Juanita Quigley was billed as "Baby Jane" in several early roles. Her screen debut was as Claudette Colbert's three-year-old daughter in Imitation of Life. She went on to play featured parts in several films, including The Man Who Reclaimed His Head and was Jean Harlow's niece in Riffraff. Quigley became a familiar face to moviegoers of the era, but major roles for children so young were few and she often played bits as well as featured roles. She was one of the most popular child stars of her day, and was Universal Pictures' youngest star in 1934. Quigley was briefly involved in the Our Gang film series. In 1940, she was the guest-starring lead inThe New Pupil when cast as Sally, who briefly takes "Alfalfa" away from Darla Hood. Two years later, she reprised the character in Going to Press, the only time in the MGM era where the female lead was played by someone other than Darla Hood or Janet Burston. Quigley acted alongside her older sister, Rita Quigley, in Whispering Footsteps. Her last major role was in National Velvet, in which she played ElizabethTaylor's sister.
Later career
Quigley made only a handful of small appearances after National Velvet, her last being in 1950. At the age of 20, in August 1951, she became a Catholic religious sister, Sister Quentin Rita in the order of the Daughters of Mary and Joseph, teaching at Precious BloodCatholic School. After several years in her convent, she left the vocation and married Dr. Donald Robert Schultz in 1964. The couple had two children, Erik and Marta, before his death in 2010. Inaccurate documentation exists that Juanita made an uncredited appearance as an extra in the locally filmed . At the time of this filming, Juanita lived in Pennsylvania pursuing her post-convent career full-time. Juanita was retired and was an intensely private person with regard to her past. Most who knew her as a friend were unaware of her previous life as an actress. As of 2016, Juanita lived a peaceful retired life with her son and daughter-in-law in Massachusetts. Juanita Quigley died in Sudbury, Massachusetts, on 29 October 2017, aged 86.
