Joel McCrea

On a recent visit to Camarillo’s Old Town, I came across this life-sized bronze of actor Joel McCrea, a  longtime area resident and benefactor prior to his 1990 death. Recollecting that McCrea attended Pomona College, I took a photo. A check of his Wikipedia page confirms that McCrea, a South Pasadena native, did attend the school:

“McCrea graduated from Hollywood High School and then Pomona College (class of 1928), where he had acted on stage and took courses in drama and public speaking, and appeared regularly at the Pasadena Playhouse. Even as a high school student, he was working as a stunt double and held horses for cowboy stars William S. Hart and Tom Mix. He worked as an extra, stunt man and bit player from 1927 to 1928, when he signed a contract with MGM, where he was cast in a major role in The Jazz Age (1929), and got his first leading role that same year, in The Silver Horde.”

He’s most famous for starring roles in “Sullivan’s Travels,” “The Palm Beach Story,” “The More the Merrier,” “Foreign Correspondent,” “The Virginian” and “Ride the High Country.”

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