Joyce Jameson (born Joyce Beverly Kingsley;[citation needed] September 26, 1927 – January 16, 1987) was an American actress, 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 as well as "the Blonde" in the Academy Award-winning The Apartment (1960).

Joyce Jameson
Jameson in "Blaze of Glory" (1958), an episode of G.E. Theater
Born
Joyce Beverly Kingsley

(1927-09-26)September 26, 1927
DiedJanuary 16, 1987(1987-01-16) (aged 59)
Alma materUniversity of California, Los Angeles
OccupationActress
Years active1951–1984
Spouse
(m. 1952; div. 1957)
Children1

Early life

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Jameson was born in Chicago.[1] She graduated from UCLA with a Bachelor of Arts degree.[2]

Career

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Films

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Joyce Jameson

Jameson began work in the early 1950s with numerous uncredited roles in films and television.[citation needed] She made her film debut in 1951 playing a chorus girl dancer in the motion picture Show Boat. 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 with 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 with Lorre and Price in the raucous comedy The Comedy of Terrors (released in 1964). In 1964, she appeared as a hotel hooker in the comedy Good Neighbor Sam, starring Jack Lemmon and Romy Schneider.

In 1966, she starred as Abigail in the Elvis Presley film Frankie and Johnny and in Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number! with Bob Hope and Elke Sommer. She also appeared in 1968's The Split, a crime film with Jim Brown and Warren Oates, and in an unsold comedy pilot for CBS titled The Mouse That Roared.

Jameson had roles in Death Race 2000 (1975) playing Grace Pander, The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) as Rose, Every Which Way but Loose (1978), and Hardbodies (1984).

Television

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Jameson was also a television actress. She was a regular member of the cast on Club Oasis.[3]: 195  She made two appearances on Perry Mason: first as Lorraine Iverson in the 1963 episode "The Case of the Floating Stones", then as Dolly Jameson in the 1965 episode, "The Case of the Feather Cloak". She also had roles on The Dick Van Dyke Show (in the episode "A Day in the Life of Alan Brady"), Gunsmoke, Stagecoach West, The Twilight Zone, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (The Dippy Blonde Affair), McHale's Navy, My Favorite Martian, The New Phil Silvers Show, The Munsters, Hogan's Heroes and F Troop. Also, in 1966, she was Irene in the Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. episode, "Vacation in Las Vegas". And not long after, she had a couple of roles in Hogan's Heroes (in the January 1967 episode "The Great Brinksmeyer Robbery" as Mady Pleiffer, and again later that same year in "Sgt. Schultz Meets Mata Hari" as Gestapo agent Eva Mueller),[citation needed] Alias Smith and Jones, Emergency! and Barney Miller. She appeared in The Rockford Files (in the 1974 episode "The Dexter Crisis" as Marge White). Later, she appeared in Charlie's Angels, The Feather and Father Gang, and The Love Boat.

Her ongoing role as Skippy[3] paired with Daphne (played by Jean Carson) in The Andy Griffith Show established The Fun Girls. She provided one of the voices for the cartoon series Jokebook.[3]: 543  She was a co-host of Tempo III, a program on KHJ-TV in Los Angeles.[4]

Stage

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Jameson's Broadway credits include The Billy Barnes Revue (1959), Venus at Large (1961) and The Billy Barnes People (1961).[5]

Personal life

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She married actor/songwriter Billy Barnes in the 1950s, and they had one child together, son Tyler, before their divorce.[6] Subsequently, Jameson 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 a 1966 U.N.C.L.E. episode "The Dippy Blond Affair". According to Vaughn's autobiography, A Fortunate Life, Jameson suffered from depression. She was also an insomniac and regularly took Miltown to help her sleep.[7]

Death

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On January 16, 1987, Jameson died by suicide at her Burbank, California home by overdosing on pills.[8]

