Besedka Johnson, ‘Starlet’ co-star who was discovered at 85, dies in California at 87

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This film image released by Music Box Films shows Dree Hemingway, right, and Besedka Johnson, in a scene from "Starlet." Johnson, who became an actress at age 85 and won praise for last year\'s movie "Starlet," died on April 4 at Glendale Memorial Hospital of complications following surgery for a bacterial infection, her son, Jim Johnson, told the Los Angeles Times. Besedka Johnson played the cranky widow Sadie, who befriends Dree Hemingway in last year\'s movie. It was her only role. She was 87. (AP Photo/Music Box Films, Augusta Quirk)

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – An actress who was discovered at age 85 and won praise for last year’s movie “Starlet” has died. Besedka Johnson was 87.

Her son, Jim Johnson, tells the Los Angeles Times (http://lat.ms/Z7qH66 ) that his mother died on April 4 at a Glendale hospital following surgery for a bacterial infection.

Besedka Johnson played the cranky widow Sadie who befriends Dree Hemingway in last year’s movie. It was her only role.

She got the part when an executive producer saw her in a gym and asked her to audition. Johnson had acting lessons in her youth and said the role was a dream come true.

In a statement, Hemingway says her co-star showed that “no age is too old to do what you dream.”

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Information from: Los Angeles Times, http://www.latimes.com

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