Joyce Jameson

Joyce Jameson (September 26, 1932 – 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
Born(1932-09-26)September 26, 1932
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
DiedJanuary 16, 1987(1987-01-16) (aged 54)
Burbank, California, U.S.
Cause of deathSuicide by drug overdose
Resting placeCremains scattered into the Pacific Ocean
OccupationActress
Years active1951–1984
Spouse(s)Billy Barnes
(m. 195?; div. 19??)
Children1
Joyce Jameson in an episode of G.E. Theater, "Blaze of Glory" (1958)

Early years

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

Career

Stage

Jameson's Broadway credits include Venus at Large (1961), The Billy Barnes People (1961) and The Billy Barnes Revue (1959).[3]

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. 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

Jameson was also a television actress. She was a regular member of the cast on Club Oasis.[4]:195 She made two appearances on Perry Mason: first as Lorraine Iverson who killed her husband 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, F-Troop, 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), 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[4] paired with Daphne (played by Jean Carson) in The Andy Griffith Show established The Fun Girls.

Jameson provided one of the voices for the cartoon series Jokebook.[4]:543

Jameson also was co-host of Tempo III, a program on KHJ-TV in Los Angeles.[5]

Personal life

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

On January 16, 1987, Jameson committed suicide by overdosing on pills at the age of 54.[8] Her body was cremated and her ashes scattered at sea.

Filmography
Film
Year Title Role Notes
1951 Show Boat Chorus Girl Uncredited
1951 The Strip Show Girl Uncredited
1951 The Son of Dr. Jekyll Barmaid Uncredited
1953 Problem Girls Peggy Carstairs
1954 Phffft! Secretary Uncredited
1956 Crime Against Joe Gloria Wayne
1956 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
1963 The Comedy of Terrors Amaryllis Trumbull
1964 Good Neighbor Sam Elsie Hooker
1966 Frankie and Johnny Abigail
1966 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
1976 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
1983 The Man Who Loved Women Uncredited
1984 Hardbodies Rounder's Mom
1984 Lovelines Mary Assquith (final film role)
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 - “One of The Fun Girls” 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
1963 Perry Mason Lorraine
1963 The Twilight Zone Starlet 1 episode
1964 Grindl Laverne 1 episode
1964 My Favorite Martian Flossie 1 Episode
1965 The Baileys of Balboa Mary Brown 1 episode
1965 & 1966 The Munsters Miss Valentine & Lou Season 1 Episode 23 & Season 2 Episode 16
1966 The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Jojo Tyler Season 2 Episode 16
1966 The Dick Van Dyke Show Blanche 1 episode
1966 Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C. Irene 1 episode
1966 & 1967 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
1974 The Rockford Files Marge White 1 episode
1975 The First 36 Hours of Dr. Durant Mrs. Graham Television movie
1975 Barney Miller Catherine Lindsay 1 episode
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

References



  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. "("Joyce Jameson" search results)". Playbill Vault. Playbill. Retrieved 15 April 2017.
  4. 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.
  5. Vernon, Terry (November 30, 1967). "Progress Report on Ch. 9 Format". Independent. California, Long Beach. p. 48. Retrieved April 14, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. McLellan, Dennis (2012-09-25). "Billy Barnes dies at 85; satirical songwriter for Hollywood revues". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2020-04-03.
  7. Vaughn, Robert (2008). A Fortunate Life. Macmillan. pp. 88. ISBN 0-312-37112-8.
  8. Del Valle, David (2001-01-01). "CAMP DAVID JANUARY 2007". filmsinreview.com. p. 4. Retrieved 2009-05-13.
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