Virginia Lawhead'''; 1906–1978) was an American actress<ref>Aaker p.56</ref> and musician. She was the niece of the actor David C. Montgomery.<ref name=":0">{{cite magazine |date=December 18, 1925 |page=22 |title=May Breen's Pupil To Star |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mPWXg_NzsqkC&dq=%22Goodee+Montgomery%22&pg=RA7-PA22 |magazine=The Billboard |access-date=October 28, 2022}}</ref> She also performed in vaudeville.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Shapiro |first=M. H. |date=November 13, 1926 |page=15 |title=B. S. Moss' Regent, N. Y. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mPWXg_NzsqkC&dq=%22Goodee+Montgomery%22&pg=RA2-PA15 |magazine=The Billboard |access-date=October 28, 2022}}</ref>
Montgomery was born Virginia Lawhead<ref name=ddr/> in St. Joseph, Missouri.<ref name="bl">{{cite news |title=Plays and Players |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/112158091/brooklyn-life/ |access-date=October 28, 2022 |work=Brooklyn Life |date=July 14, 1923 |page=18|via = Newspapers.com}}</ref> Her father, Rex Lawhead, managed a theater in Decatur, Illinois.<ref name=ddr>{{cite news |title=About Town and Elsewhere |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/112154138/goodee-montgomery/ |access-date=October 28, 2022 |work=The Decatur Daily Review |date=December 13, 1933 |page=8|via = Newspapers.com}}</ref> Her parents divorced when she was 15 years old. Her stage name was a combination of a pet name her uncle used for her, Goodee, and her mother's maiden name, Montgomery.<ref name="dshr">{{cite news |last1=Buck |first1=Paula |title=Goodee Montgomery Became Stage Success |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/64343059/goodee-montgomery-bio/ |access-date=October 28, 2022 |work=Decatur Sunday Herald and Review |date=September 10, 1976 |page=51|via = Newspapers.com}}</ref>
Montgomery sang and played banjo and ukulele. She also arranged, recorded, and made broadcasts for the Victor Company in addition to writing songs and writing books about the ukulele.<ref name=":0" /> As a writer, Montgomery used the pen name Donna McDonald.<ref>{{cite news |title=Actress Has Pen Name |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/112157700/the-los-angeles-times/ |access-date=October 28, 2022 |work=Los Angeles Times |date=August 29, 1937 |page=55|via = Newspapers.com}}</ref>
On Broadway, Montgomery portrayed Hotsie in ''Piggy'' (1927).<ref>{{cite web |title=Goodee Montgomery |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/goodee-montgomery-53464 |website=Internet Broadway Database |publisher=The Broadway League |access-date=October 28, 2022}}</ref> Montgomery and Dorothy Stone formed an act in the early 1930s, following in the tradition of Montgomery's uncle and Stone's father, who had an act together.<ref name="dshr" />
Montgomery married director Frank Burgess McDonald in 1934. She became a successful watercolor artist after she injured her spine in 1940 and cut short her career in acting.<ref name="ptp">{{cite book |last1=Tucker |first1=David C. |title=Pine-Thomas Productions: A History and Filmography |date=August 15, 2019 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-7743-9 |page=230 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TM2qDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Goodee+Montgomery%22&pg=PA230 |access-date=October 28, 2022 |language=en}}</ref>
==Selected filmography== * ''Charlie Chan Carries On'' (1931) * ''Let's Talk It Over'' (1934) * ''Stolen Sweets'' (1934) * ''Stolen Harmony'' (1935) * ''Beware of Ladies'' (1936) * ''Mountain Music'' (1937)
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Bibliography== * Everett Aaker. ''George Raft: The Films''. McFarland, 2013.
==External links== *{{IMDb name|0599790}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Montgomery, Goodee}} Category:1906 births Category:1978 deaths Category:American film actresses Category:Actresses from St. Joseph, Missouri Category:20th-century American actresses
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