Joyce Jameson

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

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” 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.

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. Aside from her ongoing role as Skippy in The Andy Griffith Show, she appeared in guest roles in numerous television series including Gunsmoke, 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.

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.

According to Vaughn's autobiography A Fortunate Life, Jameson suffered from mild depression. She was also an insomniac and regularly took Miltowns to help her sleep.^[1] On January 16, 1987, Jameson committed suicide by overdosing on pills at the age of 54.^[2] Her body was cremated and her ashes scattered at sea.

Selected filmography

References

External links

• Joyce Jameson at the Internet Movie Database
• Joyce Jameson at TV.com
• Joyce Jameson at Find a Grave