Biography

Judith Woodbury was one of the most colorful extras in the Screen Extras Guild. She started in the early 1940s as a chorus girl for the Earl Carroll Vanities. Like most chorus girls in Los Angeles, she eventually found herself in the motion picture industry.

Woodbury's natural beauty and unique personality enabled her to get work as a chorus girl in various pictures in the 1940s. Woodbury's real job though was to help promote the films by appearing at various promotional events while the movies were premiered. It was during this time that Woodbury became deeply entrenched in the motion picture industry.

By the 1950s, movies were no longer focusing on chorus girls and they would typically hire professional dancers to choreograph routines so Woodbury decided to transition into regularly doing background work. Her undeniable beauty made her an ideal choice to appear in dramas and westerns. Her background as a dancer helped her gain employment in various dancing sequences of the 1950s and 1960s. She would frequently appear in western television shows as a square dancer or nightclubs run by gangsters on television shows like The Untouchables.

During the 1960s, Woodbury became a regular on Lucille Ball's various television shows including a credited role on The Lucy Show where she interacts with Lucile Ball. Like most extras, Woodbury's career started to fade by the late 1960s due to ageism and dependability. The studios were no longer producing shows where there were dancing sequences or television shows where her looks could be utilized. Like a true professional, she continued to accept work when she was given it.

By the 1970s, Woodbury struggled with various issues that affected her ability to be cast in several productions. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, she continued to appear in various productions. During this time her now aged appearance stereotyped as a barfly or a pedestrian. She was eventually awarded a few credited roles and continued to work until she retired in the 2000s.

Judith Woodbury's career featured a lot of ups and downs but it was the true characters like her that helped build the motion picture business to what it was today. She was a true professional who did what she was told and who coworkers truly enjoyed being around.
- IMDb mini biography by: Phillip Arnold