Joan Staley
Lovely Joan Staley was born Joan McConchie on May 20, 1940 in Minneapolis, Minnesota and started taking violin lessons by the time she was three years old. Living in Los Angeles, her prodigious talent was obvious. She soon joined a baby orchestra in Los Angeles and, within a few years, became a Junior Symphony performer at age six. She also made her unbilled specialty debut on film as a child violinist in The Emperor Waltz (1948), starring Bing Crosby and Joan Fontaine. Her father's business had the family traveling throughout Europe growing up but she later relocated to California and briefly enrolled at Chapman College in the Los Angeles area. Becoming a stunning, statuesque beauty, she re-directed herself back to a career in show business, singing backup on records for Sam Phillips and working as a secretary to make ends meet while appearing in local L.A. stage productions. In 1958, she was approached by a photographer and eventually posed for Playboy magazine, becoming November's centerfold. The attention warranted her an MGM contract and cheesecake bit parts came her way with such movies as Ocean's Eleven (1960) and Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961). She appeared front-and-center à la Raquel Welch as a scantily-clad prehistoric turn-on in Valley of the Dragons (1961), but nothing much came of it. Following her perky love interests in the mediocre western Gunpoint (1966), starring Audie Murphy, and The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966), a Don Knotts comedy film, and guest appearances on such TV shows as "Rango," "Pistols and Petticoats, "Mission: Impossible," "Ironside" and "Adam-12," Joan's career went on hiatus after a horse-riding accident. Briefly married to Chuck Staley, her second husband is former Universal exec Dale Sheets. Twins were born to them, a boy and girl, on March 24, 1971. Since then, with the exception of a brief appearance on an episode of "Dallas" in 1982, Joan remained with family life and other outside pursuits. She died on November 24, 2019. - IMDb mini biography by: Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net
Known For
Credits
- 2009 · A Golightly Gathering as Self
- 2001 · The Broad Side as
- 1969 · Mission: Impossible vs. the Mob as Ginny
- 1968 · Adam-12 as Agnes Wellman
- 1968 · Adam-12 as Jenny
- 1967 · Ironside as Millie O'Neil
- 1967 · Rango as
- 1966 · Mission: Impossible as Ginny
- 1966 · Pistols 'n' Petticoats as
- 1966 · The Jean Arthur Show as
- 1966 · Gunpoint as Uvalde / Bonnie Mitchell
- 1966 · The Ghost and Mr. Chicken as Alma Parker
- 1966 · Batman as Okie Annie
- 1965 · Laredo as
- 1964 · Roustabout as Marge
- 1964 · The Munsters as
- 1964 · Broadside as Roberta Love
- 1964 · Kisses for My President as Blonde (uncredited)
- 1964 · Kissin' Cousins as Jonesy (uncredited)
- 1963 · Kraft Suspense Theatre as Marla
- 1963 · A New Kind of Love as Danish Stewardess
- 1963 · Johnny Cool as Suzy Blakely
- 1963 · Burke's Law as Laura
- 1963 · Burke's Law as Chrissie Keller
- 1963 · Burke's Law as Traffic Girl
- 1962 · Stoney Burke as
- 1962 · The Virginian as Maggie
- 1962 · The Lively Ones as
- 1962 · Cape Fear as Waitress
- 1961 · Valley of the Dragons as Deena
- 1961 · Breakfast at Tiffany's as Blonde in Low-Cut Cream Dress (uncredited)
- 1961 · The Dick Van Dyke Show as Valerie Blake
- 1961 · The New Breed as Sophie
- 1961 · Who Killed Julie Greer? as Ann Farmer
- 1961 · 87th Precinct as
- 1961 · The Ladies Man as Working Girl
- 1961 · Gun Fight as Nora Blaine
- 1961 · Dondi as Sally
- 1960 · Bringing Up Buddy as
- 1960 · Ocean's Eleven as Helen (uncredited)
- 1959 · Not for Hire as
- 1959 · Hawaiian Eye as
- 1959 · Bonanza as Dixie
- 1959 · The Lawless Years as
- 1958 · 77 Sunset Strip as
- 1957 · Perry Mason as Sally O'Hara - Secretary
- 1957 · Perry Mason as Roberta Walker
- 1957 · Perry Mason as Judith Ford
- 1957 · Perry Mason as Gina Gilbert