Johanna "Hanni" Melvyn, a brilliant young actress, was rehearsing the role of "Titania" in Shakespeare's "A Mid-Summer Night's Dream" under the direction of the renowned Max Reinhardt in pre-WW II Vienna. However, the annexation of Austria by Hitler in the early hours of that fateful day forced her and her family to escape to Hungary and later to the United States.
In New York City, Johanna attended acting school, where she tried to lose her accent and met a young, handsome actor named Cameron Mitchell, who was part of Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne's famous theater company. They married, and Cam starred on Broadway in the original production of "Death of A Salesman". The couple later moved to Hollywood, where Cameron's career took off, and they had four children together.
During this time, Johanna made one film, "Three Stripes in the Sun" (1955),alongside Dick York and Aldo Ray, under the stage name "Camille Janclaire". The name "Camille Janclaire" would later be given to their daughter. After their divorce twenty years later, Johanna went on to become one of the top businesswomen in North America, pioneering entrepreneurship in the Canadian meat-packing industry.
Johanna inherited the roles of president and chairwoman of the board from her father, Fred Mendel, who founded Intercontinental Packers after his arrival in Canada in 1940. Later, Cameron and Johanna reconciled and remained together until his death in 1994.
