Joyce Jameson

American actress (1927–1987)

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|

Joyce Jameson

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

Born|

Joyce Beverly Kingsley

(1927-09-26)September 26, 1927

Chicago, Illinois, U.S.

Died| January 16, 1987(1987-01-16) (aged 59)

Burbank, California, U.S.

Alma mater| University of California, Los Angeles
Occupation| Actress
Years active| 1951–1984
Spouse|

Billy Barnes

(m. 1952; div. 1957)​

Children| 1

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).

## Early life

[edit]

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

## Career

[edit]

### Films

[edit]

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

[edit]

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

[edit]

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

## Personal life

[edit]

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

[edit]

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

## Filmography

[edit]

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

[edit]

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.

## External links

[edit]

* Biography portal
* Film portal
* Television portal
* Theater portal

* Joyce Jameson discography at Discogs
* Joyce Jameson at IMDb
* Joyce Jameson at the TCM Movie Database
* Joyce Jameson at the Internet Broadway Database

Authority control databases

International|

* ISNI
* VIAF
* WorldCat

National|

* Germany
* United States
* France
* BnF data

People|

* Deutsche Biographie
* Deutsche Synchronkartei

Other|

* Yale LUX

*[m.]: married
*[div.]: divorced