Filmography

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Film
Year Title Role Notes
1951 Show Boat Chorus Girl Uncredited
The Strip Show Girl Uncredited
The Son of Dr. Jekyll Barmaid Uncredited
1953 Problem Girls Peggy Carstairs
1954 Phffft! Secretary Uncredited
1956 Crime Against Joe Gloria Wayne
Tension at Table Rock Singer Uncredited
1957 Tip on a Dead Jockey Sue Fan Finley
1960 The Apartment The Blonde
1962 Tales of Terror Annabel Herringbone (segment "The Black Cat")
1963 The Balcony Penitent
The Comedy of Terrors Amaryllis Trumbull
1964 Good Neighbor Sam Elsie Hooker
1966 Frankie and Johnny Abigail
Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number! Telephone operator
1968 The Split Jennifer
1975 Death Race 2000 Grace Pander
1976 The Outlaw Josey Wales Rose
Scorchy Mary Davis Alternative title: Race with Death
1979 Every Which Way but Loose Sybil
1980 Pray TV Millie Peebles Alternative title: K-GOD
1983 Ladies Night Emcee
The Man Who Loved Women Uncredited
1984 Hardbodies Rounder's Mom
Lovelines Mary Assquith (final film role)
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1956 Science Fiction Theatre Nina Lasalle Season 2 Episode 31: "The Human Circuit"
1958 Playhouse 90 Miss Cooper Season 2 Episode 21: "The Gentleman from Seventh Avenue"
1958 The Danny Thomas Show Gloria Duncan Season 6 Episode 8: "Uncle Tonoose's Fling"
1959 Playhouse 90 Elsie Season 3 Episode 32: "A Marriage of Strangers"
1959 Yancy Derringer Bonnie Mason Season 1 Episode 33: "Gone But Not Forgotten"
1960 The Betty Hutton Show Beverly Bell Season 1 Episode 23: "The Seaton Story"
1961 Lock-Up Coralee Season 2 Episode 30: "The Case of Willie Betterley"
1961 The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis Merilee Maribou Season 2 Episode 19: "Will Success Spoil Dobie's Mother?"
1962 Outlaws Lotus Cassidy Season 2 Episode 13: "The Dark Sunrise of Griff Kincaid"
1962 Andy Griffith Show Skippy Season 3 Episode 6: "Barney Mends a Broken Heart"
1963 The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis Patsy Season 4 Episode 17: "All Right, Dobie, Drop the Gun"
1963 The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis Lola LaVerne Season 4 Episode 31: "Requiem for an Underweight Heavyweight"
1963 The Danny Thomas Show Nikki Stewart Season 10 Episode 26: "Louise to the Rescue"
1963 The Alfred Hitchcock Hour Rosie Feather Season 2 Episode 11: "How to Get Rid of Your Wife"
1963 McHale's Navy Kate O'Hara Season 2 Episode 15: "Orange Blossoms for McHale"
1963 Perry Mason Lorraine Season 7 Episode 8: "The Case of the Floating Stones"
1963 The Twilight Zone Starlet Season 4 Episode 12: "I Dream of Genie"
1964 Andy Griffith Show Skippy Season 4 Episode 27: "Fun Girls"
1964 Grindl Laverne Season 1 Episode 15: "The Lucky Piece"
1964 My Favorite Martian Flossie Season 2 Episode 12: "The Night Life of Uncle Martin"
1965 Andy Griffith Show Skippy Season 5 Episode 28: "The Arrest of the Fun Girls"
1965 Perry Mason Dolly Jameson Season 8 Episode 19: "The Case of the Feather Cloak"
1965 The Baileys of Balboa Mary Brown Season 1 Episode 15: "Sam's Dream"
1965 The Munsters Miss Valentine Season 1 Episode 23: "Dance with Me, Herman"
1966 The Munsters Lou Season 2 Episode 16: "Herman Picks a Winner"
1966 The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Jojo Tyler Season 2 Episode 16: "The Dippy Blonde Affair"
1966 The Dick Van Dyke Show Blanche Season 5 Episode 25: "A Day in the Life of Alan Brady"
1966 Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C. Irene Season 2 Episode 25: "Vacation in Las Vegas"
1967 Hogan's Heroes Mady Pfeiffer Season 2 Episode 18: "The Great Brinksmeyer Robbery"
1967 Hogan's Heroes Eva Mueller Season 3 Episode 4: "Sergeant Shultz Meets Mata Hari"
1967 The Big Valley The Blonde Season 2 Episode 21: "The Haunted Gun"
1967 The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. Shirley Fummer Season 1 Episode 21: "The Carpathian Caper Affair"
1968 Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C. Natalie Season 5 Episode 4: "The Return of Monroe"
1969 The Virginian Millie Season 8 Episode 1: "Long Ride Home"
1970 Run, Simon, Run Esther Television movie
Alternative titles: Savage Run
The Tradition of Simon Zuniga
1971 Ironside Mrs. Akerman Season 5 Episode 2: "Contract: "Kill Ironside"
1972 Women in Chains Simpson Television movie
1973 Here's Lucy Prisoner Season 5 Episode 18: "Lucy Goes to Prison"
1973 Emergency Harriet Season 3 Episode 14: "Computer Error"
1974 Movin' On Angela Wentworth Season 1 Episode 13: "Goin' Home: Part 2"
1974 The Rockford Files Marge White Season 1 Episode 10: "The Dexter Crisis"
1974 The Waltons Helen Faye Season 3 Episode 9: "The Marathon"
1975 Emergency Woman Stuck in Door Season 4 Episode 17: "Kidding"
1975 The First 36 Hours of Dr. Durant Mrs. Graham Television movie
1976 Baretta Lucille Season 3 Episode 5: "They Don't Make 'Em Like They Used To"
1977 The Feather and Father Gang Norma Season 1 Episode 4: "The People's Choice"
1978 Barney Miller Catherine Lindsay Season 4 Episode 15: "Rape"
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 Season 1 Episode 12: "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harold"

References

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  1. ^ Johnson, Erskine (July 18, 1960). "Hollywood Today". The Corpus Christi Caller-Times. Texas, Corpus Christi. Newspaper Enterprise Association. p. 29. Retrieved April 14, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.  
  2. ^ Gaver, Jack (March 25, 1962). "'Shadow' for Monroe? Joyce Just Fits". The Salt Lake Tribune. Utah, Salt Lake City. United Press International. p. 69. Retrieved April 14, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.  
  3. ^ a b c Terrace, Vincent (2011). Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010 (2nd ed.). Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. p. 43. ISBN 978-0-7864-6477-7.
  4. ^ Vernon, Terry (November 30, 1967). "Progress Report on Ch. 9 Format". Independent. California, Long Beach. p. 48. Retrieved April 14, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.  
  5. ^ "Search results". Playbill Vault. Playbill. Retrieved November 11, 2023.
  6. ^ McLellan, Dennis (September 25, 2012). "Billy Barnes dies at 85; satirical songwriter for Hollywood revues". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 3, 2020.
  7. ^ Vaughn, Robert (2008). A Fortunate Life. Macmillan. pp. 88. ISBN 978-0-312-37112-8.
  8. ^ Del Valle, David (January 1, 2001). "CAMP DAVID JANUARY 2007". filmsinreview.com. p. 4. Archived from the original on March 19, 2017. Retrieved May 13, 2009.
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