Joyce Jameson

Joyce Jameson
Born	September 26, 1932(1932-09-26) Chicago, Illinois
Died	January 16, 1987(1987-01-16) (aged 54) Burbank, California
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1951—1984
Spouse	Billy Barnes (divorced)

Joyce Jameson (September 26, 1932 - January 16, 1987) was an American actress best remembered for her blonde bimbo roles during the Marilyn Monroe period. She was known for many television roles including recurring guest appearances as “Skippy” one of the "fun girls" in the 1960s television series The Andy Griffith Show and also for film portrayals such as "The Blonde" in the 1960 Academy Award winner The Apartment.

Career

Films

Jameson began work in the early 1950s with numerous uncredited roles in films and television. She made her film debut in 1951 playing a chorus girl dancer in the motion picture Show Boat. Her other notable film credits of that early period included Problem Girls (1953), Tip on a Dead Jockey (1957) and The Apartment (1960).

In 1962, she starred alongside Vincent Price and Peter Lorre in the Roger Corman horror film Tales of Terror as Annabel Herringbone. She played Lorre's vulgar, unfaithful wife and during the course of the film she and her paramour (Price) were locked up in Lorre's wine cellar. One year later, she again starred alongside Lorre and Price in the raucous comedy The Comedy of Terrors (released in 1964), where she was more typically cast as she had been in the 1950s. In 1964, she appeared as a hotel hooker in the comedy Good Neighbor Sam, starring Jack Lemmon and Romy Schneider.

Jameson opposite Peter Lorre in Tales of Terror (1962)

For Jameson, 1966 proved to be an important year. She starred as Abigail in the Elvis Presley film Frankie and Johnny and in Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number! alongside Bob Hope and Elke Sommer. She also appeared in an unsold comedy pilot for CBS called The Mouse That Roared but it was never released. In the 1970s, Jameson had notable roles in films such as Death Race 2000 (1975) playing Grace Pander and she appeared in the 1976 Clint Eastwood western The Outlaw Josey Wales as Rose, further illustrating that her acting spanned a great number of genres. She also appeared in Every Which Way But Loose (1978) and one of her last roles was Hardbodies (1984).

Television

Jameson was also well credited as a television actress. She appeared in guest roles in numerous television series including Gunsmoke, Club Oasis (as a regular), The Twilight Zone, McHale's Navy, My Favorite Martian, The Munsters, F-Troop, Hogan's Heroes, Alias Smith and Jones, Emergency! and Barney Miller. Towards the late 1970s she appeared in Charlie's Angels and in the early 1980s The Love Boat. Her ongoing role as Skippy paired with Daphne (played by Jean Carson) in the The Andy Griffith Show established The Fun Girls, and inspired the characters for the later series Laverne & Shirley.

Personal life and death

Contrary to her onscreen stereotype, off screen Jameson was said to be the direct opposite of her screen persona. She was reportedly intelligent, sensitive, and extremely well read. She was married to actor/songwriter Billy Barnes for much of her earlier life, and was a longtime girlfriend of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. star Robert Vaughn. She acted opposite Vaughn as the guest star on U.N.C.L.E. episode #45, The Dippy Blond Affair in 1967.

According to Vaughn's autobiography A Fortunate Life, Jameson suffered from depression. She was also an insomniac and regularly took Miltowns to help her sleep. On January 16, 1987, Jameson committed suicide by overdosing on pills at the age of 54. Her body was cremated and her ashes scattered at sea.

Selected filmography

Film
Year	Film	Role	Notes
1951	The Son of Dr. Jekyll	Barmaid	Uncredited
1954	Phffft!	Secretary	Uncredited
1956	Crime Against Joe	Gloria Wayne
1960	The Apartment	The Blonde
1963	The Balcony	Penitent
1964	Good Neighbor Sam	Elsie Hooker
1968	The Split	Jennifer
1975	Death Race 2000	Grace Pander
1976	The Outlaw Josey Wales	Rose
1976	Scorchy	Mary Davis	Alternative title: Race with Death
1980	Pray TV	Millie Peebles	Alternative title: K-GOD
1983	The Man Who Loved Women		Uncredited
Television
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1956	Science Fiction Theatre	Nina Lasalle	1 episode
1958	Playhouse 90	Miss Cooper	1 episode
1959	Yancy Derringer	Bonnie Mason	1 episode
1960	The Betty Hutton Show	Beverly Bell
1961	Lock-Up	Coralee	1 episode
1961–1963	The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis	Lola LaVerne	3 episodes
1962	Outlaws	Lotus	1 episode
1962–1965	Andy Griffith Show	Skippy	3 episodes
1963	The Danny Thomas Show	Nikki Stewart	1 episode
1963	Alfred Hitchcock Presents	Rosie Feather	1 episode
1963	McHale's Navy	Kate O'Hara	1 episode
1964	Grindl	Laverne	1 episode
1965	The Baileys of Balboa	Mary Brown	1 episode
1966	The Dick Van Dyke Show	Blanche	1 episode
1966	Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C.	Irene	1 episode
1966	Hogan's Heroes	Mady Pfeiffer Eva Mueller	1 episode 1 episode
1967	The Big Valley	The Blonde	1 episode
1967	The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.	Shirley Fummer	1 episode
1969	The Virginian	Millie	1 episode
1970	Run, Simon, Run	Esther	Television movie Alternative titles: Savage Run The Tradition of Simon Zuniga
1971	Ironside	Mrs. Akerman	1 episode
1972	Women in Chains	Simpson	Television movie
1973	Here's Lucy	Prisoner	1 episode
1974	Movin' On	Angela Wentworth	1 episode
1975	The First 36 Hours of Dr. Durant	Mrs. Graham	Television movie
1976	Baretta	Lucille	1 episode
1977	The Feather and Father Gang	Norma	1 episode
1978	Crash	Sophie Cross	Television movie Alternative title: Crash of Flight 401
1979	The Wild Wild West Revisited	Lola (Showgirl)	Television movie
1982	The Fall Guy	Lucille	1 episode

External links

• Joyce Jameson at the Internet Movie Database
• Joyce Jameson at the Internet Broadway Database
• Joyce Jameson at Find a Grave