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She was born Rochelle Elizabeth Hudson on March 6, 1916, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma When she was a child she studied acting, dancing, and singing. Her ambitious mother, Lenora Hudson, was determined to make her a star. They moved to Los Angeles, California in 1929. Soon after the fourteen year old was offered a contract at RKO studios. Her mother lied about her age claiming she was actually sixteen. Rochelle’s first job was as the voice of Honey in the Bosko cartoon series. In 1931 she was chosen to be a Wampas Baby star along with Joan Blondell and Sidney Fox. She had supporting roles in numerous films including Imitation Of Life, Poppy, and Les Miserables. The lovely brunette was usually cast as an innocent ingenue. Rochelle costarred with Mae West in She Done Him Wrong and with Shirley Temple in Curly Top. On August 15, 1939 she married Harold Thompson who worked at Disney studios. During World War 2 she and her husband agreed to be spies for the US government. They posed as tourists in Mexico and kept a lookout for German activity. The couple divorced in 1945.
By this time her career had stalled and she was appearing in low budget films like Devil’s Cargo and Sky Liner. She married Dick Hyland, a sports writer, in December of 1948. Eighteen months later she filed for divorce claiming he stayed out all night. Her third marriage, to businessman Charles Brust, lasted less than a year. In 1955 she played Natalie Wood’s mother in the drama Rebel Without A Cause. Then she took a break from acting and began a new career as a real estate agent in Palm Springs. Unfortunately as she grew older she developed a drinking problem. Rochelle returned to the screen in the 1964 horror film Straight Jacket starring Joan Crawford. Her final film was the 1967 thriller Gallery Of Horror. She married Robert Mindell, a hotel executive, in 1968. The couple split up three years later. Sadly on January 17, 1972 she died from pneumonia caused by a liver ailment. Rochelle was only fifty-five years old. She was cremated and her ashes were given to her family.
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