Joanna Barnes

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Joanna Barnes (born November 15, 1934) is an American actress and writer.

Barnes moved to Los Angeles, California, soon after finishing her education,having graduated from Derby Academy in Hingham, Massachusetts, where she grew up, Milton Academy and Smith College, and took up a contract with Columbia Pictures. She has since had roles in more than twenty films and made guest appearances on many television shows, including 77 Sunset Strip, Dante, Target: The Corruptors!, The Investigators, The Eleventh Hour, Maverick, and Have Gun - Will Travel. Her performance in the 1958 film Auntie Mame as the snooty 'Gloria Upson' earned her a Golden Globe nomination for "New Star of the Year."

Barnes became the 13th actress to play Jane when she appeared in Tarzan, the Ape Man (1959), opposite Denny Miller as Tarzan.

Barnes worked for producer Martin Ransohoff in the 1960s, appearing in episodes of his The Beverly Hillbillies (Elly Goes to School and The Clampett Look) and was billed as special guest-star. In 1967, she appeared in Ransohoff's comedy Don't Make Waves, starring Tony Curtis and the ill-fated Sharon Tate.

Barnes played Peter Falk's ex-wife on the 1965–66 CBS series The Trials of O'Brien and was host of the ABC daytime talk show Dateline: Hollywood in 1967. During this period she appeared in The War Wagon, a lavish western movie starring John Wayne and Kirk Douglas, which she touted tirelessly on her show. She was also a frequent panelist in the early years of the syndicated version of What's My Line?

On December 19, 1972 Barnes appeared on the Merv Griffin Show with Joan Fontaine, Zsa Zsa Gabor, and Dan Martino founder of the Dan Martino School for Men.

She is also a writer and columnist. Her column, Touching Home, was carried by The Chicago Tribune and the New York News Syndicate. She has also published several novels, including The Deceivers (1970), Pastora (1980), and Silverwood (1985).

On June 24, 1962, she married actor Lawrence Dobkin; they had no children, but she inherited four (4) stepchildren from Dobkin's first marriage.

In the original The Parent Trap (1961), she played the gold-digger, Vicki Robinson, who temporarily comes between Maureen O'Hara and Brian Keith. In the 1998 remake of the same movie Barnes starred as Vicky Blake, the mother of the gold-digging Meredith Blake, also using the same name "Vicky" as she did in the 1961 original.

External links

• Joanna Barnes at the Internet Movie Database
• Joanna Barnes at Allmovie
• Speaking of Stories: Joanna Barnes bio
• Golden Globes: Auntie Mame