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She
was a gorgeous platinum blonde in the
tradition of Monroe, Mansfield, and Van
Doren but she was nowhere near as
popular. Joi Lansing was born Joyce
Wassmandorff to Mormon parents in Salt
Lake City Utah on April 6, 1929. At about
20 the gorgeous, young, and shapely
(36-23-33) model relocated to Hollywood
where she was immediately cast in
window dressing roles in such
movies as Easter Parade
(1948), Blondies
Secret (1948), and `Julia
Misbehaves (1948). She was
crowned Miss Hollywood in 1950 though the
title did nothing to further her career
and she went back to modeling full time.
Later the same year she married and
divorced her first husband Columbia
Studios executive Jerome Safron in just 4
months. And in early 1951 she eloped with
actor Lance Fuller (The
Bride and The Beast,
This Island Earth).
The same year Joi also returned to films
playing minor roles (at least these had
names!) in such flicks as FBI
Girl and On
The Riviera. Due to her
incredible looks Joi continued to be cast
--- but in miniscule roles, though
sometimes she was in big movies like
Singing In The Rain
(1952). She divorced Fuller in 1953.
Then came TV and Joi found
better success in the fledgling medium.
The 55 actress was cast in
I Love Lucy,
The Adventures of Wild Bill
Hickock, and Four
Star Playhouse, before
landing a recurring role as Shirley
Swanson on Love That Bob
(1956-59) with Bob Cummings. The show
proved she had acting talent and comic
ability. The visibility of the role led
to parts on other shows (Perry
Mason, Sea
Hunt, Maverick, 'The Untouchables,
etc) as well as some better roles in
films --- she was in the Zsa Zsa Gabor
vehicle The Queen of Outer
Space (1958), as well as
Hot Cars
(1956), So You Think The
Grass is Greener (1956),
The Brave One
(1956), and Hot Shots
(1956). Joi also has a brief but
important appearance in the Orson
Welles classic A
Touch of Evil (1958) as
Zita, the girl who hears something
ticking in her head at the beginning of
the film. In 1959 Joi played Dorine in
the film A Hole in the Head
with Frank Sinatra and Edward G.
Robinson. During this period Joi was also
the frequent companion of Mr. Sinatra.
Following the end of Love
That Bob Joi moved onto
another series as Goldie on the NBC-TV
series Klondike
(1960-61) with Ralph Taeger. During this
period Joi did more television with guest
parts on Make Room
for Daddy, Ozzie
and Harriet and The
Adventures of Superman
among others. It was also during this
period that Joi married her third husband
Stan Todd her finance manager. Following
this Joi was cast in what would become
her most famous role as gorgeous
Gladys Flatt (wife of Lester Flatt) in
the popular CBS-TV series The
Beverly Hillbillies. This
was Jois busiest career period. In
1965 she cut a record album (which
included songs written by Stella
Stevens!), did some nightclub performing
and dinner theatre work, appeared as Lola
in the Frank Sinatra-Dean Martin vehicle
Marriage on the Rocks
(1965), and guest-starred on TV shows
like The Mothers In Law
and Petticoat Junction.
Following this period of
work Joi Lansing also made 2 abysmal
horror films. The first was the 1967
flick The Hillbillies In
The Haunted House which
concerned the goings on of a group of
country-western singers who find
themselves spending the night in an
spooky old mansion. Joi starred as Boots
Malone in this cinematic mess-terpiece,
which also starred Ferlin Husky, Merle
Haggard, John Carradine, Lon Chaney, and
Basil Rathbone. It is pretty much an
embarrassment for all concerned.
Jois second horror flick was Bigfoot
(1970) in which she played Joi Landis
(hmmm). The movie costarred John
Carradine and Chris Mitchum. It would
also be her final film. In the movie Joi
plays a sort of muse/love interest to
Bigfoot
himself think Faye Wray in the
forest. The movie was never released
during her lifetime.
In 1970 the Mormon actress
(who didnt drink alcohol, smoke, or
consume coffee) was diagnosed with breast
cancer and underwent removal of the
tumor. Joi briefly recuperated, but the
cancer returned quickly. Joi Lansing
succumbed to the disease on August 7th,
1972 in Santa Monica, CA and was buried
in Santa Paula Cemetery. Bigfoot
was finally released the following year.
It was rumored that Frank Sinatra paid
her medical expenses after her death. |