Helen Troy was born in San Francisco and made a mark in radio as well as in Hollywood during her brief life. She began her performing career as an organist in Fox-West Coast theaters and then moved into radio when she was hired by KYA.
Troy played the role of Sally in the wildly-popular musical comedy program Cecil and Sally, which started on KYA. She and her on-air partner Johnny Patrick took the show to KPO and the NBC Network before syndicating it themselves to a network of more than 50 stations.
Troy’s fast-talking sassiness played well in another notable radio series, Texaco Town, heard on CBS in 1937.
She then moved to Hollywood, making her film debut in George M. Cohan’s Song and Dance Man and playing alongside such stars as Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland in Thoroughbreds Don’t Cry and Spencer Tracy in Big City.
Poor health forced her retirement from the entertainment business in 1940.
Helen Troy died in 1942 at age 38.